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As of October 2026, a US Shopify store on Basic pays $39 a month plus 2.9% + 30 cents on standard online card sales through Shopify Payments, Grow pays $105 plus 2.7% + 30 cents, and Advanced pays $399 plus 2.5% + 30 cents. If you take payments through an outside gateway instead, Shopify adds a third-party fee of 2%, 1% or 0.6% of each sale on top of the gateway’s own charges. A US chargeback costs $15 on top of the disputed amount. This guide from Ecommerce Paradise lists every Shopify fee I could verify, shows the arithmetic at three revenue levels, and flags what Shopify’s pages do not show. If you have not opened a store yet, Shopify is where I build.
All figures come from Shopify’s pricing page and Help Center unless I say otherwise, and they are US figures. Rates change and differ by country, so check Shopify’s pages before you commit. For the subscription side in more depth, see my Shopify pricing plans guide.
Shopify Fees at a Glance (as of October 2026)
| Fee | Basic | Grow | Advanced | Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription, monthly billing | $39 | $105 | $399 | From $2,300 |
| Subscription, billed yearly (per month) | $29 | $79 | $299 | Not shown |
| Shopify Payments, online standard card | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.7% + 30¢ | 2.5% + 30¢ | 2.25% + 30¢ |
| Shopify Payments, online premium card | 3.5% + 30¢ | 3.3% + 30¢ | 3.1% + 30¢ | 2.95% + 30¢ |
| Shopify Payments, in-person card | 2.6% + 10¢ | 2.5% + 10¢ | 2.4% + 10¢ | 2.3% + 10¢ |
| Shopify Payments, in-person manual entry | 3.5% + 10¢ | 3.5% + 10¢ | 3.5% + 10¢ | 3.4% + 10¢ |
| PayPal Wallet rate | From 3.49% + 49¢ | From 3.49% + 49¢ | From 3.49% + 49¢ | From 3.49% + 49¢ |
| Online international surcharge | +1% | +1% | +1% | +1% |
| Third-party payment provider fee | 2% | 1% | 0.6% | 0.2% |
Other charges that are the same on every plan: a US chargeback fee of $15, a currency conversion fee of 1.5% for a US store on non-domestic currency payments, and a marketplace order fee of 1% (capped at $99 a month) after the first 50 synced orders each month. I cover each below. Shopify does not define which cards count as premium on its pricing page, so I treat the standard rate as a best case.
Subscription Fees
The subscription is the fee you pay whether or not you sell anything. On Shopify’s pricing page, Basic is $39 a month ($29 billed yearly), Grow is $105 ($79 yearly), Advanced is $399 ($299 yearly), and Plus starts from $2,300 a month. New accounts get 3 days free and then $1 a month for 3 months on most plans, according to the same page. The yearly discount works out to about 25% by my arithmetic, because Shopify lists the prices but not the percentage.
The rest of this article is about the fees that scale with your sales. That is where the real money goes once you pass the first few months, and it is the part most new store owners underestimate. In my experience, store owners compare plan prices for an hour and never look at the card rate, which moves more dollars than the plan fee once volume grows.
Shopify Payments Rates by Plan
Shopify Payments is Shopify’s built-in card processor, and its rates are the numbers in the table above. Shopify’s Help Center says that beyond the card rate and your plan’s subscription fee, there are no monthly fees, no hidden fees and no setup fees for Shopify Payments. The same page says rates vary by plan type and market, so confirm your own country’s rates on the pricing page.
For a US store selling online with a standard card, the fee on an order is the percentage times the order total, plus 30 cents. A $1,000 order costs $29.30 on Basic (2.9% is $29.00, plus $0.30), $27.30 on Grow (2.7% is $27.00, plus $0.30) and $25.30 on Advanced (2.5% is $25.00, plus $0.30). Those three numbers are the whole reason higher plans exist for stores with real volume.
Two caveats. First, the pricing page lists a higher online premium card rate, 3.5% + 30 cents on Basic, without saying what a premium card is. Second, Shopify’s Help Center says rates differ between online and in-person sales, and for UK and EU transactions card location can change the rate. The pages I loaded do not spell out card-type rules for a US store, so if your customers use rewards or international cards, expect some orders to cost more than the standard rate, and confirm the details in your Shopify admin.
The Third-Party Gateway Fee
If you let customers pay through a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges a transaction fee on those orders: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus, as of October 2026. That fee is added to whatever the gateway charges you. The help page says the exempt payment types are Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, Shop Pay Installments and manual payment methods such as cash, cash on delivery and bank transfers. PayPal is also exempt when Shopify Payments is your primary provider.
