Most couples already have three or four ways to receive money sitting on their phones. PayPal from the old eBay days, a PayID on the bank app, Beem from splitting dinner bills, and GoFundMe from a friend's fundraiser last year. So when the wedding money question comes up, it is natural to wonder whether you need a wishing well platform at all. Why not just share a link?
You can. Plenty of couples do, and for a small wedding it can work well. But each of these routes was built for something else, and each one has a catch that shows up at a wedding: a fee in the wrong place, a cap on how much you can receive, your personal details going to 150 people, or a page that calls your wedding gift a donation. This guide goes through all four with their published Australian fees as at 28 September 2026, then sets out when a DIY route is fine and when a proper wedding wishing well earns its keep.
Why couples reach for the apps they already have
It is easy to see the appeal. There is nothing to set up, no new account to explain to guests, and no fee to a registry company. Many guests already have at least one of these apps, and sharing a link in a group chat takes ten seconds.
The trade-off is everything a wishing well platform does around the payment. A registry page tells guests what the money is for, keeps a list of who gave what with their message, and gives you one place to send people. A payment app moves money and does very little else. Whether that matters depends on how many guests you have and how much you care about the thank-you cards.
PayPal
PayPal is the route most couples think of first, and it is the one where the details matter most, because PayPal charges very differently depending on how the money is sent.
Friends and Family is the one you want. PayPal's own help page says to choose "Sending to a friend" for personal payments, and lists sending money as a gift as one of them. Inside Australia, a personal payment costs the guest nothing when they pay from their PayPal balance or a linked Australian bank account. If any of it is funded by a card, the guest pays 2.60% plus a fixed A$0.30, so a A$100 gift costs them A$2.90 on top. Receiving a personal payment costs you nothing.
Avoid Request Money. This is the trap. PayPal treats a payment you receive through Request Money as a commercial transaction, and a commercial transaction costs the person receiving it 2.90% plus A$0.30 in Australia, plus 1.00% when it comes from overseas. On a A$100 gift that is A$3.20 out of your pocket, on a payment that would have been free if the guest had sent it as Friends and Family. Send guests a link instead of a request.
PayPal.Me is the easy way to share it. A PayPal.Me link is a personal payment link that you can put on your wedding website or details card. PayPal says there is no fee to create the link and it is free to send AUD to friends and family within Australia; the money goes straight to your PayPal account. Make the link from a personal PayPal account, not a business one: PayPal says business accounts can only accept goods and services payments, which brings back the commercial fee. When guests send, ask them to choose "Sending to a friend".
What guests should know. PayPal does not cover personal payments under Buyer Protection. That is fine for a gift, since there is nothing to dispute, but it does mean a guest should double-check the link before they send. Overseas guests pay more. PayPal charges an international sending fee that depends on the sender's country (for someone sending from Australia it is 5.00% of the amount, no lower than A$0.99 and no higher than A$5.99), card funding can add to that, and a 4.0% currency conversion fee applies when you receive a different currency from the one sent.
PayPal is a solid choice if most of your guests already use it. The gaps are the ones every payment app shares: no gift list, no named items, and thank-you tracking that lives in your PayPal activity.
For a different PayPal question, guests asking whether they can give you a PayPal gift card, our guide to PayPal gift cards in Australia explains why that is usually the long way round.
PayID and Osko
A bank transfer is the cheapest way to receive a wedding gift in Australia, and PayID makes it easy. A PayID is a mobile number or email address linked to your bank account, so guests can pay you without typing in a BSB and account number. Osko moves the money between participating banks in under a minute, any time of day, including weekends. When a guest pays to your PayID, they can confirm they are paying the right person before they hit send.
Cost. No payment platform sits in the middle, so there is no platform fee. Whether a guest's own bank charges for the transfer depends on their account.
Privacy. This is the real cost. To use PayID you have to hand out your mobile number or email address to everyone who wants to give. For close family that is nothing. For a guest list of 150, including plus-ones and colleagues, it is worth a second thought.
What you get back. Your bank statement shows who paid and whatever they typed in the description. Osko allows up to 280 characters when both banks support it, so a guest can add a short note, but plenty will leave it blank. There is no gift list, and no easy way to see who has and has not given without scrolling through your transactions.
A good middle path: keep PayID, but put it behind a registry page rather than on the invitation. On EasyRegistry's free plan, you enter your PayID details once and guests see them only when they choose bank transfer on a gift, and the gift and their message are recorded on your list. The money still goes straight into your account.
Beem
Beem is the payment app a lot of Australians use to split bills and pay each other back, and it is free. Beem says it is free to download and use, though a bank may charge fees for transactions from the account behind it.
The catches are practical rather than financial.
- Both sides need Beem. Beem works as long as you are both registered users. A guest can send money to someone who is not on Beem yet, but it only arrives once they join, and any guest not already on Beem has to sign up before they can give.
- There is a receiving cap. Beem has a rolling 30-day receiving limit of $10,000, and a payment limit of $2,000 a day for the sender. If your wedding gifts come to more than $10,000 in the month around the wedding, not all of them can come through Beem.
