Shopify Billing Plans: Cycles, Invoices & Plan Switching
A complete reference for Shopify's billing plans — the five plans, 30-day billing cycles, proration math, invoices and taxes, failed-payment recovery, and how to switch plans without losing data or money.
May 5, 2026·24 min read·
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30-day rolling cycles, not calendar months — invoice anchored to your plan-start date.
Upgrades are prorated; downgrades are not — credit on upgrade, lost days on downgrade.
Annual saves ~25% but locks cash for 12 months and is non-refundable mid-term.
Two failed charges trigger a freeze, not a cancel — 7 days to lockout, 30 to deactivation.
VAT, GST or US sales tax may be added by region — visible on the invoice only.
Real cost = plan + processing + apps; plan fee is the smallest of the three.
What You'll Learn
1How the 30-day billing cycle actually works
2When upgrades are free and downgrades cost you
3What's on the invoice and how taxes are added
4What happens when a charge fails and how to recover
5When pausing or cancelling is the right call
6Reading fees: plan + processing + apps + transaction
In This Article
What 'Shopify Billing Plan' Actually Means
When merchants say billing plan they usually mean one of three things, and the answer is different depending on which one. The subscription tier (Basic, Grow, Advanced, Plus) sets your monthly platform fee and feature ceiling. The processing rate tied to that tier (2.9% / 2.7% / 2.5% on Shopify Payments) sets your card fee on every order. And the contract term (monthly or annual) decides whether you pay full price each month or get the ~25% annual discount with cash locked for 12 months. All three affect your bill.
This guide is the operational reference: how the cycle is anchored, how proration is calculated when you upgrade or downgrade, what's actually on the invoice, how taxes are added by region, what happens when a charge fails, and the safest way to switch plans without losing data or money. The Shopify pricing page shows the headline fees; this guide covers everything that happens after you click Subscribe.
30 days
Billing cycle length
~25%
Annual vs monthly discount
3 fees
Plan + processing + apps
Editorial summary based on Shopify's published billing terms and Help Center documentation.
The Three-Number Rule
Your real Shopify cost is plan fee + processing fee + app fee. On a $30K/mo store on Basic with Shopify Payments, that's roughly $39 + $870 + $100 = $1,009 — the plan fee is under 4% of the total. Compare plans on the sum, not the headline.
The Five Plans at a Glance
Shopify currently sells five paid plans. The four below Plus are self-serve; Plus is sold through Shopify's enterprise team. Names and headline prices below reflect 2026 pricing — confirm against the live Shopify pricing page before you commit.
Plan
Monthly
Annual (per month)
Card processing
Staff
When it fits
Starter
$5/mo
$5/mo (no discount)
5% + 30¢ (online)
0 (owner only)
Social-selling and link-in-bio only — no full storefront
Basic
$39/mo
$29/mo billed yearly
2.9% + 30¢ (online)
0 (owner only)
First real plan; fits most stores up to ~$15K/mo
Grow (formerly Shopify)
$105/mo
$79/mo billed yearly
2.7% + 30¢ (online)
5
Crossover at ~$33K/mo — lower card rate funds the upgrade
Advanced
$399/mo
$299/mo billed yearly
2.5% + 30¢ (online)
15
Pays for itself near $147K/mo via card-rate savings
Shopify Pricing Plans Explained: Find the Best Plan for Your BusinessA 4-minute visual walkthrough of all Shopify tiers — useful if you prefer to see plan differences side-by-side before reading the breakdown below.
Shopify offers two contract terms on Basic, Grow, and Advanced: monthly and annual. The annual version is paid up front for 12 months and discounts roughly 25% off the monthly rate. The trade-off is liquidity: pre-paying $79 × 12 = $948 for Grow saves $312 over the year versus monthly billing, but if you downgrade or cancel in month 4, the remaining 8 months are not refunded.
Plan
Monthly
Annual (per mo)
Annual upfront
12-month saving
Basic
$39
$29
$348
$120
Grow
$105
$79
$948
$312
Advanced
$399
$299
$3,588
$1,200
The Annual-Switch Rule
Default to monthly billing for the first 6 months of any new store. Once three consecutive months sit comfortably above the plan's breakeven revenue (see the chart further down), switch to annual on the same tier and pocket the 25%. Switching monthly to annual is seamless — Shopify credits any unused days from the monthly period against the new annual term.
How the Shopify Billing Cycle Works
The billing cycle is the single thing most operators get wrong about Shopify. It is a 30-day rolling window anchored to your plan-start date, not a calendar month. If you started Basic on March 14, every future invoice posts on the 13th of the following month, regardless of how many days that month has. Upgrades shift the anchor to the upgrade day; downgrades preserve the existing anchor. There is no mid-cycle "draft" invoice you can preview — what you see in Settings → Billing is the running balance for the current cycle.
1
Day 0 — Anchor Date
The day you choose your plan and confirm a payment method becomes your billing anchor. Every future invoice for that plan is dated from this day, not from the 1st of the month. If you upgrade later, the anchor moves to the upgrade day.
2
Day 1–30 — The Service Period
Subscription, app charges, and overage transaction fees accrue during this window. Shipping labels purchased through Shopify Shipping are billed separately on a $50 threshold or every 30 days, whichever comes first.
3
Day 30 — Invoice Generated
Shopify automatically charges the saved payment method, emails the bill recipient, and stores a PDF in Settings → Billing. The invoice line-itemises subscription, third-party transaction fees, app subscriptions, and any taxes.
4
Day 30 — Cycle Restarts
A new 30-day window opens immediately. There is no buffer day. If your invoice posted on March 14, the next one will post on April 13 (30-day cycle, not 'next 14th').
“Your Shopify subscription is paid every 30 days, and is determined by the date when you signed up for Shopify or last changed your plan. Your subscription bill includes only your subscription fees, and is generated and billed separately from your usage charges.”
A standard Shopify bill has up to four sections, each a separate line group. Knowing the structure makes reconciliation in QuickBooks or Xero painless.
What a Typical Monthly Invoice Contains
Subscription: the flat plan fee for the next 30 days, charged in advance.
Third-party transaction fees: 2% / 1% / 0.6% on Basic / Grow / Advanced respectively (0.2% on Plus), applied only to orders processed through a non-Shopify Payments gateway during the previous cycle.
App charges: recurring app subscriptions and usage-based app charges (Klaviyo, Loop, Judge.me) billed by the app developer through Shopify on the same cycle.
Taxes: VAT, GST, HST/PST, or US state sales tax applied to the subscription where required by your country/state.
Shipping labels (separate bill): Shopify Shipping labels are billed on a $50 spend threshold or every 30 days, whichever comes first — they appear as their own invoice, not as a line on the subscription bill.
Currency & Statement Descriptor
Shopify bills your subscription in the currency tied to your store's billing region — USD for most US/global stores, CAD for Canadian, GBP for UK, EUR for EU. Once set, the billing currency cannot be changed without contacting Support and is independent of the currency your customers shop in. The card statement descriptor reads SHOPIFY* INVOICE followed by the bill ID, which makes finance reconciliation straightforward.
Proration: Upgrade and Downgrade Math
Proration is where merchants most often feel "billed twice". They are not — but the math is asymmetric and Shopify's documentation skims it. Here is the rule:
Worked Example: Basic → Grow on Day 10 of a 30-Day Cycle
Already paid: $39 for the full 30 days of Basic.
Credit for 20 unused days of Basic: $39 × (20 / 30) = $26.00 credited.
Charge for 20 days of Grow: $105 × (20 / 30) = $70.00 charged.
Net charge today: $70 − $26 = $44.00.
Next invoice on day 30 of original cycle: full $105 for the next 30 days of Grow.
The "extra" charge mid-cycle is the proration adjustment, not a duplicate billing. The bill ID on each charge is unique — track them by ID, not by amount.
