PayPal only charges the fee if the receiver has a premier account, ie. one that can accept payments coming from a credit card. and most of that fee is what the credit card company charges. PayPal is still for free if you receive it on a personal account which cannot accpet credit card payments. that's because the money still remains PayPal's money, it just sits in a different account. they make money with the money they have on the various accounts, not so much with the fees.
my personal account is directly linked to my bank account which is really convenient. i have a second PP account linked to my credit card but i rarely use it anymore. if a buyer insists on paying from a credit card account i try to split the fees.
Carsten