Funds Receivable and Customer Accounts and Investments - Estimated Fair Value of Investments Classified as Available for Sale (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	$ 10,670	$ 12,011
Gross Unrealized Gains	35	2
Gross Unrealized Losses	(18)	0
Estimated Fair Value	10,687	12,013
Funds receivable and customer accounts \| U.S. government and agency securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	4,793	4,996
Gross Unrealized Gains	28	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	0	0
Estimated Fair Value	4,821	4,996
Funds receivable and customer accounts \| Foreign government and agency securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	1,757	1,392
Gross Unrealized Gains	4	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	(1)	0
Estimated Fair Value	1,760	1,392
Funds receivable and customer accounts \| Corporate debt securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	1,754	2,112
Gross Unrealized Gains	0	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	(4)	0
Estimated Fair Value	1,750	2,112
Short term investments \| U.S. government and agency securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	50
Gross Unrealized Gains	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	0
Estimated Fair Value	50
Short term investments \| Foreign government and agency securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	258	533
Gross Unrealized Gains	0	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	0	0
Estimated Fair Value	258	533
Short term investments \| Corporate debt securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	1,390	1,955
Gross Unrealized Gains	2	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	(5)	0
Estimated Fair Value	1,387	1,955
Long-term investments \| U.S. government and agency securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	100	140
Gross Unrealized Gains	0	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	0	0
Estimated Fair Value	100	140
Long-term investments \| Foreign government and agency securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	125	207
Gross Unrealized Gains	1	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	0	0
Estimated Fair Value	126	207
Long-term investments \| Corporate debt securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Gross Amortized Cost	443	676
Gross Unrealized Gains	0	2
Gross Unrealized Losses	(8)	0
Estimated Fair Value	$ 435	$ 678

Amount, before tax, of unrealized gain in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) on investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118939692&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleDebtSecuritiesAccumulatedGrossUnrealizedGainBeforeTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount, before tax, of unrealized loss in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) on investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118939692&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleDebtSecuritiesAccumulatedGrossUnrealizedLossBeforeTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amortized cost of investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118939692&loc=d3e27161-111563

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118942338&loc=SL82898722-210454

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleDebtSecuritiesAmortizedCostBasis
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118942338&loc=SL82898722-210454

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118954083&loc=d3e26610-111562

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (aa)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118939692&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesDebtSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfAvailableForSaleSecuritiesLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BalanceSheetLocationAxis=pypl_FundsReceivableAndCustomerAccountsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_USGovernmentAgenciesDebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_ForeignGovernmentDebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_CorporateDebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BalanceSheetLocationAxis=us-gaap_ShortTermInvestmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BalanceSheetLocationAxis=us-gaap_OtherLongTermInvestmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: