Shopify Payments fees by plan (2.9% + 30¢ and down), setup steps, the third-party gateway surcharge, chargebacks, and how it compares to Stripe and PayPal.
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Shopify Payments charges 2.9% + 30¢ per online card sale on the US Basic plan and 2.25% + 30¢ on Plus, and it is the only way to avoid the 0.2%–2% surcharge Shopify adds on top of an external gateway's fees (PayPal transactions are exempt if you elect to use Shopify Payments as your primary payment provider).
For merchants selling non-restricted products in supported countries, that makes it the cheapest option, and the recommended setup for most merchants pairs it with PayPal.
It covers 41 countries and regions; if your business is registered elsewhere, you need a third-party gateway and pay the 0.2%–2% Shopify fee on every order.
What's New Since Publication: Updated since publication · 8 changes
China appears on the Shopify Payments list, by invitation only
Shopify's supported-countries list now includes China: Shopify Payments there is in early access and available by invitation only, for merchants with a mainland China business entity selling cross-border. Counted on October 14, 2026, the list holds 41 countries and regions, up from 40; the supported-countries section below now lists China.
Shopify's UAE help pages no longer call Shopify Payments early access
Shopify's requirements page for the United Arab Emirates, read on October 10, 2026, no longer describes Shopify Payments there as early access and names no plan; it requires a company registration number and says non-profit organizations aren't currently eligible. Shopify's changelog post of August 26, 2026 is still live and says the feature is available on the Advanced plan, having previously been available only on Plus. No Shopify page we read says it has opened to Basic or Grow.
Shopify's help pages no longer state a Plus waiver of third-party transaction fees
An archived copy of Shopify's fees page from October 1, 2026 still said Plus stores that use Shopify Payments as their sole payment provider have their third-party transaction fees waived. Read on October 10, 2026, that sentence is on none of the eight Shopify Help Center pages or two pricing pages we checked. No page says the waiver ended and none says it still applies, so this guide no longer states one. The plan rates — 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, 0.2% on Plus — are unchanged.
Shopify reworded the PayPal exemption from third-party transaction fees
An archived copy of Shopify's fees page from October 1, 2026 still listed PayPal Express Checkout among the payment methods that aren't charged third-party transaction fees when you use Shopify Payments. Read on October 10, 2026, that list no longer names PayPal; Shopify's pages now say that if you elect to use Shopify Payments as your primary payment provider, PayPal transactions are exempt from third-party transaction fees. The PayPal sections of this guide now use that wording.
Shopify removed the support-review route to Stripe after a Terms of Service violation
Shopify's payment gateway availability page, read on July 23, 2026, said a merchant in a Shopify Payments supported country who was in violation of the Shopify Payments Terms of Service could contact Shopify Support to have their eligibility for Stripe reviewed. The same page, read on September 16, 2026, no longer carries that sentence: it now says that if you're in a Shopify Payments region and can't activate Shopify Payments, standalone Stripe isn't available as an alternative.
Plus third-party-fee waiver now requires Shopify Payments as the sole provider
Archived copies of Shopify's Shopify Payments overview page show the wording changed between May 5 and August 16, 2026. It used to waive transaction fees for all other payment methods on Plus stores using Shopify Payments as their primary gateway; it now waives third-party transaction fees for Plus stores that use Shopify Payments as their sole payment provider, and says transaction fees apply if you use Shopify Payments alongside a third-party provider. Shopify's third-party providers page says the Plus waiver might apply when you activate Shopify Payments, depending on your location.
Shopify's US payout window is now 3–5 business days
Shopify rewrote its US Shopify Payments payouts page: payouts now typically arrive within 3 to 5 business days after a customer's payment is captured, and the same page puts the US minimum settlement time at 3 business days. We last read the old 2–5 wording live on August 10, 2026, and the new wording on September 10 and September 16, 2026.
Shopify's pricing page now prints Plus card rates as numbers
An archived copy of Shopify's US pricing page from September 14, 2026 still read "Most competitive rates" in the Plus column's online card-rate rows; the copy from September 15, 2026 prints numbers there. Read live on September 16, 2026, the Plus column lists 2.25% + 30¢ for online standard cards, 2.95% + 30¢ for online premium cards and 2.3% + 10¢ for in-person cards — the Plus in-person cell in the fee table below now shows that number.
Shopify Payments is Shopify's native payment processing solution — a fully integrated gateway that lets you accept credit cards, debit cards, and digital wallets without setting up a separate payment provider. Shopify names Stripe as Shopify Payments' banking partner, and its help center names Stripe, PayPal and Adyen among the processors behind Shopify Payments, depending on your region. Where Shopify Payments is supported, you can't connect a Stripe account you already run elsewhere, though — our FAQ on whether Shopify uses Stripe unpacks exactly how the two relate.
The biggest advantage? No third-party transaction fees. When you use any external payment gateway on Shopify (Authorize.net, for example), Shopify charges an additional0.2%–2% surcharge on every transaction — on top of whatever the gateway itself charges. Shopify Payments is the only way to avoid this penalty. Stores created on or after May 12, 2025 still pay it on the store-credit and gift-card part of an order.
“When you use Shopify Payments, you aren't charged third-party transaction fees for orders that are processed through Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, and Shop Pay Installments, and you aren't charged transaction fees on manual payment methods such as cash, cash on delivery (COD), and bank transfers. If you elect to use Shopify Payments as your primary payment provider, then PayPal transactions are exempt from third-party transaction fees.”
That COD line item is a manual payment method, not a Shopify Payments feature — it ships the order unpaid and leaves collection to you at the door. Our FAQ on whether Shopify supports cash on delivery covers the setup toggle, the surcharge/OTP apps merchants add on top, and where COD fits alongside the gateway you pick here.
Accept all major credit and debit cards without separate merchant accounts. Brands vary by country — JCB in Japan, for example, and Eftpos in person in Australia.
Digital Wallets
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay
Support Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay — Shopify's accelerated checkout, which Shopify says converts as much as 50% better than guest checkout.
PCI DSS Level 1
Highest security certification
Fully PCI DSS Level 1 compliant. All card data encrypted and tokenized. That certification covers Shopify's environment; validating your own store to your acquirer is separate.
Automatic Payouts
Daily, weekly, or monthly
Funds deposited to your bank on a schedule you choose. Shopify quotes US payouts at 3–5 business days from when a payment is captured.
Fraud Analysis
Built-in risk indicators
Online card orders get fraud analysis: indicators such as AVS and CVV checks and, for eligible orders, a fraud recommendation powered by machine learning.
Unified Reporting
Payments inside your admin
All payment data, payouts, and fees visible directly in your Shopify admin. No switching between dashboards or platforms.
Where that split actually lands — which document an acquirer asks a Shopify merchant for, who issues it, and what changes it — is the subject of our guide to which parts of PCI compliance are yours on Shopify.
Shopify Payments also tokenizes saved cards for recurring billing — the engine behind recurring payments on Shopify, which run through subscription apps whose fees and churn tools vary, as our subscription apps comparison lays out.
How a Transaction Flows
Key takeaway
When a customer enters their card details at checkout, Shopify Payments handles the entire payment flow — from card authorization to payout:
1
Customer Checks Out
Customer enters card details or taps Apple Pay/Google Pay/Shop Pay at your Shopify checkout. Card data is encrypted instantly.
2
Authorization & Fraud Check
The card network (Visa/Mastercard) authorizes the charge. Shopify runs fraud analysis on the order — indicators such as AVS and CVV checks and, for eligible orders, a machine-learning fraud recommendation.
3
Order Confirmed
If approved, the order is created in your Shopify admin. The customer receives an order confirmation email. The charge is placed as 'pending' in your Payments section.
4
Settlement
Shopify settles the transaction with the card network. Processing fees (e.g., 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic) are deducted automatically from the transaction amount.
5
Payout to Your Bank
Net funds are deposited to your connected bank account on your chosen schedule. US: 3–5 business days from capture, per Shopify. UK/Canada: 3 business days minimum settlement, plus bank posting time.
