General information only — this is not legal or tax advice. The figures below come from each provider's own official pages, consulted on 7 August 2026; prices and rules change, so verify before deciding.
In short. PayPal does not offer a cagnotte in France: its Money Pools programme was shut down at the end of 2021 and the French addresses for the product return an error. PayPal did relaunch a cagnotte on 14 November 2024 in the US, Germany, Italy and Spain — not in France, as far as we know at the time of publication. You can, however, run a cagnotte paid into your PayPal, through a third-party collection page: PayPal goes back to being the payment method and the destination account, not the organiser. Here is how to do it, what cagnottes cost in France, and when it is not the right tool.
What is a cagnotte — and what can it not collect?
A page where several people each contribute a sum for the benefit of a single person — the organiser — who collects the total: a birthday present, a leaving collection, help for someone close to you. Two families behind the same word. In the donation cagnotte, participants give and receive nothing in return. In the collection with something in return, they are buying: a seat, a raffle ticket, their share of a group order. That is no longer a donation, and several donation tools, Donairo among them, do not accept it: as soon as the participant gets something in exchange, you have changed category — ticketing, online shop, or gambling depending on the case.
| Suits a donation cagnotte | Has to go elsewhere |
|---|---|
| Joint gift for a birthday, wedding, new baby | Group purchase where everyone takes away their share |
| A colleague's leaving collection | Selling tickets for an evening or a show |
| Solidarity after an accident, a fire, an illness | Raffle, lottery, "€1 = a chance to win" |
| Ongoing support for a creator or a project | Invoiced work, sponsorship sold for logo placement |
Why the "PayPal cagnotte" no longer exists in France
PayPal really did have its own product, presented under the title "Votre cagnotte en ligne gratuite et sécurisée" ("Your free and secure online cagnotte") (snapshot of 17 August 2021). Then it withdrew it: its Money Pools terms updated 11 August 2021 announced the discontinuation and retirement of the programme on 8 November 2021, with the ability to create new cagnottes disabled as of 30 September 2021 (PayPal, Money Pools Terms and Conditions, document published for Australia).
The product came back elsewhere. On 14 November 2024, PayPal announced a cagnotte rolling out "across the US, Germany, Italy and Spain" (PayPal press release); France is not on that list, and on 7 August 2026 the US product page responds where its French equivalents return an error. If you have seen PayPal Pools abroad, that is the product.
In France, PayPal states that sending euros between friends and family incurs "Aucuns frais (en l'absence de conversion de devise)" ("No fees, where no currency conversion is involved" — our translation) (personal fees, updated 9 January 2025). Sums received as donations fall under its merchant rates instead: 2.90% + €0.35 per domestic transaction in euros, 1.40% + €0.25 for transactions "impliquant des associations caritatives" ("involving charitable associations") — subject to applying for it and obtaining "l'approbation préalable de PayPal" ("PayPal's prior approval") — and a surcharge outside the EEA (merchant fees, updated 15 July 2026).
Setting up a cagnotte paid into PayPal, step by step
- Open a PayPal account in the name of the person who will receive the money and complete its identity verification (an obligation, not an option — see below).
- Choose a collection page that pays out to PayPal: it hosts the text, the photo, the goal and the contributions.
- Write the ask clearly — who it is for, why, until when, and what happens if money is left over — then share the link, with a QR code if you are collecting in a physical place.
What does an online cagnotte cost, and when?
At Leetchi as at Lydia, creating a cagnotte and contributing are free and the commission is taken at the exit; Le Pot Commun now shows its fees at the moment of contributing. The exit route matters as much as the amount collected.
Comparison published by Donairo, which operates one of the four offerings cited, collects payments via PayPal as a partner platform, and has no affiliation with Leetchi, Le Pot Commun or Lydia/Sumeria; it covers the "donation cagnotte" use case only, official pages read on 7 August 2026. Bold amounts: a €300 cagnotte made up of twelve €25 contributions.
