The amount of fee varies according to how much money was sent or if they were sending money from a different country. If this was an international transaction then I think it is 3% charge.
At any rate, Paypal charges a rate to receive money, not to send money. There is no way to avoid this.
PayPal fees are based on whether the payment is a Purchase Payment or a Personal Payment. For Purchase Payments, the recipient of the payment (seller) pays the payment receiving fee and the fee is charged regardless how the payment is funded... the standard payment receiving fee is 2.9% plus 30 cents.
For Personal Payments, the sender can select who will pay the fee. For US PayPal members, it's free to send and receive a Personal Payment to someone in the United States in US Dollars if you use your bank account or PayPal balance as the exclusive funding source. All other Personal Payments are charged a fee.
The "Fees" section of PayPal's User Agreement has all the details... here's the link...