Selling in the US and want the settlement-versus-bank-arrival breakdown? See our FAQ on how long Shopify takes to pay you. For the whole payout side of the account — choosing a daily, weekly or monthly schedule, what the pending balance means, and the cash-flow gap the first payouts open — see our guide to how Shopify pays you.
Shop Pay is Shopify's accelerated checkout that saves customer shipping and payment information for one-tap purchasing. It's free to use and enabled automatically with Shopify Payments — one of the strongest reasons to use the built-in processor over alternatives.
“Shop Pay is an accelerated checkout option designed to enhance the shopping experience for customers on your Shopify store and on Shop. It allows customers to save their email address, payment method, and shipping and billing information, making the checkout process faster and more convenient.”
One clarification the quote hints at: Shop Pay also works on Shop, Shopify's consumer shopping app — a separate product from the platform you sell on. Our guide on Shopify versus the Shop app untangles the two.
Shop Pay Installments is the other half of that name and a separate decision: it is the pay-over-time option quoted above as exempt from third-party transaction fees, and it carries its own merchant fee rather than your card rate. If you are weighing it against the providers merchants usually shortlist next to it, our comparison of Shop Pay Installments versus Klarna, Afterpay and Affirm puts the costs and the eligibility rules side by side.
Complete Shopify Payments Fee Structure (2026)
Key takeaway
Shopify Payments fees are determined by your Shopify plan. Higher plans = lower card processing rates. None of this is a percentage-based commission on your revenue the way a marketplace charges — our FAQ on whether Shopify takes a cut of your sales breaks down exactly what you pay and why.
Paying by wallet doesn't change that bill: Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay add no fee of their own, so the card rate below applies whichever one the shopper taps. Our comparison of Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay covers the two cases that do add a charge.
International cards can double your effective rate
A US-based store on the Basic plan processing a card from a European customer with currency conversion pays: 2.9% + 30¢ (base) + 1% (international) + 1.5% (conversion) = 5.4% + 30¢ per transaction. On a $100 order, that's $5.70 in fees — nearly double the domestic rate. If you sell internationally, factor this into your pricing strategy or use Shopify Markets to manage local pricing. Markets keeps the price your customer sees stable; it does not remove the conversion fee, which Shopify charges whether you use automatic exchange rates or set them manually.
One more change worth noting: since April 6, 2026, Shopify calculates the currency conversion fee directly on the gross order amount — without first deducting Shopify Payments fees, as it previously did. In practice, the effective conversion charge now equals the nominal rate (1.5% for US stores, 2% in other regions) rather than a slightly smaller figure netted against fees first.
Enter your monthly metrics to see effective Shopify Payments rates across all plans — including international card surcharges.
Check if international customers pay in their local currency
BasicBest
$360
processing fees/mo
Base rate2.9% + 30¢
Effective rate (% of revenue)3.60%
Plan fee$39/mo
Total cost$399/mo
Grow
$340
processing fees/mo
Base rate2.7% + 30¢
Effective rate (% of revenue)3.40%
Plan fee$105/mo
Total cost$445/mo
Advanced
$320
processing fees/mo
Base rate2.5% + 30¢
Effective rate (% of revenue)3.20%
Plan fee$399/mo
Total cost$719/mo
Plus
$295
processing fees/mo
Base rate2.25% + 30¢
Effective rate (% of revenue)2.95%
Plan fee$2300/mo
Total cost$2,595/mo
* Estimates based on Shopify Payments US online rates. In-person card rates are lower on Basic, Grow and Advanced; on Plus (2.3% + 10¢ in person vs 2.25% + 30¢ online) they come out cheaper only on sales under $400. Actual costs may vary. Does not include chargebacks or currency conversion fees beyond the % surcharge.
What If You Don't Use Shopify Payments?
Key takeaway
If you choose an external gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify charges a third-party transaction fee on every sale — in addition to the gateway's own processing fees. Review Shopify's third-party providers documentation for the full list of supported gateways. This guide covers the mechanics and setup of Shopify Payments itself — if you're weighing a specific external gateway against that surcharge, see our gateway comparison and third-party surcharge math for the region-by-region breakdown.
