ADDITIONAL INFO:
According to KVR user DSK, there seems to be a "gift" option available. But only for registered business accounts:
Important to know:I think this is only valid when paying for registered businesses PayPal accounts... but when selecting gift option it points out that I can choose to have the fees billed on top of the entered amount or the seller receives the x amount minus these fees.
There are always additional fees involved!
These are (for Germany):
European Union: 1,9% of the sale price plus 0,39 Euro (standard handling)
International: 3,9% of the sale price plus 0,35 Euro (standard handling)
PLUS and at least 1% higher currency exchange rate than listed on YahooFinances (plus another fee for the currency change)!
Please take that into consideration - there is no other way around it with PayPal.
If you want to save on PayPal fees, go IBAN/BIC or SEPA:
Try IBAN/BIC as alternative in the European Union (see also page 2). Local buyers (within the same country) should stick to their local banking money transfer. Each of these methods take a couple of days to register however, but are normally free of charge! One of my clients is in Netherlands and the transfer takes about 3-5 days max.
ADDITIONAL INFO REGARDING IBAN/BIC TURNING INTO SEPA:
Most areas made that possible already, but from February 2014 and forward, European countries have to do money transfers through SEPA - which is a combination of a alphanumeric code (specific bank institute), and your combined account number and bank code. IBAN / SWIFT-BIC will not be possible anymore.
Here is a list of where SEPA is currently possible:
SEPA Bank Listing (German, status July 2013).
More on SEPA here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area
International money transfer (bank) can involve a lot of extra fees! I can't give any information regarding Western Union - sorry. Neither can I tell you how money transfer from EU related bank systems directly to the US or other international countries work.
PAYPAL GIFT OPTION AVAILABLE - EUROPE:
Austria - Yes
Czech Republic - Yes
Denmark - Yes
Estonia - Yes
Finland - Yes
France - Yes
Germany - No
Greece - Yes
Hungary - Yes
Italy - Yes
Netherlands - Yes (to friends and family)
Norway - No
Poland - Yes
Portugal - Yes
Romania - Yes
Slovakia - Yes
Spain - Yes
Sweden - Yes
United Kingdom - Yes
PAYPAL GIFT OPTION AVAILABLE - INTERNATIONAL:
Brazil - No
Hong Kong (People's Republic of China) - No
India - No (needs confirmation)
Jamaica - No
Japan - No
USA - No (selected countries)