The help page also says that for stores created on or after May 12, 2025, the third-party fee applies to store credit and gift card payments, based on the amount paid with them. Another detail that surprised me: if you run Shopify Payments alongside one direct third-party provider, the transactions Shopify Payments processes (such as Shop Pay and local payment methods) carry a 1.25% premium on top of the standard rate. Shopify’s page on using Shopify Payments with a third-party provider explains the setup. Switching away from Shopify Payments means you pay Shopify’s subscription transaction fees in addition to your new processor’s fees.
For the gateway’s own fees, I use Stripe as a reference point because it publishes a clear rate. Stripe’s pricing page lists 2.9% + 30 cents for domestic online card payments. That is the rate I assume in the examples below, and it is only an assumption, because your own gateway contract may differ. My Stripe fee calculator post walks through what you keep on each payment.
Shop Pay and Shop Pay Installments
Shop Pay orders carry no third-party transaction fee, and neither do Shop Pay Installments orders. Shopify’s Shop Pay Installments page says eligible US merchants selling in USD, with Shopify Payments and Shop Pay turned on, can offer the option. The standard package covers purchases from $50 to $1,000, and a premium package for eligible merchants covers $35 to $30,000. The page says Affirm collects the payments from customers and that merchants get paid in full up front.
What the page does not show is any separate merchant fee for installments beyond standard Shopify Payments rates, and it does not say who bears Affirm’s costs. Customer rates are listed as 0% to 36% APR depending on an eligibility check. My practical reading is that an installment order is priced like a normal Shopify Payments order. Check your Shopify admin and terms for any difference before you build your margins around it.
The $15 Chargeback Fee
When a customer disputes a charge and the bank opens a chargeback, Shopify’s chargeback page lists a fee of $15 for US stores, and the disputed amount and the fee are withdrawn right away. If you win, the disputed amount and the fee are returned. If you lose, you lose both. For a partial win, the page says only that part of the disputed amount comes back and does not mention the fee. An inquiry is different: nothing is withdrawn during the investigation, and the amount and fee are only debited if the bank rules for the customer and the inquiry becomes a chargeback.
The response window is usually 7 to 21 days from notification, and Shopify submits your response on the due date even if you add no evidence. The bank’s review can take up to 75 days after you submit. There is a separate program fee too: Shopify’s page on network dispute resolution programs lists $15 in the United States for each dispute resolved through the program, and says those outcomes are final.
I wrote a full guide to what Shopify covers and what it does not in my Shopify chargeback protection post. The ratio side of this matters just as much as the fee, which I cover in my chargeback ratio guide.
International and Currency Conversion Fees
Shopify’s pricing page shows an online international surcharge of +1% on every plan. Separately, Shopify’s help page on international fees says currency conversion fees apply to non-domestic currency payments, based on your store’s primary country: 1.5% for Shopify Payments in the United States, and 2% in France and other Shopify Payments regions. For PayPal Wallet through Shopify Payments, the same page lists 3% in the United States.
Shopify also says that an international transaction fee set by the customer’s bank or card issuer is not charged to you, and that conversion and card processing fees are not returned on refunds. The page does not say whether the +1% surcharge and the 1.5% conversion fee can stack on one order, so in my example below I add them together as a worst case. That is my assumption, not a statement from Shopify.
Other Charges to Know
Marketplace orders synced into Shopify are free for the first 50 per month, and the pricing page lists a fee of 1% up to $99 a month above that, the same on all four plans. Shopify POS Pro is listed at $89 a month per location, and Plus includes 20 locations. Shopify’s billing page says plan charges are generally non-refundable, and its payments pages say card fees are not returned when you refund a customer. In plain terms, every refund costs you the original processing fee.
The pricing page also lists items I did not price here, such as shipping discounts and Shopify Balance and credit card rewards. Those are separate products with their own terms, so I left them out rather than guess.
The Formula: How to Calculate Your Monthly Shopify Fees
Use this for a US store on standard cards, as a planning estimate:
Monthly fees = plan price + (Shopify Payments sales x card rate) + (Shopify Payments orders x $0.30) + (third-party gateway sales x third-party fee) + gateway’s own fees + (chargebacks x $15) + any conversion or international surcharges.
The terms are all in the table above. Divide the total by your monthly sales to get your effective rate, which is the number I care about when I compare plans. The effective rate falls as sales rise because the subscription becomes a smaller share, until you hit a plan jump where the subscription grows faster than the savings.
Worked Examples at Three Revenue Levels
These are examples, not quotes. I use a $1,000 average order because it matches the kind of high-ticket dropshipping orders I teach, and I assume US cards, standard online rates, monthly billing, no refunds, no chargebacks and no international orders. Each level is a month of sales. The fixed fee is orders times $0.30, and the effective rate is the total divided by sales.