If you are on Plus and run a second gateway, budget for the 0.2% on every order that gateway processes. As of October 10, 2026 no Shopify page we read states a waiver, so ask Shopify Plus support to confirm one in writing before you count on it.
PayPal is the exception
Shopify says third-party transaction fees apply to all transactions processed through third-party and alternate payment gateways, even when Shopify Payments is activated — with one stated exception: if you elect to use Shopify Payments as your primary payment provider, PayPal transactions are exempt, so on those orders you pay PayPal's own processing rates only. In the United States and France, a store using Shopify Payments can add PayPal only through Shopify Payments' PayPal Wallet.
“When you use Shopify Payments as your sole payment provider, there are no third-party transaction fees for orders.”
Bottom line: Unless you're in a country where Shopify Payments isn't available, or you sell a product your payment processor won't handle, there's almost no financial reason to use an external gateway. To understand how payment fees fit into your total Shopify costs, see our Shopify Pricing Explained guide.
Shopify Payments vs Stripe vs PayPal: Which Should You Use?
Key takeaway
The three most common payment processors merchants weigh are Shopify Payments, Stripe, and PayPal. One caveat before the numbers: where Shopify Payments is available in your country, Shopify does not offer Stripe as a separate gateway you can switch on — so the Stripe column below reflects running Stripe directly on a custom-built or non-Shopify storefront, included purely as a cost benchmark — no Shopify surcharge applies there, and none of Shopify's features come with it. Here's how they compare:
Stripe, PayPal and Shopify rates read on October 10, 2026 (US).
The recommended setup
For most Shopify merchants, the optimal payment configuration is: Shopify Payments as your primary payment provider + PayPal alongside it (in the United States and France, a store on Shopify Payments adds PayPal only through Shopify Payments' PayPal Wallet). This gives you the lowest processing costs (no third-party surcharge) while offering customers a familiar alternative payment method. PayPal's US checkout page, read in October 2026, prints survey shares about PayPal users rather than a conversion-lift figure, so treat any uplift as something to measure in your own checkout rather than a number to budget against.
If you're just getting started, our Shopify $1/month trial guide covers what to check in Settings → Plan before the first full-price bill.
Shopify Payments: Supported Countries (2026)
Key takeaway
Shopify Payments is not available globally. If your business is registered in an unsupported country, you'll need to use a third-party payment gateway (and pay the additional transaction fees). A business registered in Malaysia, for instance, is not on the list; how Shopify's fee there compares with Shopline, whose own processor has a Malaysia page, is covered in our Shopify vs Shopline comparison. Here's the current list as reported by Shopify's official documentation:
Americas, Asia-Pacific & Middle East
United States
Canada
Mexico
Australia
New Zealand
Japan
Singapore
Hong Kong SAR
United Arab Emirates (Plus, and Advanced since August 2026 — per Shopify's changelog)
One entry on that list has a plan history the others do not. Shopify's changelog post of August 26, 2026 says merchants on the Advanced plan in the United Arab Emirates can now accept payments through Shopify Payments, which was previously available only on Plus. Shopify's requirements page for the UAE, read on October 10, 2026, names no plan: it requires a company registration number and says non-profit organizations aren't currently eligible. Neither page says Basic or Grow stores are eligible, so a UAE business on one of those plans should check Settings → Payments in its own admin before budgeting either way.
Not in a supported country?
If Shopify Payments isn't available in your region, you can still use Shopify — but you'll need a third-party gateway such as PayPal or a local payment processor from the providers Shopify lists for your region. Remember: this means paying the additional 0.2%–2% Shopify transaction fee on every order — the PayPal exemption above does not reach this case, because Shopify ties it to using Shopify Payments as your primary payment provider. For merchants in unsupported regions, consider whether this cost impacts your decision — see our integration guide for alternative setups. Slovakia, for example, is not on Shopify's list of Shopify Payments countries as of October 2026 — what that means for a Slovak store weighing Shopify against Shoptet.