| Platform | Create / contribute | Gift-card exit | Bank-transfer or account exit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leetchi | Free | 0% in France via its partner Gift.cool, "Festivité et partage" (celebration and sharing) category → €0 | Free below €100, 6% from €100 to €10,000, 1.5% above, based on the total collected and not on the transfer requested → €18 |
| Le Pot Commun | Free to create; operating fees shown to the contributor; solidarity cagnottes "0 % de frais" ("0% fees") | Balance spent on gift cards "sans commission" ("no commission") → €0 | "Le virement est sans frais : l'organisateur récupère 100 % du solde affiché" ("the bank transfer is free of charge: the organiser gets 100% of the displayed balance"); operating fees shown to the contributor at the moment of contributing (cagnottes created from August 2026) → €0 for the organiser |
| Cagnotte Lydia | Free | Free as Amazon.fr gift cards → €0 | Free for contributions made from the Lydia and Sumeria apps, 4% on the others → €0 to €12 |
| Donairo page → your PayPal | Free to create | Not offered | No withdrawal to request: each contribution lands in your PayPal, less 1% platform fee and PayPal's fees passed through without markup (estimate: 2.90% + €0.39) → ≈ €16.44 |
The trigger events differ: the first three take a commission at the exit, on the total collected; Donairo takes its cut on each contribution. A balance left sitting also costs money: at Leetchi as at Le Pot Commun, 10% of the balance in the 11th month then €5/month; Lydia's tariff annex provides for nothing of the kind, and a Donairo page holds no balance at all.
On the gift-card exit, a Donairo page is the most expensive of the four — about €16.44 (€3 platform fee, €13.44 of PayPal) against €0 — and by bank transfer, only Leetchi is more expensive. The fixed component weighs more the smaller the contributions are (full pricing); Donairo applies a single fixed fee of €0.39 for the euro, the highest verified value in the eurozone, so the estimate shown can exceed by a few cents what PayPal actually deducts in France.
What really differs is elsewhere: the money's circuit. With a Donairo page, each contribution lands directly in your PayPal account; on the platforms that host the cagnotte, the funds are held by the payment institution until you request a withdrawal. In exchange, a Donairo page offers neither a gift card nor spending at a partner.
The French points to check before you launch
Customary gift or don manuel? According to Service-Public, a gift received for a particular occasion — "anniversaire, mariage, naissance, réussite à un examen, Noël, etc." ("birthday, wedding, birth, passing an exam, Christmas, etc.") — and "d'une valeur raisonnable" ("of a reasonable value") is a présent d'usage (customary gift), not a don manuel; in that case, "vous n'avez rien à déclarer" ("you have nothing to declare") (Service-Public). Whether the value is reasonable is assessed case by case, and the tax administration notes that "il n'existe aucun critère préétabli de proportionnalité avec les revenus ou le patrimoine du donateur" ("there is no pre-established criterion of proportionality with the donor's income or wealth") (BOFiP, ruling no. 2013/05).
A don manuel, by contrast, falls within the scope of gift duties — notably once it is disclosed to the tax administration — and "c'est au bénéficiaire du don (le donataire) qu'il appartient de déclarer le don reçu" ("it is for the recipient of the gift to declare the gift received"); since 1 January 2026, that declaration must be made online, with exceptions (impots.gouv.fr). Where the gift was not reported spontaneously, Service-Public gives a deadline of "au plus tard un mois après la révélation à l'administration fiscale" ("no later than one month after disclosure to the tax administration").
Identity verification is not a platform whim. The ACPR and the DGCCRF point out that crowdfunding intermediaries and payment service providers handling the money flows of online cagnottes must ensure their procedures secure compliance with "des obligations d'identification, de vigilance constante et de déclaration prévues en matière de lutte contre le blanchiment d'argent et le financement du terrorisme, de l'entrée en relation jusqu'au versement des fonds collectés au bénéficiaire" ("the identification, ongoing vigilance and reporting obligations laid down in respect of the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, from the start of the business relationship through to paying the collected funds to the beneficiary") (joint ACPR-DGCCRF release of 7 May 2020). Plan for that check before the event, not the night before.
On the contributor's side, the same source advises checking "systématiquement" ("systematically") that the entity is authorised on the ORIAS register and consulting the ACPR's blacklist on ABE Info Service; if operators approach you to fund a project by direct bank transfer to a bank account, "il s'agit sans doute d'une pratique frauduleuse" ("this is most likely a fraudulent practice") (DGCCRF fact sheet). These warnings concern collectors who cannot be identified, not the platforms cited above; give nothing to a cagnotte whose organiser remains unknown.
Frequently asked questions
Does PayPal still offer a cagnotte?
Not in France, as far as we know at the time of publication: Money Pools was shut down at the end of 2021 and the French addresses no longer respond. PayPal relaunched a cagnotte in November 2024 in the US, Germany, Italy and Spain, without France.
