PayPal in Bulgaria and Stripe: fees, payouts and store setup

In short: yes, a business in Bulgaria can accept PayPal and Stripe. On PayPal's Bulgarian tariff, a sale costs 3.4% + €0.35, and Stripe charges 1.5% + €0.25 for standard EEA cards. Both connect to a CloudCart store in a few minutes. For cards, CloudCart Pay charges 0% through Dec 31, 2026, and a Borica virtual POS works through your bank.

This guide is for foreign founders with a Bulgarian company, expats selling from Bulgaria and EU sellers who ship to Bulgarian customers. It covers what PayPal and Stripe cost in Bulgaria today, when the money reaches your bank account, how they compare with the local options, and how each one is switched on in CloudCart, the Bulgarian ecommerce platform.

One change makes all of this simpler: Bulgaria joined the euro area on Jan 1, 2026, at €1 = 1.95583 leva (European Commission, Bulgaria and the euro). A Bulgarian store now sells in euro, and PayPal, Stripe and CloudCart Pay all charge in euro with no conversion for a customer paying in euro.

Does PayPal work in Bulgaria?

Yes. PayPal has a Bulgarian business site, and a Bulgarian company or sole trader can open a PayPal Business account, link a bank account and receive payments for sales. The money lands in the PayPal balance, and you withdraw it to your Bulgarian bank account.

PayPal's fees for Bulgarian accounts (PayPal, Business fees for Bulgaria, last updated Nov 4, 2026):

PayPal, Bulgarian business account	Fee
Receiving a payment for a sale	3.4% + €0.35 fixed fee
Extra fee, buyer in the EEA	none
Extra fee, buyer in the UK	+1.29%
Extra fee, buyer in any other market	+1.99%
Currency conversion	3% above the base exchange rate
Withdrawal to a Bulgarian bank account	no fee, when no conversion is involved

On a €50 order from a buyer in Germany, PayPal keeps €2.05. On the same order from a buyer in the United States, it keeps about €3.05 (5.39% + €0.35). PayPal makes sense when your buyers already have a PayPal account: shoppers abroad, buyers of digital goods, and customers who do not want to type a card number into a store they do not know.

Important: keep your PayPal balance in euro. Set the account's primary currency to EUR, so a sale in euro is never converted and the withdrawal to your bank stays without a fee.

Does Stripe work in Bulgaria?

Yes. Stripe publishes pricing for Bulgaria and lists Bulgaria in its payout schedule, so a business registered in Bulgaria can open a Stripe account and accept cards online. Stripe is a card payment gateway: the customer pays with a card, and Stripe pays the money out to your bank account on a schedule.

Stripe's standard pricing for Bulgaria (Stripe, Pricing for Bulgaria):

Stripe, card payments in Bulgaria	Fee per transaction
Standard EEA cards	1.5% + €0.25
Premium EEA cards	2.8% + €0.25
UK cards	2.5% + €0.25
International cards	3.15% + €0.25
Currency conversion, when needed	+2%

Payouts are slower at the start. For Bulgaria, Stripe's first payout comes after 7 calendar days, and the following ones after 3 business days (Stripe Docs, Payouts). Stripe notes that the first payout can take 7 to 14 days, depending on your industry and risk level. A refund does not return the original processing fee.

On a €50 order paid with a standard EEA card, Stripe keeps €1. With a card issued outside the EEA and the UK, it keeps about €1.83.

PayPal vs Stripe vs CloudCart Pay vs Borica: what you pay

The cheapest option depends on where your buyers are and which card they use. The four main ways for a Bulgarian online store to take payments, side by side:

	PayPal	Stripe	CloudCart Pay	Borica virtual POS
Fee on a €50 order, EEA buyer	€2.05 (3.4% + €0.35)	€1 (1.5% + €0.25, standard card)	€0 through Dec 31, 2026; from Jan 1, 2027 about €0.70 excl. VAT	Per your bank contract
What the customer uses	PayPal account, or a card on PayPal's page	Card on Stripe's hosted page	Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, on your checkout	Cards on Borica's page; Apple Pay and Google Pay where the bank enables them
Getting started	PayPal Business account	Stripe account, two API keys	7-step registration in the CloudCart admin	Bank contract, terminal ID and certificate
When the money arrives	In the PayPal balance at once; you withdraw it	First payout after 7 calendar days, then 3 business days	Usually 2 to 5 working days, by SEPA transfer	Per your bank contract
Where you see the payments	PayPal account	Stripe Dashboard	In the CloudCart admin: transactions, fees, payouts	Your bank's reports
Saved card for the next order	No (PayPal wallet integration)	Yes, for registered customers	Yes, for registered customers	Yes, for registered customers

From Jan 1, 2027, CloudCart Pay charges 1.29% + €0.05 for consumer EEA Visa and Mastercard cards and 2.69% + €0.05 for other cards, excluding VAT. The CloudCart platform itself takes no commission on your sales, whichever provider you use.

CloudCart Pay: the built-in option for card payments

CloudCart Pay is the payment system built into CloudCart. The store takes Visa and Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay on its own checkout page, and the money is paid out to your bank account by SEPA transfer, in 11 currencies. There are no API keys to copy and no separate dashboard: transactions, refunds, fees, tax invoices for the fees and payouts are tabs in the admin.

• Registration in the admin. Seven steps: profile, business, representative, documents, verification and consent, bank account (IBAN), status. Documents are uploaded as files, and companies, sole traders and non-profits can register.
• Approval takes from a few hours to 2 working days; a complicated company structure can take longer.
• Express checkout. Apple Pay and Google Pay buttons on product pages and in the cart are on by default, so a mobile buyer pays with one tap.
• Refunds from the order. A full refund runs from the order's Refund payment button; a partial refund runs through an order return refunded to the card.