Prohibited & Restricted Products on Shopify Payments
Key takeaway
While Shopify as a platform allows a wide range of products, Shopify Payments has its own restrictions — separate from Shopify's general acceptable use policy. You can sell certain products on Shopify, but you may not be able to process payments for them through Shopify Payments.
The categories below are the ones payment processors most commonly prohibit or restrict — our own compilation, not a Shopify document. Shopify’s own Payments eligibility page names six high-level categories and calls that list non-exhaustive; the binding country list is your processor’s, and it can change without notice.
Prohibited Categories
CBD, cannabis, and drug paraphernalia
Firearms, ammunition, and weapons
Tobacco and vaping products
Adult content and services
Gambling and betting services
Virtual currencies and cryptocurrencies
Multi-level marketing (MLM)
Counterfeit or replica goods
High-Risk / Restricted
Supplements and nutraceuticals
Alcohol (region-dependent)
Subscription boxes with variable contents
High-ticket luxury goods (high chargeback risk)
Dropshipping with long shipping times
Digital goods with high refund rates
The cryptocurrency entry is about what you sell, not how customers pay: where your store and account representative are in USDC-eligible regions, Shopify Payments can offer USDC as a checkout payment method, and our guide to setting up crypto payments on Shopify walks through turning it on or adding a crypto processor instead. NFTs are a separate case: Shopify documents first-party, primary NFT sales through Shopify Payments for sellers it has approved.
The Shopify Payments Terms of Service name no categories themselves: they say the business types that count as Prohibited or Restricted "are provided by each Payment Processor in your designated country", on lists that are "meant to be representative but not exhaustive".
Which of the four rulebooks actually blocks a given product — the platform policy, Shopify Payments, a sales channel, or the Managed Markets list — is the subject of what you can't sell on Shopify. And once a business lands in that restricted tier, who reviews and approves it is a separate question the terms answer in their own words.
Suspension can happen without warning
Shopify's automated systems can flag and suspend your Shopify Payments account without prior notice if they detect policy violations. If suspended, your pending payouts can be held while the account is reviewed, and the Shopify Payments Terms set no time limit on that. Always review the Shopify Acceptable Use Policy and Shopify Payments' terms before launching your store.
“You can't use Shopify to do anything that's illegal where you do business. We understand laws and regulatory frameworks can be complex, but in choosing a market to enter and products to sell, you, the merchant, are making a commitment to take that market seriously, and we trust and expect you to understand applicable boundaries.”
Shopify Payments' headline rates (2.25%–2.9% + 30¢) don't tell the whole story. Here are the costs and risks most guides don't mention:
Chargeback Fees — $15 debited up front; Shopify's pages differ on the refund if you win
When a customer files a chargeback, the disputed amount plus a $15 fee comes out of your account immediately. Win the dispute and the disputed amount is returned; lose it and you forfeit both. On the fee itself Shopify's own pages differ, both read on October 10, 2026: its page on responding to chargebacks says the fee is returned to you if you win, while its chargebacks overview says Shopify might refund it depending on your country or region — so don't count on getting it back until you see it returned. Whatever happens to the fee, the cash-flow gap is not recoverable, because you carry it for months: you usually have 7–21 days to submit evidence via the chargeback response process, and the card company can take up to 75 days after that to decide.The count matters more than the fee, and Shopify and Visa do not scope those levels the same way. Shopify's monitoring-programs page lists a dispute-and-fraud ratio of 0.5% as non-compliant and 1.5% as excessive (2.2% in Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa) as thresholds for your own store's ratio, while Visa's own fact sheet for its Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) puts the 0.5% level on an acquirer's whole portfolio and the 1.5% level on an individual merchant in AP, Canada, the EU, the US and Latin America and the Caribbean — with at least 1,500 fraud and dispute cases from that merchant in a month, and when the acquirer's own portfolio is not itself Above Standard or Excessive. A store that stays enrolled in VAMP long-term can have its use of Shopify Payments restricted.That clock and that fee belong to the card rail. A PayPal Wallet dispute runs on its own timetable and its own venue — who owns that case, and where you answer it.From the buyer's side, though, a chargeback isn't a store-wide guarantee — our FAQ on whether Shopify offers buyer protection explains what actually protects a shopper when something goes wrong.
