PayPal Fees Are Insane

There aren't many alternatives. Particularly for international transfers.

You're getting hit with basically the same %% fees credit card companies charge

PayPal's very clear on this (as is Stripe, etc)

The only "feeless" transfer service I know is Zelle ... but there's also no recourse if you transfer money to the wrong target, the product doesn't arrive, etc

I have been spoilt using a traditional bank for transactions and the fees are 0.

It is insane, I was charged 0 USD to invoice 30,000 USD.

The risk a payment processor (credit card, PayPal, etc) takes on when handling your transaction is proportional to the size of the transaction. Basically, if you draw out the complete state transition diagram, there are some terminating states where PayPal is left holding the bag. So to cover that risk you have to charge a percentage - of course, the percentage gets bumped up (perhaps dramatically so) to make a profit, but you’ll never escape percentage charges with payment processors.

How do banks, crypto, etc. operate without charging percentages? I don’t know if it’s a completely sensible distinction to make but I think of them as processing transfers rather than processing payments. A payment is money in exchange for something, there’s customer rights involved, if the something isn’t provided the money can be clawed back (e.g. chargebacks). A transfer is just a raw “moving money” operation, there’s fewer customer rights involved, if you transfer to the wrong account you just lose the money. Basically, draw out the state transition diagram for a raw transfer and there’s fewer end states where the institution ends up on the hook - few enough that it’s safe to offer flat or no fees.

Well you answered your own quesiton: crypto.

And you'll say: for reason X and Y crypto doesn't apply in your case...

Yes, these reason X and Y are where Paypal fees come from.