Shopify Payment Processing Fees Overview

Shopify offers an extensive range of products and services for UK business owners and sole traders, from ways to set up your business and design an ecommerce website, to payment processing services, marketing solutions and more.

If you’re thinking of using Shopify to manage your UK ecommerce, you’ll want to know about the available plans and the Shopify Payments processing fees which go with them.

This guide to Shopify transaction fees covers all you need to know. We’ll also touch on Wise Business, which has a handy multi-currency account and card services with low fees, which allow you to take payments through PSPs and marketplaces seamlessly in multiple currencies.

💡 Learn more about Wise Business

Shopify costs - quick overview

Shopify primarily caters to online businesses, ecommerce stores, and people offering services which are paid for digitally - although offline payments are also available if you have the right equipment. This makes Shopify a really popular pick among ecommerce sellers, particularly thanks to the broad range of ancillary services available such as marketing support, shipping and inventory management.

In this guide we’re looking mainly at Shopify transaction fees for the UK, although we’ll also touch on Shopify currency conversion if you need to take overseas payments.

UK businesses can use Shopify to take payments on and offline. You’ll be able to process customer payments made with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and UnionPay debit cards and UnionPay credit cards, plus local payment methods like Klarna are also offered. If you plan to take payments in person you’ll also need either a Shopify card reader or a third party card reader - a physical terminal to swipe or tap customer cards.

Shopify payment processing fees

The fees associated with Shopify Payments depend on several factors, including where in the world you are and which Shopify plan you subscribe to. Costs also vary based on the way the customer pays, and whether you use a third party payment processor or not.

We’ll cover what you get with different Shopify plans in a moment, but as a starting point, here are the Shopify payment fees you need to know about, based on different plan options¹:

Third party payment processing fees must be added to the costs you pay to the payment processor. In addition to these 3 plans, which are the most commonly used, there are also several other plans which we’ll look at next.

Shopify plans

Shopify markets several different plans which can suit organisations of different sizes. There are the Basic, Shopify, Advanced and Plus plans - as well as the Starter, Retail and Enterprise plans.

Different plans have their own features, in addition to the range of customer payment processing prices which wwe saw above. Here’s a quick summary²:

If none of these options suit your needs, these alternative options may be a better fit:

You’ll notice that plans offer access to 3 global markets³. This means that you can localise your website to sell to people in 3 different countries - translating your page for example. You may also be able to adjust the currency your customers pay in from overseas, although the options for changing currencies do depend on how your account is set up.

If you’re dealing with payments across currencies - selling to customers based in Europe, but being paid by Shopify in pounds in the UK for example - you might find there are fees for currency conversion⁴. We’ll look at this Shopify currency conversion fee next.

Shopify currency conversion

Switching currencies costs money, which means you might find your costs increase if you’re selling to customers overseas and allowing Shopify to handle the currency exchange.

Bear in mind that if you’re paid in a currency other than the payout currency you’ve nominated in Shopify, a currency conversion fee will apply. In this case, Shopify will convert the currency your customer pays to the currency needed for payout, minus a 2% fee.

FAQs - Shopify payments fees

Let’s round up our review of Shopify payment processing fees with some common questions and answers.

Does Shopify refund processing fees?

As we've seen, variable Shopify payments fees apply when you take a customer card payment. But what happens if the customer returns the item and asks for a refund? You can process refunds through Shopify with no additional fee to pay, but the bad news is that the original Shopify processing fee is not refunded⁵.

Is there VAT on Shopify fees in the UK?

Throughout Europe, with the exception of Ireland, Shopify costs do not include VAT charged on the payment fees. That means that Shopify transaction fees in the UK are as stated in your plan fee information, without additional VAT to be paid⁶.

What is the fee threshold on Shopify?

Make sure you read through your Shopify plan details carefully to check for any additional possible costs including Shopify Tax⁷. Shopify tax may apply once you reach the fee threshold, which is usually 100,000 GBP in sales for customers in the UK⁸.

However, this figure does vary - and can change for different Shopify plans too. If you exceed your fee threshold you may have to pay additional fees, which are capped at 5,000 GBP per region per calendar year where they apply.

Receive payments in multiple currencies with Wise Business

Wise can help UK businesses to receive payments in multiple currencies, with low fees and the mid-market exchange rate.

A Wise Business account comes with local account details to get paid in 8+ major foreign currencies like Euros and US Dollars just as easily as you do in Pounds, these payments can come directly from your customers, from PSPs like Stripe and Amazon, or from platforms like Shopify.

All you need to do is add the relevant currency account details to the platform you need to withdraw the funds. Once you receive the payment in Euros, Dollars or other supported currencies, you can hold this money into your multi-currency account, send with Wise Business debit card or convert back to Pounds with low fees and the mid-market exchange rate.

Get started with Wise Business 🚀

Shopify can be a great option for UK sole traders, ecommerce sellers and business owners to start, grow and manage a company. With a full suite of services from getting your business and website set up, to taking payments and managing stock, inventory and sales, you’ve got all you need at your fingertips. Shopify’s services have varying fees depending on what exactly you need.

Sources used in this article:

Sources last checked November 11, 2024