Example 1: $10,000 in sales (10 orders)
| Plan | Percentage fee | Fixed fee (10 x $0.30) | Plan price | Total fees | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $290.00 (2.9%) | $3.00 | $39 | $332.00 | 3.32% |
| Grow | $270.00 (2.7%) | $3.00 | $105 | $378.00 | 3.78% |
| Advanced | $250.00 (2.5%) | $3.00 | $399 | $652.00 | 6.52% |
At this level, Basic is the cheapest by a wide margin. Grow costs $46 more than Basic and Advanced costs $320 more, because the lower card rates save only $20 and $40 on $10,000 of sales. Anything above Basic here is a decision about staff accounts or features, not fees.
Example 2: $50,000 in sales (50 orders)
| Plan | Percentage fee | Fixed fee (50 x $0.30) | Plan price | Total fees | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $1,450.00 (2.9%) | $15.00 | $39 | $1,504.00 | 3.01% |
| Grow | $1,350.00 (2.7%) | $15.00 | $105 | $1,470.00 | 2.94% |
| Advanced | $1,250.00 (2.5%) | $15.00 | $399 | $1,664.00 | 3.33% |
Here Grow edges ahead: $1,470 against $1,504 on Basic, a $34 saving each month. Advanced costs $194 more than Grow, so it needs extra features to justify itself at this volume. With yearly billing, the totals fall to $1,494, $1,444 and $1,564, which means Grow is $50 cheaper than Basic.
Example 3: $200,000 in sales (200 orders)
| Plan | Percentage fee | Fixed fee (200 x $0.30) | Plan price | Total fees | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $5,800.00 (2.9%) | $60.00 | $39 | $5,899.00 | 2.95% |
| Grow | $5,400.00 (2.7%) | $60.00 | $105 | $5,565.00 | 2.78% |
| Advanced | $5,000.00 (2.5%) | $60.00 | $399 | $5,459.00 | 2.73% |
At $200,000, Advanced is the cheapest on fees alone, at $5,459 against $5,565 on Grow and $5,899 on Basic. The gap between Advanced and Basic is $440 a month, which is $5,280 over a year. The lowest effective rate has fallen from 3.32% (Basic at $10,000) to 2.73% (Advanced at $200,000), and that is the shape you should expect.
What the third-party gateway fee does to the same sales
Now the same three revenue levels, but with every order paid through an outside gateway that charges an assumed 2.9% + 30 cents, with Shopify’s third-party fee added on top (2%, 1% and 0.6% of sales). All other assumptions are unchanged.
| Sales | Plan | Total with Shopify Payments | Total with outside gateway | Extra cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | Basic | $332.00 | $532.00 | $200.00 |
| $10,000 | Grow | $378.00 | $498.00 | $120.00 |
| $10,000 | Advanced | $652.00 | $752.00 | $100.00 |
| $50,000 | Basic | $1,504.00 | $2,504.00 | $1,000.00 |
| $50,000 | Grow | $1,470.00 | $2,070.00 | $600.00 |
| $50,000 | Advanced | $1,664.00 | $2,164.00 | $500.00 |
| $200,000 | Basic | $5,899.00 | $9,899.00 | $4,000.00 |
| $200,000 | Grow | $5,565.00 | $7,965.00 | $2,400.00 |
| $200,000 | Advanced | $5,459.00 | $7,459.00 | $2,000.00 |
As a check on one row: at $50,000 on Basic, the gateway’s own fee is 2.9% of $50,000 ($1,450) plus 50 x $0.30 ($15), which is $1,465. Shopify’s 2% fee is $1,000. Add the $39 plan and you get $2,504. The extra cost versus Shopify Payments is $1,000 because the gateway’s rate matches Shopify Payments’ Basic rate in this example, so only Shopify’s fee is the difference. On Grow and Advanced the gap also includes the gateway rate being higher than the plan’s Shopify Payments rate, which is why Grow’s extra cost is $600 and not $500.
An international order and a chargeback
Two single-order examples on Basic, both for a $1,000 order. For an order from a card outside the US, I add the standard rate ($29.00 plus $0.30) and the +1% surcharge ($10.00) to get $39.30. If the customer also paid in a non-domestic currency, a 1.5% conversion fee adds $15.00, for $54.30 in my worst-case stacking. For a US chargeback on the same order, you lose the $1,000 and the $15 fee if you do not win, which is $1,015. If you win, Shopify’s page says the disputed amount and the fee are returned, though the original processing fee on the sale (here $29.30) is not returned on refunds, and I would not assume it comes back on a dispute either.
How to Lower Your Shopify Fees
These are my opinions from running stores, and each one ties to a number above. First, keep your orders on Shopify Payments if it is available in your country, because the third-party fee is the single largest avoidable line in the tables. Second, pick the plan by the break-even, not by the feature list. Dividing the plan price gap by the 0.2 percentage point rate gap gives $33,000 a month (Basic to Grow, monthly billing) and $147,000 a month (Grow to Advanced), and my pricing plans guide shows the work.