Card payments are explained in more depth in accepting card payments with CloudCart Pay, and the choice between cards and cash on delivery in cash on delivery vs card payments in Bulgaria.

Borica and a bank virtual POS

Borica is the Bulgarian national card processor, and most Bulgarian banks run their online card acquiring through it. A virtual POS from a bank means a contract with that bank, a terminal ID and a security certificate. In CloudCart, you generate a certificate signing request (CSR) from the Borica settings, send it to Borica, upload the signed certificate you get back, and the card page goes live.

Choose this path if your company already has a card contract with a Bulgarian bank or if your bank offers you better rates. CloudCart has ready integrations for Borica and for DSK Bank, Fibank, Raiffeisen and UBB. The Borica integration supports saved cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay through Borica, and payments in euro.

Other providers that Bulgarian stores use, also with CloudCart integrations: myPOS, ePay, Paysera and Revolut Business. For selling in Western Europe, Mollie adds local methods such as iDEAL and Bancontact.

Which payment provider should a Bulgarian store choose?

Most stores selling in Bulgaria do best with one card method plus cash on delivery, and add PayPal when buyers abroad ask for it. Online buying is still growing in Bulgaria: in 2025, 35% of people aged 16 to 74 bought something online in the previous three months, against 62% across the EU (Eurostat, isoc_ec_ib20), so the payment step has to feel familiar. A simple guide by situation:

Your situation	Start with	Add later
New store selling to Bulgarian customers	CloudCart Pay and cash on delivery	PayPal, if buyers ask
Selling mostly to the UK, the US or outside the EU	PayPal and a card method	Stripe, if you already run it elsewhere
You already have a Stripe account for another business	Stripe, with your existing account	CloudCart Pay for Apple Pay and Google Pay on the product page
Your company has a bank card contract	Borica or your bank's integration	PayPal for buyers abroad
Selling across the EU	CloudCart Pay or Stripe	Mollie for local methods in Western Europe
Digital goods and services	Card payments	PayPal

Keep the list short. Two or three methods at checkout are easier to choose from than eight, and every payment provider you add is one more dashboard to reconcile. Cross-border VAT rules are a separate question, covered in OSS and EU VAT for cross-border sales.

How do you connect PayPal to a CloudCart store?

You connect PayPal with your PayPal Business email; CloudCart supplies the technical connection to PayPal, so you do not register an app with PayPal. The steps:

1. Open the PayPal Business account in your company's name and set its primary currency to EUR.
2. In CloudCart, open Settings, Payment providers, PayPal.
3. Enter the email of your PayPal Business account, where the money lands, and choose EUR as the fallback currency.
4. Set the details at checkout: the name and logo the customer sees, an order amount range, and an optional discount for paying with PayPal.
5. Switch to Live mode and activate the provider. Test mode uses the PayPal sandbox with a sandbox business email.

At checkout, the customer is redirected to PayPal, logs in or pays with a card as a guest, and returns to your store. The payment is captured at once. You issue a full refund from the order, and Sync pulls the latest status from PayPal. PayPal is on every CloudCart plan.

For card fields on your own checkout through PayPal, CloudCart has a second provider, PayPal Credit & Debit Cards. It uses your own PayPal REST app credentials and an account eligible for PayPal's Advanced Checkout, and adds Apple Pay, Google Pay and saved cards. Both PayPal providers can be active at the same time.

How do you connect Stripe to a CloudCart store?

You connect Stripe with two keys from your Stripe Dashboard. CloudCart checks the key with Stripe when you save, so a wrong key cannot be saved by mistake.

1. Open the Stripe account for your Bulgarian company and add the bank account for payouts.
2. In CloudCart, open Payment providers, Stripe.
3. Paste the live secret key and publishable key from the Stripe Dashboard. Test keys go in the test section, for trial payments with Stripe's test cards.
4. Switch on Save customer card, if registered customers should pay the next order without a redirect.
5. Register the webhook in the Webhook card, so Stripe confirms each payment at once.
6. Switch to Live mode and activate the provider.

The customer pays on Stripe's hosted Checkout page, with 3D Secure handled by Stripe, and returns to your store. The page speaks the customer's language when Stripe supports it, Bulgarian included. Refunds run from the order, and payouts and reports stay in your Stripe Dashboard. Stripe is on every CloudCart plan.

Ordinance N-18: receipts for PayPal and Stripe sales

A sale paid through PayPal or Stripe is a sale like any other for the NRA (National Revenue Agency, Bulgaria's tax authority). Ordinance N-18 is the Bulgarian regulation on registering and reporting sales (Ordinance N-18 on lex.bg, in Bulgarian). An online store issues either a fiscal receipt from a cash register or, under the alternative regime of Chapter 7g, a sales document with a unique number, and files the monthly Annex 38 audit file by the 15th of the following month. Which regime fits a PayPal or Stripe setup is a question for your accountant.

Company options for foreign founders are in the guide to registering a company for an online store, and the full running costs of a store in what an online store costs in Bulgaria.

Checklist before you switch payments on

• A card method is on: CloudCart Pay, Stripe or your bank's Borica POS, with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• Cash on delivery is on for Bulgarian buyers, with Econt, Speedy (DPD Bulgaria) or BOX NOW, the main Bulgarian couriers and parcel lockers.
• PayPal is on if you sell abroad, with the account's primary currency in EUR.
• Each provider is in Live mode, and one test order has gone through and been refunded.
• You know the fee and payout time of each method, and where to find its reports.
• The N-18 regime is agreed with your accountant, and the Annex 38 file goes in by the 15th.

All payment methods in CloudCart, filtered by market, are on the payments page. To see how other buyers in the country pay, read ecommerce in Bulgaria.

Frequently asked questions

Send your questions about payment setup to support@cloudcart.com.