Holdy vs PayPal

PayPal transfers money. Holdy protects the deal.

PayPal Friends & Family has zero protection. Goods & Services has moderators who may or may not side with you. Holdy locks scope upfront and uses fixed rules.

Try Holdy See the comparison →
Head to head

Feature comparison

Feature
Fee
Buyer protection
Scope locked before pay
Dispute resolution
Chargeback defence
Delivery proof
Revision handling
Payout speed
Seller protection
Who owns the client
Recommended
Holdy 5-8% Fee
5-8% Tiered pricing
Rule-based, automatic
Deliverables are the contract
Fixed rules, no human judgment
Auto-bundled delivery evidence
Hash-timestamped uploads
Budget set upfront per deal
2-7 days Via Stripe
Scope lock + delivery proof + auto-settle
You, always
PayPal 2.9% G&S
F&F: 0% / G&S: 2.9% + €0.30
! F&F: none / G&S: 180-day window
No scope mechanism
Resolution Center (moderators)
! F&F: waived / G&S: limited
No built-in delivery tracking
Not applicable
1-5 days SEPA/instant
! Seller Protection (limited)
You
The F&F trap

Why freelancers use Friends & Family (and why it's risky)

Freelancers ask clients to pay via PayPal Friends & Family to avoid the 2.9% + €0.30 Goods & Services fee. It makes sense on paper: lower cost, instant transfer, no fuss.

But F&F has literally zero buyer protection. No dispute option, no refund path, no delivery verification. If the client ghosts after paying, or the seller never delivers, the money is gone. PayPal explicitly states that F&F payments are not covered by Purchase Protection.

Holdy costs more than F&F (5-8% vs 0%), but you get: scope lock, delivery proof, auto-settle after 7 days, and chargeback defence. The fee is the insurance premium.

What you get for the fee:

  • Scope lock: deliverables defined before payment
  • Delivery proof: hash-timestamped file uploads
  • Auto-settle: payment releases after 7 days if no response
  • Chargeback defence: evidence submitted automatically
The G&S problem

Goods & Services protects buyers, not the deal

PayPal Goods & Services gives buyers a 180-day window to file a dispute. That sounds great for buyers, but disputes are decided by PayPal moderators based on their interpretation. There is no scope lock, no objective deliverables list. It comes down to "he said, she said."

For sellers of digital goods and services, this is especially risky. PayPal's Seller Protection program has limited coverage for intangible items. A buyer can claim they never received the work, and without a built-in delivery mechanism, the seller has little to show.

Holdy's approach is different: the deliverables list IS the contract. Both parties agree to it before payment. The outcome is decided by what actually happened (uploads, accepts, rejects), not by a moderator's opinion. Rules are fixed. No interpretation needed.

Honest take

Who should use what

Use PayPal if:

  • - You're sending money to a friend (an actual friend)
  • - You're buying something physical with tracking numbers
  • - The amount is small enough that you don't care about protection

Use Holdy if:

  • You're paying for online services or digital work
  • The deal has deliverables that need to be verified
  • You want objective rules instead of moderator judgment
  • You need delivery proof for your records

Protection that works before you need it.

Lock the scope, verify delivery, settle on rules.

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