Shopify Transaction Fees by Plan: What You Pay on Every Order
Understand Shopify transaction fees by plan: online card rates, the third-party gateway fee, currency and chargeback costs, and when upgrading pays off.
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On this page 7 sections
- Shopify Transaction Fees: The Fee Layers on a Shopify Order
- Shopify Credit Card Rates on Each Plan
- The Shopify Third-Party Transaction Fee for Outside Gateways
- Fees That Hide Outside the Headline Rate: Currency, Amex, and Chargebacks
- Shopify Basic vs. Shopify vs. Advanced Fees: Break-Even Math
- How to Read Your Shopify Payouts to Find Your Effective Rate
- Next Steps
Key takeaways
- A Shopify order can carry several fee layers: the online card rate, a possible third-party gateway fee, and add-ons like currency conversion and chargebacks.
- If you use an outside gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own transaction fee on top of your processor's rate, and that fee shrinks on higher plans.
- A plan upgrade pays for itself only when your monthly card sales are high enough that the rate savings exceed the higher subscription cost.
- Your real cost is your effective rate: total fees divided by gross sales, pulled from your payouts and your Shopify bill together.
Shopify transaction fees are rarely one number. A single online order can carry a card processing rate, a separate Shopify fee if you use an outside payment provider, and smaller charges for currency conversion or disputes. This guide explains each fee layer, how the costs change across Shopify's plans, how to work out the monthly sales level where upgrading lowers your total cost, and how to read your payouts to find the rate you actually pay.
Shopify changes its pricing and plan lineup from time to time, and rates can vary by country. We describe the structure below. Confirm current figures on Shopify's pricing page and in your admin before you make a decision.
Shopify Transaction Fees: The Fee Layers on a Shopify Order
Think of every order as a stack. Depending on how your store is set up, you may pay some or all of these:
- Online card processing rate. If you use Shopify Payments, this is usually a percentage of the sale plus a small fixed amount per transaction. The rate depends on your plan.
- Third-party transaction fee. If you use an outside payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify charges its own percentage fee on each order. You also pay your provider's processing rate.
- Add-on fees. These include currency conversion when shoppers pay in a different currency, possible differences for certain card types, and chargeback fees when a customer disputes a charge.
- Subscription cost. Your monthly or annual plan fee isn't charged per order. It still belongs in the math because a higher plan costs more and charges less per order.
Most store owners focus on the first layer. The other three are where the surprises usually come from.
Shopify Credit Card Rates on Each Plan
Shopify's core plans are commonly listed as Basic, Shopify and Advanced, with Plus for larger businesses. Confirm the current names, since Shopify has renamed and repriced plans before. The pattern for Shopify Payments has stayed consistent:
- Higher plans cost more per month.
- Higher plans charge a lower online card rate.
- The fixed per-transaction amount may stay the same or change only slightly between plans. Check the current figures.
| Plan tier | Monthly subscription | Online card rate (Shopify Payments) | Third-party gateway fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry plan (Basic) | Lowest | Highest of the core plans | Highest |
| Mid plan (Shopify) | Middle | Lower | Lower |
| Upper plan (Advanced) | Higher | Lower still | Lowest of the core plans |
| Enterprise (Plus) | Custom or negotiated | Often negotiated | Often negotiated |
Table shows the direction of pricing only. Look up the current percentages and dollar amounts on Shopify's pricing page for your country.
Annual billing usually lowers the effective monthly subscription cost. If you compare plans, use the billing cycle you actually intend to pay.
Not every business can use Shopify Payments. Availability depends on country, and certain product categories are restricted. If you're unsure, read our guide to Shopify Payments prohibited businesses and eligibility before you build your cost model around it.
The Shopify Third-Party Transaction Fee for Outside Gateways
When you process cards through a provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a third-party transaction fee to each order. Your total card cost becomes:
Your provider's processing rate + Shopify's third-party transaction fee
Two details matter here:
- The fee drops on higher plans, so plan choice affects your costs even if you never use Shopify Payments.
- It may apply to some alternative payment methods, not only cards. Shopify's help center lists which methods are charged and which are exempt. Manual methods such as bank deposits are typically treated differently. Check the list against your own checkout options.
When an Outside Gateway Can Still Make Sense
Paying the extra fee is sometimes the right call:
- Shopify Payments isn't available for your business type or location.
- You want a direct merchant account relationship with a processor and an underwriter who understands your products and sales patterns.
- You need specific gateway features such as certain fraud tools, recurring billing setups or reporting your team already relies on.
- Your negotiated processing rate is low enough that it still wins after you add Shopify's fee.
Don't assume an outside processor is cheaper or more expensive. Run the numbers with both layers included. MannyPay supports Shopify payment processing integrations and works with gateways such as Authorize.net and NMI. You can compare an outside setup against your current Shopify Payments costs side by side. For a broader view of how online payments fit together, see our ecommerce payment processing setup guide.