Third, pay yearly once the store is proven, since the monthly equivalent is roughly 25% lower. Fourth, treat disputes as a cost line: fewer chargebacks mean fewer $15 fees and less risk to your account. Fifth, price your products with fees in the margin. A $2,000 order at the standard Basic rate costs $58.30 in card fees, and if your supplier margin is thin, that number matters. My high-ticket niches list is where I look for categories with room to absorb it.
Your supplier terms matter as much as your payment terms. When you vet wholesalers, ask what they charge for blind shipping and returns, because those costs stack on top of the fees above. My supplier guide covers how I approach that conversation.
Fees as a Business Expense
Payment fees and subscriptions belong in your books every month, and your processor’s monthly fee report is the easiest source. The IRS publishes a guide to business expense resources that points to its small business tax guide and its record-keeping publication. This is general information, not tax advice, and tax treatment depends on your situation, so ask a CPA.
It also helps to have the legal entity in place before you start taking payments, so the names on your store, bank account and processor match. My business formation guide lays out the order I follow. The details of what Shopify asks during payments setup are on Shopify’s pages, so check them before applying.
Who Each Setup Fits
If you are new and under about $30,000 a month, Basic with Shopify Payments is the lowest-cost setup in the examples. If you are around $30,000 to $150,000 a month, Grow is likely the sweet spot on fees alone, and you should compare it with Advanced if you also want carrier-calculated shipping. Above that, Advanced starts to win on fees. If you must use an outside gateway for a specific reason, such as a processor your supplier requires, budget for the third-party fee on top, because the tables show it is the line that hurts most.
If you want to compare Shopify Payments with outside options in detail, my post on Shopify Payments vs Stripe vs PayPal goes through the trade-offs. For PayPal’s own rates, see my PayPal fee calculator.
What Shopify’s Pages Do Not Show
A few items I looked for and could not confirm on the pages I could load. The definition of a premium card is not shown. The payout schedule and any payout fees were not shown on the help page I loaded, so check your Shopify admin under payouts. A separate merchant fee for Shop Pay Installments is not shown. Shopify’s standard chargeback page does not say whether the fee is returned on a partial win. Yearly pricing for Plus is not shown, and the pricing page does not explain the “Try for $399” button in the Plus column. When a number matters to your decision, ask Shopify support to confirm it in writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Shopify’s transaction fees?
As of October 2026, Shopify charges a third-party transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus when customers pay through a provider other than Shopify Payments. Shopify Payments, Shop Pay and Shop Pay Installments orders do not carry that fee, but Shopify Payments card rates still apply, starting at 2.9% + 30 cents on Basic.
How much is the Shopify chargeback fee?
For US stores using Shopify Payments, Shopify’s chargeback page lists $15 per chargeback, withdrawn along with the disputed amount when the bank opens the chargeback. The fee and the disputed amount are returned if you win, and an inquiry does not trigger a withdrawal unless it becomes a chargeback.
Does Shopify charge a fee for Shop Pay Installments?
Shopify’s Shop Pay Installments page does not show a separate merchant fee beyond standard Shopify Payments rates, and Shopify’s help pages say installment orders are exempt from third-party transaction fees. It also says Affirm collects customer payments and merchants are paid in full up front. Confirm the details in your admin before relying on this.
Is there a currency conversion fee on Shopify?
Yes, when a payment is in a non-domestic currency. Shopify’s help page lists 1.5% for Shopify Payments for a store whose primary country is the United States, and 3% for PayPal Wallet through Shopify Payments in the US. Shopify says conversion fees are not returned on refunds.
Can I avoid Shopify’s fees entirely?
No. You will pay the subscription and card processing on every sale, but you can avoid the third-party transaction fee by using Shopify Payments, Shop Pay or manual payment methods. Manual methods such as cash, cash on delivery and bank transfers also skip that fee, though they come with their own operational trade-offs.
Final Thoughts
As of October 2026, the Shopify fees that matter most are the card rate, the third-party fee and the chargeback fee. At $50,000 a month on a $1,000 average order, my examples put total fees at $1,504 on Basic and $1,470 on Grow, and using an outside gateway adds $500 to $1,000 a month depending on the plan. Start on Basic, use Shopify Payments, and let the break-even numbers tell you when to move up. Fees and terms change, so verify them on Shopify’s pages before you rely on any number here. I wish you guys the best of luck out there.
Related Articles
If you found this useful, these guides go deeper on related topics:
- Shopify Pricing Plans in 2026: Which Plan Do You Actually Need?
- Shopify Pricing Breakdown 2026: What Every Plan Actually Costs (And Which One You Need)
- Shopify Chargeback Protection: What Shopify Payments Covers and Your Options
- Shopify Payments vs Stripe vs PayPal: Which Should You Use?
- Stripe Fee Calculator 2026: What You Keep on Every Payment
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