Downgrades work differently and catch more operators off guard. If you drop from Grow to Basic on day 10, you keep Grow's features and the higher card rate for the remaining 20 days of the cycle. No credit is issued. On day 30 the plan switches to Basic and the next invoice charges $39 for the new 30-day Basic cycle. There is no penalty, but there is also no refund — the model assumes you got the value of the higher plan during the days you used it.
The Mid-Cycle Downgrade Trap
Operators sometimes downgrade mid-cycle expecting an immediate cost saving and a credit. Neither happens. The cost saving starts at the next billing cycle, not the moment you click Downgrade. If cash is the issue, downgrade at the start of a new cycle to capture the full saving.
Switching Plans Without Losing Data
Shopify's official guide to changing plans is brief because the operation itself is one click. The 90% of risk lives in the prep work and the post-switch cleanup. The checklist below covers both directions.
Pre-Switch Checklist (do the day before)
Export staff list if downgrading to a tier with fewer staff seats — the extras will be deactivated, not deleted, but you lose the visibility.
Audit shipping profiles — discounts and carrier-calculated rates change with the plan; print or screenshot current settings.
Note Shopify Payments processing rate currently in effect — your post-switch rate is on the new plan immediately for upgrades, on the next cycle for downgrades.
Check for B2B catalogues, draft orders, or location-specific apps that depend on the higher plan — most app limits enforce the same day.
Verify the bill recipient email — the proration adjustment lands within minutes of the switch.
Should You Switch Plans Now?
Upgrade now (correct call)
3 consecutive months above the breakeven revenue band
Card-rate savings exceed the plan-price delta
You need a feature on the higher tier (extra staff, lower shipping rates, B2B catalogues)
You can absorb proration on the upgrade day
Annual term aligns with a steady forecast
Stay on current plan
Last 90 days had volatile revenue
Missing feature can be solved with an app under the price delta
Cash flow is tight — plan fee compounds 12× a year
You are about to enter a slow season
You haven't run the breakeven model — guess later, save now
Transaction Fees vs Plan Fees vs Processing Fees
These three terms are used loosely across forums and even Shopify's own marketing. They are not the same and they stack differently.
Fee
Who charges it
Basic
Grow
Advanced
Plan / subscription fee
Shopify (flat per cycle)
$39
$105
$399
Online card processing
Shopify Payments (per order)
2.9% + 30¢
2.7% + 30¢
2.5% + 30¢
3rd-party transaction fee
Shopify (only if NOT using Shopify Payments)
2.0%
1.0%
0.6%
The third-party transaction fee is the one most merchants forget about when they pick PayPal-only or a regional gateway. It is purely a Shopify charge — the payment processor's own fee is on top. For deeper detail on rates, refunds, and chargebacks, our complete Shopify Payments guide covers the full picture.
Add-ons, App Charges & Variable Fees
Most "Why is my Shopify bill higher than I expected?" tickets trace back to one of the items below. None of them appear on the public pricing page, but all of them appear on a real invoice once volume builds.
Charge
Typical amount
When it applies
App subscriptions
$0–$500+/mo per app
Recurring or usage-based; billed by the developer through Shopify on your same 30-day cycle. Each charge requires merchant approval on install — capped amounts must be re-approved if usage exceeds the cap.
POS Lite is included free on every plan; POS Pro (staff PINs, smart inventory, unlimited registers, retail analytics) costs $89/mo for each retail location, on top of any plan. Plus includes 20 POS Pro locations (or 200 with Shopify Payments).
Chargeback fee
$15 per dispute (Shopify Payments)
Charged when a customer disputes a card payment. Refunded if you win the dispute. Other gateways set their own chargeback fees.
Currency conversion
1.5% US / 2% rest of world
Applied per order when a customer pays in a currency different from your payout currency on Shopify Payments. Surfaces inside the per-order fee, not as a separate invoice line.
Shopify Shipping labels
Carrier rate per label
Billed on a separate invoice when label spend hits $50 or every 30 days, whichever first. Not part of the subscription bill.