International Card Surcharge — +1% per transaction (+1.5% more with currency conversion)
Cards issued outside your country incur a +1% surcharge. If currency conversion is involved, add another +1.5% for US stores (2% in other Shopify Payments regions). For a US merchant selling to a UK customer paying in GBP, the effective rate on Basic becomes 5.4% + 30¢ instead of 2.9% + 30¢. That 2.9% base is the US figure — Shopify sets the standard rate per country as well as per plan. Shopify Markets manages local pricing, but the conversion fee is charged whether exchange rates are automatic or manual.
Payout Holds — No published time limit
Shopify can place a hold on your payouts if they detect unusual activity, high chargeback rates, or policy violations. Shopify publishes no maximum length for a hold, and you cannot access the funds while one is in place. This can be devastating for small businesses relying on cash flow. New accounts and stores with sudden spikes in order volume are most at risk. Review Shopify's payout documentation for details.
Account Suspension — No independent processor fallback
If your Shopify Payments account is suspended, you're forced to use a third-party gateway — adding the 0.2%–2% Shopify surcharge to every transaction. Unlike running your own Stripe or PayPal account on a self-hosted or non-Shopify storefront, you have no portability: your payment history, saved customer cards, and payout schedule are tied to Shopify Payments exclusively.
One more deduction isn't a fee but still shrinks what reaches your bank. If you're repaying a US Shopify Capital loan accepted on or after March 9, 2026 (September 1, 2025 in Texas), repayments come out of your Shopify Payments balance first, as a fixed share of daily sales. Our Shopify Capital guide walks through how that repayment works.
Before you turn Shopify Payments off
Turning Shopify Payments off reaches further than the checkout. Shopify's help says deactivating it removes every payment method Shopify Payments provides — cards, wallets and Shop Pay — from your online store, deletes any fixed prices from your markets and leaves you unable to support currencies other than your store currency.You also become ineligible for features that require Shopify Payments, such as Shopify Balance and Shopify Collective, and Shopify's help for Shopify Credit says that if you deactivate Shopify Payments you must also close your Shopify Credit account — our FAQ covers whether turning off Shopify Payments closes your Shopify Credit account. If you were using Shopify Payments when you received Shopify Capital funding, you can't deactivate it until the total amount owed is fully repaid.Afterwards you can reactivate Shopify Payments or activate a third-party payment provider; our gateway guide covers switching gateways safely.
Protect yourself: practical steps
Keep your dispute-and-fraud ratio below the 0.5% non-compliant threshold Shopify prints for your store, and note that Shopify says your store is evaluated against a higher standard than the thresholds the card networks publish
Enable order tracking and send automated shipping notifications
Maintain a cash reserve — don't rely on immediate payouts for operations
Review Shopify's AUP before adding new product categories
“If the cardholder's bank makes a chargeback, then the bank takes the disputed amount from you right away. The cardholder's bank also takes a chargeback fee from you. If the cardholder's bank makes an inquiry, then they don't take the disputed amount or a fee right away.”
Setting up Shopify Payments is one of the simplest onboarding processes in payment processing. Follow the official setup guide or use these steps:
1
Open Payment Settings
In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Payments. You'll see Shopify Payments as the recommended option at the top. Click "Activate Shopify Payments".
2
Enter Business Information
Provide your legal business name, address, business type, and EIN/tax ID number. In the US almost every business type requires an EIN — the exception is Individual, which uses your SSN or ITIN. Shopify reserves the Sole Proprietorship type for single-person businesses that already hold an EIN.
3
Add Banking Details
Enter your bank account and routing number for payouts. This must be a checking account in the same country as your Shopify store. Shopify Payments doesn't support savings accounts.
4
Verify Your Identity
Upload a government-issued ID (driver's license, passport) if prompted. Shopify says it and its banking partners are required to collect and verify information about you and your business to comply with regulations designed to prevent financial crimes. If Shopify can't verify what you submitted, our guide to Shopify Payments identity verification covers the reasons it gives and how to fix them.
5
Start Accepting Payments
Once your account is set up, your store can process credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay.