Is there a genuinely free online cagnotte?
Creating a cagnotte is free on all four offerings, but the cost appears at different moments: at the exit with Leetchi and Lydia, at the moment of contributing with Le Pot Commun, on each contribution with Donairo. The fee schedules are published on each site: compare them.
Is a birthday cagnotte taxable?
According to Service-Public, a gift given for a particular occasion and of a reasonable value is a présent d'usage, with nothing to declare. Beyond that, the don manuel rules apply; if in doubt, ask your tax office or a notaire.
Sources
- PayPal — Tarifs pour les particuliers, France, mis à jour le 9 janvier 2025 (envois entre proches en euros : « Aucuns frais (en l’absence de conversion de devise) »)
- PayPal — Tarification pour les marchands, France, mise à jour le 15 juillet 2026 (« Toutes les autres transactions commerciales » 2,90 % + commission fixe de 0,35 EUR ; transactions « impliquant des associations caritatives » 1,40 % + 0,25 EUR, sur demande et après approbation préalable de PayPal ; suppléments internationaux)
- PayPal — Money Pools Terms and Conditions, 11 août 2021 (arrêt du programme au 8 novembre 2021, création désactivée au 30 septembre 2021)
- PayPal — « Votre cagnotte en ligne gratuite et sécurisée », page française archivée le 17 août 2021 (le produit tel qu’il était présenté)
- PayPal — communiqué du 14 novembre 2024, relance de la cagnotte « across the US, Germany, Italy and Spain » (la France n’est pas citée)
- PayPal — page produit « Pool money », États-Unis (répondait le 7 août 2026, quand /fr/digital-wallet/send-receive-money/pool-money et /fr/webapps/mpp/money-pools renvoyaient une erreur)
- Leetchi — Nos tarifs, article du centre d’aide mis à jour le 3 août 2026 (virement : offert sous 100 €, 6 % de 100 à 10 000 €, 1,5 % au-delà, « calculé en fonction du montant total récolté sur la cagnotte et non du montant de la demande de virement » ; dépense gratuite via Gift.cool pour la catégorie « Festivité et partage »)
- Leetchi — Les frais de tenue de compte, article du centre d’aide mis à jour le 5 août 2026 (10 mois sans frais, 10 % du solde disponible au 11ᵉ mois puis 5 € par mois, prélevés par le prestataire de paiement Mangopay)
- Le Pot Commun — Tarifs, page consultée le 7 août 2026 (cagnottes créées à partir d’août 2026 : « les frais de fonctionnement sont affichés au moment de participer. Le virement est sans frais : l’organisateur récupère 100 % du solde affiché » ; dépense du solde en cartes cadeaux « sans commission » ; cagnottes solidaires « 0 % de frais » ; tenue de cagnotte : 10 % du solde disponible le 1ᵉʳ jour du 11ᵉ mois, puis 5 € par mois)
- Lydia — Annexe tarifs et limites de l’offre Lydia, en vigueur depuis le 1ᵉʳ mai 2026 pour les cagnottes créées après cette date (création et participation gratuites ; retrait gratuit pour les participations effectuées depuis les applications Lydia et Sumeria et pour les cartes cadeaux Amazon.fr ; 4 % de commission sur les autres contributions)
- Service-Public — Quelles sont les démarches fiscales pour un don manuel ? (présent d’usage, imposition du don manuel, délai d’un mois après révélation)
- impots.gouv.fr — Don manuel (déclaration par le donataire ; déclaration en ligne obligatoire à compter du 1ᵉʳ janvier 2026)
- BOFiP — Rescrit n° 2013/05 du 3 avril 2013, présents d’usage (aucun critère préétabli de proportionnalité avec les revenus ou le patrimoine du donateur)
- ACPR et DGCCRF — communiqué commun du 7 mai 2020 sur les appels frauduleux aux dons (obligations d’identification, de vigilance constante et de déclaration ; vérification ORIAS ; liste noire ACPR ; démarchage par virement)
- DGCCRF — Appels frauduleux aux dons, fausses cagnottes : restez vigilant ! (fiche pratique reprenant ces recommandations)
- ORIAS — Registre des intermédiaires en assurance, banque et finance
General information only — this is not legal or tax advice. Rules and prices vary by country and change; verify against the official sources and consult a professional.