Plus variable platform fee
Greater of $2,300/mo or 0.40% of revenue
Plus is billed as the higher of the $2,300/mo flat fee or 0.40% of monthly revenue, capped at $40,000/mo. The crossover sits near $575K/mo ($2,300 ÷ 0.004) — below that you pay the flat fee, above it the variable rate kicks in.
App Charge Mechanics
Every Shopify app subscription posts as a line on your next Shopify invoice, not the app developer's own bill. Uninstalling an app does not refund the current cycle by default — the charge is for service already accrued. Usage-based apps (like Klaviyo email volume) require an approved cap; if you cross the cap mid-cycle, the app prompts you to approve a higher limit before sending continues.
How Much Does it REALLY Cost to Sell on Shopify? (Full Breakdown)A 12-minute breakdown of every line on a real Shopify invoice — plan, processing, transaction fees, apps, and the hidden costs most operators miss. Watch before modelling your own monthly cost.
True Cost by Revenue Band
Most plan-vs-plan articles compare features. The harder, more useful comparison is total monthly cost across realistic revenue bands. The chart below uses a $50 average order value and Shopify Payments rates — switch to a different AOV and the crossover points shift, but the shape stays the same.
Read the chart in two passes. First, find your current monthly revenue on the X axis. Second, look at which bar is shortest at that revenue — that is your cheapest plan today, all-in. Below ~$25K/mo Basic almost always wins; between $25K and $100K the gap between Basic and Grow narrows then flips; above $100K Advanced begins to pay for itself via the lower 2.5% card rate.
When Each Upgrade Pays for Itself
The breakeven view inverts the question: at what revenue does the next plan up actually save money on processing fees alone, after paying its higher subscription? Above $0 on the chart means upgrade pays off; below $0 means stay where you are.
Two clean rules emerge. Basic → Grow breaks even near $33K/mo: above that, the 0.2-percentage-point card-rate drop saves more than the $66/mo plan delta. Grow → Advanced breaks even near $147K/mo: a much higher bar because the plan delta is $294/mo and the card-rate drop is only 0.2 points. Most independent stores never need Advanced; the ones that do, need it for the staff seats and shipping discounts as much as the card rate.
Taxes on Your Subscription
Shopify's pricing page shows pre-tax numbers. Your real bill almost always carries an extra tax line, and the rules depend on where your business is registered. The summary below covers the major regions; consult Shopify's tax-on-subscription documentation for full country detail and any updates.
Region
Tax type
Rate
Reclaim if VAT/GST registered?
EU
VAT
Local rate (19–25%)
Yes — add VAT number to remove the charge under reverse charge
UK
VAT
20%
Yes — reclaim via VAT return; add VAT number to invoice
Australia
GST
10%
Yes — add ABN to invoice
Canada
GST/HST/PST
5–15% (province dependent)
Yes — add GST/HST number for input tax credit
USA
State sales tax
Varies by state
Generally no; treat as deductible business expense
Add Your Tax Number on Day One
Go to Settings → Billing → Tax registration and enter your VAT, GST, ABN, or HST number before your first invoice generates. The number applies to subsequent bills only — Shopify will not retroactively re-issue past invoices. EU/UK merchants who register a valid VAT ID typically see the VAT line drop to zero under reverse-charge rules; AU/CA merchants see the line stay but become reclaim-eligible.
Failed Payments & Account Holds
Failed-payment recovery is one of the most common live support tickets and one of the easiest to avoid. The system is designed to be forgiving: Shopify retries automatically, surfaces a banner in admin, and emails the bill recipient before any access is restricted.
1
Charge Attempt 1 Fails
Card declined, expired, or insufficient funds. Shopify retries automatically within hours and sends an email to the bill recipient with a 'Pay outstanding bills' link in admin.
2
Up to 7 Days — Soft Hold
Storefront stays live, customers can still check out. Admin shows a yellow banner with the unpaid amount. Apps may pause renewals individually depending on their own rules.
3
After 7 Days — Staff Lockout
Owner can still log in to fix billing, but staff accounts may be blocked. The storefront usually stays open longer than admin access; do not rely on this — fix the card immediately.
