Transaction fees

Shopify third-party transaction fees: what they are, what they cost, when they apply.

If you take payments on Shopify through any provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify keeps a percentage of every order for itself, on top of what the payment provider charges. Merchants call it the penalty fee. Here is how it is calculated, what it adds up to at real volumes, and which flows it does and does not touch.

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The rates by plan

Plan	Third-party transaction fee	On a $10,000 month
Basic	about 2%	$200
Shopify	about 1%	$100
Advanced	about 0.6%	$60
Plus	about 0.2%	$20

These are the published rates at the time of writing and they differ by country; confirm yours on Shopify's pricing page for your region. The fee is charged on the order total, including shipping and tax, and is billed to your Shopify account, not deducted from the payout.

How it stacks with the gateway's rate

The gateway still takes its own cut. A US store on Basic using a third-party card gateway at 2.9% plus 30 cents pays roughly 4.9% plus 30 cents all in. The same store on Shopify Payments would pay Shopify Payments' rate alone. At $20,000 a month the difference is around $400 a month, which is why merchants who can use Shopify Payments generally do.

Merchants who cannot, because they were declined, terminated or are outside the supported countries, are the ones paying the stacked rate, often on top of a higher gateway rate for their category. That is the real cost of a restricted business on Shopify, and it is worth knowing before you compare it to alternatives.

When the fee is waived

When Shopify Payments is active as the card provider. In most countries that also waives the fee on PayPal and other methods running beside it.
On Plus, the rate is reduced rather than removed, and enterprise agreements can vary.
Manual payment methods such as bank transfer and cash on delivery are generally not assessed the fee, because Shopify processed no payment.

Which flows the fee does not touch

Shopify assesses the fee on payments processed through Shopify's checkout with a third-party provider. A payment captured on an external checkout, on your own domain and your own gateway, is not processed by Shopify. The order still exists in Shopify, because it is written in through the Admin API as a paid order, but there is no Shopify-side payment transaction to assess.

Read your agreement. How an external checkout sits with Shopify's terms is a question for you and Shopify. We build the connection; we do not give advice on Shopify's contract. Most merchants who run an own-domain checkout do it because Shopify's list does not carry their gateway, or because they need failover between gateways, and treat the fee position as a consequence rather than the goal.

Ways to lower the fee

Move up a plan. Advanced at 0.6% pays for itself over Basic at 2% once you clear roughly $20,000 a month in third-party-processed sales.
Re-apply for Shopify Payments if the reason you lost it was a verification gap rather than your category.
Put the card step outside Shopify's checkout if your gateway is not listed anyway, and keep Shopify for storefront, orders and fulfilment. How own-domain checkout works.

Do not try to lower it by under-reporting or splitting orders. Shopify reads the order total you write.

Frequent questions

What are Shopify's third-party transaction fees?

A percentage Shopify charges on each order when the payment provider is not Shopify Payments: roughly 2% on Basic, 1% on Shopify, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus, varying by country.

Do I pay the fee if I use PayPal?

In most countries the fee is waived on PayPal when Shopify Payments is active beside it. If Shopify Payments is not active, PayPal orders are assessed the fee.

Is the fee taken from my payout?

No. It is billed to your Shopify account on the plan invoice. Your payout comes from the gateway in full, less the gateway's own rate.

Does an external checkout avoid the third-party fee?

Shopify assesses the fee on payments it processes. A payment captured on an external checkout is not processed by Shopify. Whether that fits your agreement with Shopify is between you and Shopify.

Bring your store URL and the gateway that already said yes.

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Third-party gateways list → · Shopify Payments alternatives → · CascadeCheckout pricing → · Shopify Payments vs third-party gateway →

CascadeCheckout is checkout software, not a payment service provider, bank or merchant-account seller. You contract with your own gateway or acquirer, disclose your real business category to them, and receive payouts from them. We never hold funds and we do not promise that any processor will approve you.