- Payments cannot be undone. Beem says a payment goes straight into the recipient's bank account and cannot be reversed, so a guest who picks the wrong contact has to ask that person for it back.
For a small wedding where most guests already use it, Beem is quick and free. For a bigger one, the cap alone rules it out as the only option.
GoFundMe
GoFundMe is built for fundraising, and it shows. In Australia it costs nothing to start a fundraiser, and a transaction fee of 2.2% plus $0.30 comes off each donation, GST included. On 50 gifts of A$100 that is A$125 in fees, with A$4,875 reaching you. Donors are also invited to add an optional contribution to GoFundMe itself, and international transaction and conversion fees may apply.
The fee is reasonable. The framing is the problem. Your guests make a donation to a fundraiser, and a wedding gift presented as a fundraiser can land awkwardly with some guests. Some couples will not mind at all. If your guest list includes people who would bristle at being asked to "donate" to your honeymoon, pick something else.
Side by side
Every figure is as published on 28 September 2026.
| Route | Cost to you | Cost to the guest | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal Friends and Family, via PayPal.Me on a personal account | A$0 within Australia | A$0 from balance or bank; 2.60% plus A$0.30 if card-funded | Request Money turns it into a commercial transaction (2.90% plus A$0.30, paid by you); no Buyer Protection on personal payments |
| PayPal checkout or goods and services | 2.90% plus A$0.30 (plus 1.00% from overseas) | A$0 | You pay the seller rate on a gift |
| PayID and Osko | A$0 | Nothing from a platform; depends on their bank account | Your mobile number or email goes to every guest; no gift list |
| Beem | A$0 | A$0 from Beem | Both need Beem; $10,000 receiving limit per rolling 30 days; payments cannot be reversed |
| GoFundMe Australia | 2.2% plus $0.30 per donation, GST included | Optional tip to GoFundMe | Framed as a fundraiser and donations |
| EasyRegistry, free plan | A$0 on bank transfer, cash or Revolut | Nothing from EasyRegistry | Card and PayPal payments need Premium, a one-off A$39, and each card or PayPal gift then carries Stripe's or PayPal's processing fee |
When DIY is fine, and when a registry is worth it
A DIY route is fine when:
- the wedding is small, say under 50 guests, and most of them are close family and friends who already use the app you pick;
- you do not mind sharing your PayID or PayPal details with everyone on the list;
- you are happy to reconcile the thank-you list from a bank statement.
A wishing well or honeymoon fund page is worth it when:
- the guest list is large, spread across generations, or includes overseas family;
- you want guests to see what the money is for, whether that is a named fund for the honeymoon or a deposit;
- you want one list of every gift and message for the thank-you cards, without asking guests to write their names in a transfer description;
- you would rather keep your bank details off a printed card.
You can also do both. A registry page that shows your PayID only to guests who pick bank transfer keeps the free, instant payment and adds the list and the story around it. Guests who prefer to pay by card can do that on the same page if you add Premium, with Stripe's processing fee coming off each card gift. If a few guests want to buy a real present, a hybrid wedding registry puts some items next to the fund on one page.
Whatever you choose, tell guests plainly how to give. Our guide on how to ask for cash wedding gifts has wording for the details card that mentions the payment options without sounding like an invoice.
Common questions
Can we just put our PayID on the wedding invitation?
You can, but it puts your mobile number or email on a card that goes to every guest. A link to a wishing well page, which shows your PayID only to guests who choose bank transfer, does the same job with less exposure, and it keeps a list of who gave what.
Should guests send PayPal as Friends and Family or goods and services?
Friends and Family. PayPal's own help page lists sending money as a gift as a personal payment. Sent that way within Australia from a PayPal balance or bank account, it costs neither of you anything. Sent as goods and services, or through Request Money, you pay 2.90% plus A$0.30.
Is there a limit on how much we can receive through Beem?
Yes. Beem has a rolling 30-day receiving limit of $10,000. A wedding where gifts come to more than that in a month will need a second way to give.
Is GoFundMe appropriate for a wedding?
It works, and the fee of 2.2% plus $0.30 per donation is modest. The question is whether your guests are comfortable "donating" to your wedding. For many guest lists, a wishing well page reads more naturally.
How do we keep track of who gave what?
With a payment app, from your transaction history and whatever each guest typed in the description. With a registry, every gift lands on one list with the guest's name and any message they left, which makes the thank-you cards much faster. Our wedding thank-you card wording guide has lines written for cash gifts.
Do overseas guests pay more?
Usually. PayID and Osko run between participating banks in Australia's payment system, so a guest banking overseas will usually use PayPal or a card instead. On a Friends and Family payment, PayPal charges an international sending fee set by the sender's country, card funding can add more, and a 4.0% conversion fee applies when the currency changes. A commercial PayPal payment from overseas costs you an extra 1.00%.
Want the free, instant bank transfer without handing your PayID to everyone? EasyRegistry lets you set up a wishing well or honeymoon fund for free, show your bank details only to guests who choose bank transfer, and keep every gift and message on one list. Card and PayPal payments are there too, for a one-off A$39 plus the processor's fee on each card or PayPal gift, if your guests want them. Create your wishing well.