4
After 30+ Days — Account Frozen
Storefront is taken offline (replaced with a 'store unavailable' page) and the account is paused. Data is retained — you can reactivate by paying the outstanding balance. Past 90 days the account moves toward deletion per Shopify's data retention policy.
The 'No Backup Card' Failure Mode
The single most common cause of a Shopify storefront going offline is an expired primary card with no backup payment method on file. Add a backup card under Settings → Billing → Payment methods today. Shopify charges the primary first; if it declines, the backup is tried automatically before any banner or email is generated.
Pause, Cancel and Reactivate
Operators frequently confuse pausing and cancelling. They are different products with different recovery paths. The decision usually comes down to one question: are you coming back, and within how many months?
Reactivation is straightforward in any of the three states. Pause and Build returns to a paid plan with one click. A cancelled store can be reopened from the same login within the retention window — products, customers, themes, and apps all restore. Past 90 days the data is no longer guaranteed; export everything before cancelling regardless of which path you choose.
Refunds & Credits
The default policy is no refunds on subscription fees. The cycle has already accrued and the service was available. Shopify's own billing documentation states this explicitly. Three categories of refund are nonetheless granted in practice:
Refundable Categories
Duplicate charges: rare but happen during plan-switch glitches. Surface within 14 days with the two bill IDs and Support reverses one almost always within a week.
Billing errors: wrong plan charged, prorated incorrectly, or app charge applied after uninstall. Provide the bill ID and screenshots; case decided in 5–10 business days.
Proven service outage credits: Shopify occasionally issues credit (not always cash refund) for the cycle when a documented multi-hour outage affected your store. Reference the Shopify status page incident URL in your ticket.
App charges work the same way: the app developer sets refund policy, and Shopify forwards reasonable refund requests for charges within ~30 days of the bill. Past 30 days you typically need to contact the app developer directly. Do not assume "uninstalled the app" auto-refunds the cycle — it does not.
Trial, Promo & the First Real Invoice
The Shopify trial flow has changed several times. As of 2026, new merchants typically get a 3-day free trial followed by an offer to extend for $1/month for the first 3 months on Basic. That means the first full-price invoice posts on day 94 (3 trial days + 90 promo days), not day 4. The math matters for cash-flow planning. For full mechanics see our 3-month trial and $1 promotion guides.
Trial & Promo Timeline
Day 1–3: free trial, full Basic features. No card needed to browse, but a card is required to launch the storefront and accept the promo.
Day 4–93: $1/month promo. First charge posts on day 4 ($1.00), second on day 34 ($1.00), third on day 64 ($1.00).
Day 94: first full-price Basic invoice ($39 or local equivalent).
Day 94+: standard 30-day cycles continue, anchored to day 94.
Start your Shopify trial in 2 minutes
Spin up a Shopify store to test the billing flow first-hand — see the 30-day cycle, the invoice format, and how plan-switching proration appears in your admin.
Most billing problems are solved inside Shopify admin without contacting Support. The six settings below cover ~95% of operational billing tasks for a typical store.
Settings → Billing
Plan, payment method, bill recipient, billing currency
The single source of truth. Switch plans here, update card or PayPal, change the email that receives invoices, set a separate finance contact, and toggle automatic tax on the subscription where supported.
Bills tab
Every past invoice as PDF + CSV export
Each bill itemises subscription, app charges, transaction fees, shipping, and taxes. Download for accounting; export 12 months as CSV for year-end. Bill IDs (e.g. INV12345) are what Shopify Support references in tickets.
Bill recipient
Optional finance email separate from owner
By default invoices go to the owner email. Add a finance contact under Settings → Billing → Bill recipient so accounting receives PDFs without giving them admin access. Common oversight that delays month-end close.
Payment methods
Card, PayPal, or bank debit (region-dependent)
Shopify accepts major cards in every region; PayPal in many; SEPA direct debit in parts of the EU. Add a backup card — the system charges the primary first, but a saved backup prevents the entire failed-payment cascade.
