Shopify Fees (2023): All The Expenses You Need To Know!

Drive 20-40% of your revenue with Avada

Get Started

Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms for setting up an online store quickly, but how many expenses are there to use this platform? What are the hidden fees?

This post will provide you with an overview and help you calculate all Shopify fees and suggest some Shopify fees calculator for you. Keep reading and learn about all the expenses you need to know when using Shopify.

A quick look at all Shopify fees: What are they?

Shopify is a platform that allows users to build their own online stores. Because it’s a ‘hosted’ solution, you can use the platform from anywhere without worrying about hosting or crashing.

Shopify is known as software as a service (‘Saas’), which means you don’t own a copy of the software but have to pay a monthly fee to use it. This is called a subscription fee, and Shopify has five plans with different subscription fees to choose from.

Other types of Shopify fees come from the actions of business that you make through Shopify’s platform. They are:

• Transaction fees
• Credit card fees
• Processing fees
• Apps and themes purchase
• Shipping fees

Don’t worry. We will analyze the details of all these fees and recommend the most widely used Shopify fees calculator for you. For now, let’s take a look at five plans that Shopify offers for online business owners.

Shopify pricing plans

Subscription fees

There are currently five Shopify plans available, which are:

• Shopify Starter - $5/month
• Basic Shopify - $39/month
• Shopify - $105/month
• Advanced Shopify - $399/month
• Shopify Plus - negotiable, start at $2000/month

If you want to learn more about the features and differences of each plan, check out our Shopify pricing plans reviews. These monthly fees can be reduced quite considerably if you pay annually (apply to the three main pricing plans only). With the yearly plans, you can save up to 25% compared to a monthly basis.

Please note that the numbers above apply to US-based merchants. Merchants from other countries will be charged different fees. You can check the box below to see how much Shopify is in your country.

Shopify subscription fees are sets of prices that you pay to use Shopify’s service for a specific period of time. The fees depend on the features you want to use and the billing period. The more expensive a plan is, the more advanced features it offers.

To learn more about all the features of Shopify plans, view Shopify Pricing.

You won’t find Shopify Starter and Shopify Plus here since they are for special purposes. Shopify Starter is a plan with a Buy button for quickly selling on Facebook and social media. Meanwhile, Shopify Plus is a more comprehensive solution designed for enterprise-level businesses that process hundreds to thousands of dollars per month and need to handle a large number of visitors. The Shopify Plus fee is relatively high and most suitable for large companies/ corporations.

The fees are really transparent on the Shopify pricing page, so we don’t need to go into many details here. Let’s get to the next section.

Free Trials

Shopify offers a 3-day free trial, during which you can build your standalone online store and make it available to the public. During the free trial, you can use all the features and sell on Shopify. But after that, if you want to make sales there, you will have to choose one paid plan among Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify.

A free trial is a good chance for you to decide the plan you should subscribe to or the theme your online store should get. You can experience all the features and decide whether Shopify is a perfect fit for your store later.

3 days may not be enough for many new merchants to fully experience Shopify, but there is another deal for you. You only need to spend $1 each month for the first three months to keep your Shopify store running.

Shopify processing fees

Basically, Shopify processing fees = Shopify transaction fees + Shopify credit card fees.

It is the amount of money you pay Shopify for processing your store’s transaction and returning you the revenue.

If you make use of Shopify Payments, Shopify’s inhouse payment gateway, the transaction fees are already eliminated. And don’t worry about getting confused, in the next section, we will give you some calculators to know all the fees beforehand.

Shopify Transaction fees

All Shopify plans have different transaction fees - which are charged by the company providing your online store service. Simply put, with every sale, you will have to pay Shopify a fee for processing all successful transactions.

One thing to keep in mind is that you won’t need to worry about transaction fees if you use Shopify’s payment gateway - Shopify Payments. If you use an external payment gateway (other than Shopify Payments), additional fees will be applied to 2%, 1%, or 0.5% for Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans, respectively.

Now let’s see how much you would need to pay for the Shopify transaction fees if you use a third-party payment gateway. We take two most common gateways: Stripe and Paypal.

Shopify Stripe fees

Stripe is a company that allows individuals and businesses to process online payments, founded in 2009.

As Stripe states on their page, a successful card charge using their payment platform would cost you 2.9% to 3.9% + 30¢. On the other hand, you access all of Stripe’s features like payment management, financial report, and customer support.

Shopify PayPal fees

PayPal is a huge online payment system that has 429 million active PayPal accounts worldwide. The account setup is free, and you can use 25 currencies from 200+ countries.

If you’re selling in the US, you’re charged 2.99% of the transaction, plus 49¢ if you use a credit card. For example, if you have a payment of $50, you will be charged $1.50 + $0.49 = $1.99.

If you are selling outside of the US, you will be charged domestic fees, plus an additional amount of 1.5% of the transaction and some fixed fees based on the currency.

We can see that transacting money through Stripe and Paypal is not really a cost-saving way. And overall, Shopify Payment is the most economical choice to reduce most of your transaction fees. Using Shopify fees Paypal to help you deal with the Shopify transaction fees at ease.

Shopify credit card fees

The credit card fees are what your payment gateway provider charges based on what your customers used to purchase. In this case, Shopify showcases the fees based on your plan. The rates for an online credit card are as follows for each subscription plan:

• Basic Shopify Plan: 2.9% + 30 cents
• Shopify Plan: 2.6% + 30 cents
• Advanced Shopify Plan: 2.4% + 30 cents

The rates for an offline (in-person) credit card are as follows for each subscription plan:

• Basic Shopify Plan: 2.7%
• Shopify Plan: 2.5%
• Advanced Shopify Plan: 2.4%

These fees are on a per-transaction basis, not on a per-item sold basis.