Verification timeline
Shopify says you can use the account to accept payments right away once setup is finished; if its banking partners need more information, the account is put on hold until your details are verified. Shopify's account-setup page says documents you upload can take up to 24 hours to be reviewed — our FAQ on how long Shopify Payments verification takes covers what that figure does and doesn't include. Payouts might be placed on hold until your information and documents are verified. Have your business documents ready before starting. See Shopify's onboarding documentation for full requirements. For US merchants this identity check is also where the SSN question comes up — our FAQ on whether Shopify needs your SSN covers who has to provide one and what it's used for. Activation has a second condition that catches people later: Shopify requires two-step authentication on the account to use Shopify Payments, and its account-setup page says payouts might be placed on hold until it is activated — our FAQ on whether Shopify requires two-step authentication covers who that applies to.
Setting Up Payments || Shopify AcademyShopify Academy's two-minute video on setting up payments, including Shopify Payments. Chapters: payment processor, Shopify Payments, industry type and bank account details.
How to Reduce Your Shopify Payments Fees
Key takeaway
Shopify's own help page on the cost of Shopify Payments names one lever on the rate itself — upgrading your plan — and there are several strategies to minimize your total payment processing costs. Every one of them is judged against your real effective rate, not the headline number — and that rate only becomes visible once the fees deducted at settlement are separated out in your books, which our guide on how Shopify sales land in your accounting walks through:
Upgrade When It Pays Off
Calculate the breakeven point
Moving from Basic (2.9%) to Grow (2.7%) costs $66/mo extra but saves 0.2% on transactions. At $33K/month revenue, you save $66 — meaning the upgrade pays for itself. At $50K, you save $34/month net.
Prevent Chargebacks
Each one costs $15 + lost revenue
Use clear product photos, accurate descriptions, and transparent shipping policies. Add tracking to every order. Respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours. A single prevented chargeback saves $15 + the full order value.
Manage International Fees
Price the conversion fee in
Shopify charges the currency conversion fee (1.5% for US stores, 2% in other regions) whenever you accept payment in a currency different from your payout currency, whether you use automatic exchange rates or set them manually. A manual rate steadies your prices; Shopify's help shows how to multiply the fee into that rate so the customer's price covers it.
Enable Shop Pay
Higher conversion = more revenue
Shop Pay's accelerated checkout reduces abandoned carts and boosts conversion. More completed checkouts mean more revenue per visitor — often more impactful than a 0.2% rate difference.
Plan Upgrade Breakeven Calculator
Upgrade
Extra Cost/mo
Rate Savings
Breakeven Revenue
Basic → Grow
$66/mo
0.2%
$33,000/mo
Grow → Advanced
$294/mo
0.2%
$147,000/mo
Advanced → Plus
$1,901/mo
0.25%
$760,400/mo
Breakeven = additional plan cost ÷ percentage rate reduction. Actual savings vary by order count and average order value. See our full pricing guide for detailed plan comparisons.
Bottom Line: Should You Use Shopify Payments?
Key takeaway
For the vast majority of Shopify merchants, Shopify Payments is the clear choice — cheaper than alternatives, easier to set up, and includes Shop Pay.
No separate accounts, no reconciliation headaches, no third-party surcharges. For merchants selling non-restricted products in supported countries, it's the default choice. Just keep your chargeback rate low and understand the international fees.
Shopify names Stripe as Shopify Payments' banking partner, but Shopify Payments is a separate product — you don't need a Stripe account, and where it is available Shopify doesn't offer Stripe as a separate gateway you can activate. It removes third-party transaction fees on the orders it processes, except the store-credit and gift-card part of an order in stores created on or after May 12, 2025.
Yes, you can offer both. In the United States and France, a store using Shopify Payments can add PayPal only through Shopify Payments' PayPal Wallet; as of October 10, 2026, Shopify's US pricing page lists PayPal Wallet rates starting at 3.49% + 49¢. Shopify says PayPal transactions are exempt from its third-party transaction fee if you elect to use Shopify Payments as your primary payment provider.