Tax fields on invoice
Add VAT/GST/ABN number for tax-correct billing
Add your VAT, GST, ABN, or business tax ID under Settings → Billing → Tax registration so it appears on every invoice. Required to reclaim VAT in the EU/UK and to satisfy ATO and CRA filing requirements.
Shopify Balance / Payouts
Where Shopify Payments deposits land
Payments and subscription billing are separate flows. Subscription is charged from your saved payment method; payouts (your sales) land in your bank or Shopify Balance account on a separate schedule (T+1 to T+5, country-dependent).
Common Billing Pitfalls
These six come up in every operator forum, every Shopify Help thread, and every accountant's first month with a new client. Recognize the patterns now.
Annual lock without budget runway
Pre-paying a year, then needing to downgrade in month 4
Annual billing saves 25% but is non-refundable mid-term. Common mistake: a founder pre-pays Advanced annual ($299/mo × 12 = $3,588) on optimistic forecasts, then needs Basic by month 4 — the 8 unused months at the higher tier are gone. Pay monthly until revenue is steady; switch to annual once 3 consecutive months exceed your plan's breakeven.
Downgrade-day data loss expectation
Assuming features stay accessible after a downgrade
Downgrades are immediate. The day you drop from Grow to Basic, the extra 3 staff accounts disappear, the staff hours you ran on the Grow plan are no longer accessible the same way, and any feature gated to the higher plan turns off. Do the cleanup (export staff list, archive shipping profiles) the day before, not after.
Missing VAT/GST number on invoice
Cannot reclaim VAT or report business expense correctly
Without your business VAT, GST or ABN added under Settings → Billing → Tax registration, Shopify issues a personal-format invoice that your accountant cannot use to reclaim input tax. Add the number on day one. It applies retroactively only on subsequent bills, not historical ones.
Single payment method, no backup
One expired card freezes the storefront
Shopify charges the primary payment method only. If it fails (expired, blocked, fraud lock), the cascade starts immediately. Add a backup card under Settings → Billing → Payment methods so a single decline never takes the storefront offline.
Ignoring transaction-fee line
Comparing plan fees but missing the bigger number
On a $30K/mo store at 2.9% card rate, processing fees are $870/mo — 22× the Basic plan fee. Comparing $39 vs $105 plans without modelling the 0.2 percentage-point card-rate drop misses the actual cost driver. Always compute total cost = plan + processing + apps.
Pause-then-forget
Pause on Hold runs $0 but locks the storefront
'Pause and Build' costs $9/mo and keeps admin open with no storefront sales — useful while rebuilding. The legacy 'Pause on Hold' (selectively offered) is fully free but locks both admin and storefront. Operators sometimes select Pause on Hold expecting a soft pause and find themselves unable to log in to fix it without reactivating to a paid plan.
The Bottom Line
Pick the plan whose total cost (subscription + processing + apps + transaction fees) is lowest at your current revenue, not the one with the most features. Default to monthly billing while revenue is volatile. Add a backup payment method, your business tax ID, and a separate finance bill recipient on day one. Switch plans on cycle boundaries when possible. Understand that downgrades save money next cycle, not today.
Set up the billing fundamentals before you obsess over the plan choice. Backup card, tax ID, finance email, and a habit of downloading invoices monthly remove 90% of billing friction. The plan you start on is reversible in one click; the operational hygiene compounds for years.
Your Next Step by Stage
Start Your Free Shopify TrialSee the 30-day billing cycle, invoice format, and plan-switching proration first-hand inside admin.Start Free Trial
Read: Choose the Right Shopify PlanDecision framework that matches plan to revenue, AOV, and feature needs — the deeper companion to this guide.View Guide
Read: Shopify Pricing ExplainedFull plan-by-plan breakdown including features, hidden costs, and the True Cost Calculator.View Guide
Frequently Asked Questions
Shopify bills on a 30-day rolling cycle anchored to the day you started or last upgraded the plan, not the 1st of each calendar month. If you started on March 14, the next charge posts on April 13 (30 days later). Upgrading shifts the anchor to the upgrade day; downgrading does not. The exact date is shown under Settings → Billing.