Domains, Themes, and Apps Fees

There are some other costs that you can come across when using Shopify, which are domains, themes, and apps. Let’s see what they are and how much their fees are.

Domain

With Shopify, you get free hosting but not the domain. You can purchase one at 13$ per year through Shopify or redirect one of your existing domains to the new Shopify store.

The purchase doesn’t include email accounts as well. You can set up unlimited email addresses for free, but you need to manage them yourself through your own email hosting provider.

Further Reading: The Complete Guide on How To Choose A Domain Name

Themes

If you are on a Basic Shopify plan or higher, you can select or purchase a theme for your online store from the Shopify Themes Store. At the moment of writing, there are currently 12 free ones and 123 paid ones for you to choose from, and the numbers are surely increasing.

Shopify’s themes are beautifully designed, easy to browse, compatible with every screen size, and configurable in detail. You can filter the templates to find what you need with options in price, number of products, layout style, industry, and more.

If you need more support in installing or configuring, Shopify is always available, and you can connect with the developer that made the themes as well. In my opinion, free themes are a good choice to start and figure out what you need from a theme.

Related Posts:

• How to Choose Shopify Themes That Sell?
• Best Free Shopify Themes for Your Online Store
• Best Shopify Themes/Templates

Apps

Another benefit of Shopify is that you can easily beef up your store’s functionality with apps from the Shopify App Store. These apps can assist you with everything from automation to marketing, with many free ones too.

You are often required to pay a monthly fee to use the apps, which varies depending on the functions. However, these fees add up quickly, so make sure you keep an eye on how much you are spending and only select the essentials.

If you are doing dropshipping, apps are essential since they can help you streamline your process. But once again, have a look if there are any freebies that can help first.

Further Reading: Top 31+ Must-have Shopify Apps for your Shopify Store in 2023

Shipping label fees

If you start at a basic Shopify plan or higher, shipping labels are printed for free. And with each plan, you get a different shipping discount rate.

The rates are up to 77%, 88%, and 88%, according to Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. The discount rates have increased significantly in the last two years and perhaps would continue to increase to benefit Shopify users more.

Taxes

Check with your city and country policy to know whether you will need a business license for your online store. This will decide if you need to pay tax for your revenue.

If your state requires sales tax, you’ll need to get a reseller’s sales tax certificate which normally requires an application and a nominal fee.

Shopify Payments Fees

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s official payment method that helps you process transactions from customers. It is a great way to do business since you will remove all the transaction fees when you use it.

So instead of paying transaction fees plus credit card fees, with Shopify Payments, all you need to pay left is the credit card fee that we discussed.

Shopify Payments won’t cost you anything more, and the credit card rates are lower than third-party payment processors like PayPal. All the fees are transparent and fixed, without international or monthly fees.

According to Shopify, there are 85% of users using Shopify Payments in available regions (US, Canada, the UK, Hong Kong, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and Singapore).

Shopify fees calculator

In order to see exactly how much a plan would cost you per month and the fees following, use these Shopify fees calculators.

How to Calculate Shopify monthly fees?

Provided by Avada group, Shopify Transaction Fee Calculator assists business owners in estimating how much they need to pay per month based on your Order per month Average order value and choosing the Monthly/Yearly button. It even has a calculator for an external payment fee based on your monthly sales, in case you don’t use Shopify Payment.

Shopify fees per sale

Provided by Ecommerce Platform, this Shopify Pricing Calculator is really easy to use. Just insert monthly revenue, if you are using Shopify payment, and how often you want to pay, and you will receive a very detailed cost for your online store. Using this calculator can help you figure out the exact Shopify pricing and plans you need to pay off. A side note is that they assume the average order value to be $50, so keep that in mind when looking at the fee valuation.

Shopify fees: FAQs

How to reduce Shopify fees

To reduce Shopify fees, consider the following options:

• Use Shopify Payments: By using Shopify’s integrated payment gateway, you can avoid transaction fees, and enjoy competitive processing fees.
• Choose the right plan: Evaluate your business needs and choose the most suitable plan for your store. Higher-tier plans offer lower credit card processing fees, so as your sales volume increases, upgrading your plan may save you money.
• Monitor your sales: Regularly review your sales and fees to ensure you’re on the most cost-effective plan, and adjust as needed.

What fees does Shopify charge?

Shopify charges a monthly subscription fee, credit card processing fees, and, in some cases, transaction fees. The monthly subscription fee depends on the plan you choose, while credit card processing fees vary based on your location and the payment gateway used. Shopify Payments, their integrated payment gateway, offers competitive processing fees. If you use a third-party payment gateway, a transaction fee may apply. However, this fee is waived if you use Shopify Payments.

Besides, you may also have to pay for domain, theme, app, shipping label, and taxes fees.

How much does Shopify cost per month?

Shopify offers 5 pricing plans in total to cater to businesses of different sizes and needs, with the cheapest plan costing only $5. Each plan comes with varying features and benefits, allowing you to choose the best option for your needs. The pricing of these plans varies depending on various factors, such as the features you would like to use, your budget, and your location.

Is it free to sell on Shopify?

While Shopify itself is not free, it does offer a 3-day free trial for new users, allowing you to set up your online store and explore its features without any financial commitment. After the trial, you will need to choose a subscription plan and pay for the Shopify seller fee to continue using the platform and selling your products. Note: you can join in Shopify Affiliate program to earn the Shopify commission fee which can help reduce the cost for your Shopify plan usage.

Conclusion

So we have covered every expense you need to know about Shopify fees and Shopify fees calculator in the article. Are you ready to start building your own online store and making profits on one of the biggest eCommerce platforms in the world?