If your Shopify Payments account is suspended, you lose the ability to process payments through the integrated gateway. Your store remains active, and you can switch to a third-party payment provider — such as PayPal or another gateway from Shopify's supported list — to keep selling. Where Shopify Payments is supported, Shopify says Stripe won't be available for you to activate. You'll then be subject to Shopify's third-party transaction fees (0.2%–2%). Common suspension reasons include high chargeback rates, selling prohibited products, or suspicious transaction patterns. You can appeal by contacting Shopify support with documentation.
For US merchants, Shopify says payouts typically arrive within 3 to 5 business days after a customer's payment is captured; the minimum settlement time is 3 business days, and Shopify notes banks typically take 24–72 hours to deposit the funds — go by the expected payout date in your admin. UK and Canada: 3 business days minimum settlement plus bank posting. Shopify publishes no fixed first-payout hold; settlement shortens as you reliably fulfill orders.
Shopify Payments supports recurring billing through Shopify's subscription apps. You'll need a subscription app like Shopify Subscriptions (free), Recharge, or Bold Subscriptions to manage recurring orders. The payment processing fees are the same as standard transactions. Shopify Payments handles the card-on-file tokenization securely, so customers don't need to re-enter payment details for each recurring charge.
Yes, but with additional fees. When a customer uses a card issued outside your country, you'll pay an extra 1% international card fee on top of your standard processing rate. If the transaction also involves currency conversion (e.g., customer pays in EUR, you receive USD), there's an additional currency conversion fee — 1.5% for US-based stores and 2% in other Shopify Payments regions — totaling 2.5% extra for a US store. For high-volume international sellers, these fees can significantly impact margins.
When a customer disputes a card charge, Shopify takes the disputed amount plus a $15 chargeback fee (the US rate) from your next available payout, and you typically have 7 to 21 days to add evidence before the cardholder's bank decides. The response steps, Shopify Protect and the dispute-rate limits are covered in our Shopify chargebacks guide.
Yes — and that sentence is about Shopify, not about you. Shopify Payments runs on infrastructure certified PCI DSS Level 1, and card data entered at its checkout is encrypted and tokenized. Shopify's own guide to PCI DSS is explicit that this does not close the merchant's side of it: it lists an annual self-assessment questionnaire at merchant levels 2 through 4, and states that even if you outsource your payment processing, you're still responsible for complying with PCI DSS. What your acquirer asks you to produce depends on your channels and your volume. On a self-hosted platform like WooCommerce the burden is larger again, because the environment itself is yours to secure.
Shopify's pricing page publishes a card rate for every plan, Plus included — in the US, online standard rates run from 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic to 2.25% + 30¢ on Plus — and its help center says you can lower credit card rates by upgrading your plan. No Shopify pricing or Help Center page we read in October 2026 describes negotiating these rates.
Shopify Payments supports payouts in the local currency of each supported country (USD in the US, GBP in the UK, EUR in eurozone countries). It can present prices in the customer's local currency and convert automatically — though you'll pay a 1.5% currency conversion fee for US-based stores (2% in other regions). A manual exchange rate keeps your prices stable; the conversion fee still applies.
Shopify Payments charges 2.6% + 10¢ in person on Basic. As of October 10, 2026, Square Free charges 2.6% + 15¢ with no monthly location fee. Square Plus ($49/month per location) and Premium ($149/month per location) lower Square's rates to 2.5% + 15¢ and 2.4% + 15¢. In-person-first sellers may prefer Square Free; omnichannel merchants may prefer Shopify's unified inventory, customer data, and reporting.
Shopify Payments accepts Visa, Mastercard and American Express, with Discover and Diners Club in the US, JCB in Japan and Eftpos in person in Australia, plus Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay. If your store and account representative are in USDC-eligible regions, it can offer USDC at the online card rate. US stores pay the premium rate on domestic Amex: 3.5% + 30¢ on Basic.
Front-end developer specializing in Shopify since 2017. Experienced in building custom Liquid themes, optimizing storefront performance, and integrating third-party apps. Directs the editorial process behind Ecom Store Pro: sets its topics and the rules every AI-written page must pass before publication.
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