Shopify retries automatically within hours and emails the bill recipient. Up to 7 days the storefront stays live with a banner. After roughly a week, staff access is restricted; after 30+ days the storefront is taken offline. Data is retained on a frozen account until you settle the balance — pay the outstanding bill from Settings → Billing to reactivate.
Upgrades are prorated. If you switch from Basic ($39) to Grow ($105) 10 days into your cycle, Shopify credits the unused 20 days of Basic ($26 credit) and charges 20 days of Grow ($70). The remaining balance shows on your next invoice. Downgrades are not prorated — you keep the higher plan's features through the cycle, then drop on day 30.
Downgrade keeps all store data — only feature access changes (extra staff accounts, B2B catalogs, shipping discounts revert). Cancel pauses the store and retains data for ~90 days, after which it may be deleted per Shopify's retention policy. Export products, customers, and orders from the admin before cancelling, and consider Pause and Build ($9/mo) as a low-cost retention path.
Annual billing saves about 25% on Basic, Grow, and Advanced versus paying monthly. The trade-off is locked cash and a non-refundable mid-term commitment — if you downgrade or cancel three months in, the remaining nine months are not refunded. Pay monthly while revenue is volatile; switch to annual once three consecutive months sit comfortably above your plan's breakeven point.
Yes, depending on your country and state. EU/UK customers see VAT, Australians see GST, Canadians see GST/HST/PST, and US merchants see state sales tax in jurisdictions where Shopify is required to collect (varies). Add your business VAT/GST/ABN under Settings → Billing → Tax registration so the invoice is issued in your business name and you can reclaim input tax where eligible.
Go to Settings → Billing → Bills. Every past invoice is listed with its date, status, and total; click any bill to download a PDF or open a printable view. For accounting, export the last 12 months as CSV. Add a separate bill recipient email under Settings → Billing if you want invoices delivered to your finance person without granting admin access.
Processing fees go to the payment processor for handling the card (e.g., 2.9% + 30¢ to Shopify Payments). Transaction fees are an extra Shopify surcharge applied only when you use a third-party gateway instead of Shopify Payments — 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, 0.2% on Plus. Use Shopify Payments and the transaction fee drops to 0%.
Yes. 'Pause and Build' costs $9/mo and keeps admin fully open while disabling checkout — products, themes, and apps stay editable. It is the standard pause path while a store rebuilds or seasonally shuts. Some legacy stores were offered a 'Pause on Hold' option that was free but locked both admin and storefront; this is no longer broadly available, and Pause and Build is the recommended route.
As a rule, Shopify does not refund partial-month subscription fees, annual prepayments, or app charges past the trial period. Exceptions exist for billing errors, duplicate charges, or proven service outages — request via Shopify Support from inside the admin (not by email) with the bill ID. Approved refunds typically credit the original payment method within 5–10 business days.
Yes. POS Lite is included free on every plan for casual in-person sales. POS Pro — required for advanced retail features like staff PINs, smart inventory, and unlimited registers — costs $89/month per retail location on top of your plan fee. A merchant on Grow with three retail stores using POS Pro pays $105 + (3 × $89) = $372/month before processing fees. POS hardware is separate.
Uninstalling an app does not automatically refund the current 30-day cycle — the charge is treated as service already rendered. The next cycle will not include the app, but the current one stays. To request a partial refund, contact the app developer (not Shopify) within roughly 30 days of the bill, with the bill ID. Most reputable developers will pro-rate; smaller ones may not.
Front-end developer specializing in Shopify since 2017. Experienced in building custom Liquid themes, optimizing storefront performance, and integrating third-party apps. Writes in-depth, data-driven e-commerce guides based on hands-on experience with real merchant stores.
This article was written entirely by AI under human editorial direction. The editor sets the topic and structure, runs multi-stage validation on facts, links, and interactive elements, and verifies the output is useful from a business perspective. All claims are checked against official Shopify sources. Details may change — always confirm critical data at shopify.com.
