Do you have a PayPal account? Probably because it is the most popular payment platform in the world, which brought innovation to online shopping, but with the rise of online banking and services, it has lost some of the appeal it had in its day.
Well, if you have a PayPal account and you also have it updated, that is, you have it linked to your bank or you have funds on it, be careful, because the company has just announced the implementation in Spain of a measure that was already applied in other countries: «inactivity fee“…and that’s exactly what it sounds like.”
Characteristic, If you don’t use your PayPal account for more than a year, they will charge you 10 euros… or the available balance, “whichever is lower”. In other words, if they can collect the 10 euros, they will withdraw it, and if they can only scratch the crumbs you have, they will do the same.
With subsection: “Zero balance accounts will not be affected and this fee will not cause any negative balance”. This is, as we say, a new inactivity fee that PayPal has just launched in Spain, as detailed on this help page. But there are more nuances.
For example, if a customer has been charged an inactivity fee for a year and continues to not use the account but still has a balance, they will be charged 75% of the set price. But what happens if you simply leave your PayPal account balance at zero? They thought of that too and the solution is final.

According to the linked help page, “if the account no longer has a positive balance after this fee is charged and remains inactive for a further 60 days, it may be closed after those 60 days have expired.” Or what’s the same, If two months go by without being charged, they can delete your account.
How to avoid it? On the same page, you’ll learn how, and you can already imagine that using a PayPal account is not the same as signing in: you have to move money. These are the official guidelines:
- Sign in to your account
- Shop wherever PayPal is accepted
- Send money to friends and family or product and service providers
- Withdraw money from your account
- Donate to charity with your account
The interesting thing about the whole thing is that this new policy and inactivity fee came into effect in Spain on September 30th, giving inactive clients until October 28th to take action… But it wasn’t until last week that The media started this reflect the change.
Ergo… check your PayPal account if you have one.