Fees That Hide Outside the Headline Rate: Currency, Amex, and Chargebacks
The advertised rate covers a standard domestic card transaction. Several common situations cost more.
Currency Conversion
If you sell in multiple currencies, shoppers see local prices and pay in their own currency. Shopify Payments then converts those funds to your payout currency and generally charges a currency conversion fee for it. The fee is separate from the card rate and won't appear in the headline plan pricing.
If international orders make up a meaningful share of your sales, the conversion fee can matter as much as the plan rate. Our guide to multi-currency pricing that protects your margin covers rounding rules and price buffers that help absorb it.
International Cards and American Express
Cards issued outside your country can carry a higher rate than domestic cards. American Express pricing can also differ from Visa and Mastercard, depending on your country and setup. Check Shopify's rate details for your region. Then compare your customer mix: a store with many overseas buyers pays a different blended rate than a domestic-only store on the same plan.
Chargebacks
When a customer disputes a charge, you typically lose the sale amount while the dispute is open. You may also pay a chargeback fee. Whether that fee comes back if you win depends on the provider's current policy, so check it.
Disputes also cost staff time and can affect your account standing. Winning them starts with good evidence. Our walkthrough on how to respond to a chargeback in Shopify explains what to submit.
Shopify Basic vs. Shopify vs. Advanced Fees: Break-Even Math
Upgrading lowers your per-order cost but raises your subscription. The upgrade pays for itself once your monthly online card sales are high enough that the rate savings cover the extra subscription cost.
The Formula
Break-even monthly card sales = Extra monthly subscription cost ÷ Rate difference
Enter the rate difference as a decimal. A difference of half a percentage point is 0.005.
If the per-transaction fixed fee also differs between plans, add that savings in too: multiply the fixed-fee difference by your monthly order count.
If you use an outside gateway, run the same formula with the difference in Shopify's third-party transaction fee between plans.
An Illustrative Example
The numbers below are made up to show the method. They are not Shopify's actual prices.
Say Plan A costs $50 per month and Plan B costs $150 per month. Plan B's online card rate is 0.4 percentage points lower.
- Extra subscription cost: $100 per month
- Rate difference: 0.004
- Break-even: $100 ÷ 0.004 = $25,000 in monthly online card sales
| Monthly card sales (illustrative) | Rate savings on Plan B | Extra subscription | Net result of upgrading |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $40 | $100 | Costs $60 more |
| $25,000 | $100 | $100 | Break-even |
| $50,000 | $200 | $100 | Saves $100 |
What the Formula Leaves Out
- Use card sales only. Leave out orders paid through methods that don't carry the rate you're comparing.
- Use a typical month, not your best one. If your sales are seasonal, check whether you clear break-even across the year or only during your peak.
- Features count. Higher plans may include reporting, staff accounts or shipping benefits that have value apart from fees.
- Annual billing changes the subscription side of the equation.
How to Read Your Shopify Payouts to Find Your Effective Rate
Your effective rate is the one number that captures every layer:
Effective rate = Total payment-related fees ÷ Gross sales for the same period
Use a full month so the timing of refunds and disputes evens out.
Where to Find Each Fee
- Processing fees. If you use Shopify Payments, your payout records in the Shopify admin list charges, refunds, adjustments and fees for each payout. Export them for the month.
- Currency conversion fees. These appear in transaction-level payout details. Check how they're labeled in your export.
- Chargeback amounts and fees. These usually show as adjustments. Count the fees, and track the disputed funds separately.
- Third-party transaction fees. If you use an outside gateway, Shopify generally bills these through your Shopify invoice, not your payouts. Pull them from your billing section.
- Outside processor fees. If you use an outside provider, add the fees from that provider's monthly statement.
An Illustrative Calculation
Example figures for illustration only.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross card sales for the month | $40,000 |
| Processing fees | $1,150 |
| Currency conversion fees | $90 |
| Chargeback fees | $45 |
| Total fees | $1,285 |
| Effective rate | 3.21% |
Compare your effective rate with the headline rate for your plan. A large gap usually points to one of the add-ons: international cards, currency conversion or disputes. That tells you where to act first.
If payouts are delayed or held, your monthly numbers can look off. Our guide to a Shopify Payments payout on hold explains common causes.
Next Steps
- Look up the current rates and plan prices for your country on Shopify's pricing page.
- Calculate last month's effective rate from your payouts, your Shopify bill and any processor statements.
- Run the break-even formula for the next plan up, using your typical monthly card sales.
- If you use or are considering an outside gateway, include Shopify's third-party transaction fee in every comparison.
If you'd like an outside setup modeled against your current costs, explore MannyPay's online payment processing options or request a free processing quote. A MannyPay specialist responds within one business day. Savings depend on your sales volume, card mix and business profile, so compare the full cost before you switch.
This article is for general educational purposes and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Card network rules and state laws change; confirm current requirements for your business.
