Shopify Payments Fees, Explained (for Operators)
The short version
When you use Shopify Payments, each sale carries transaction fees set by your plan. The exact rate lives in your own dashboard — not in a blog post. This guide tells you where to look and what the moving parts are.
The fee types that touch every order
1. Transaction (processing) rates. A percentage of each order plus a fixed per-order charge. Rates differ by plan. Open Settings → Payments in your Shopify admin to see your current plan's rates — that's the only source that matters.
2. Currency conversion. If you sell in a currency different from your payout currency, a conversion charge applies on top of the transaction rate. Check Settings → Payments → Shopify Payments for your market's conversion terms.
3. Refunds and chargebacks. When you refund an order, the transaction fee on that order is not returned to you (verify this in your payout report — don't take our word for it). Chargebacks carry their own handling process; see Shopify's documentation for your region.
4. Your plan subscription. This is separate from per-order fees. Verified figures (US pricing page, 2026-10-20): Basic is $39/month billed monthly ($29/month billed yearly); Grow is $105/month billed monthly ($79/month billed yearly); Advanced is $399/month billed monthly ($299/month billed yearly); Plus starts at $2,300/month and has no annual billing option. These are the subscription, not the per-order fee — don't mix the two when you audit.
Why your payout doesn't match the headline rate
Three common reasons the number that lands in your bank looks different from the rate you remember:
- Mixed payment methods. Orders processed through an external gateway on a Basic plan carry a 2% third-party transaction fee (verified) instead of the Shopify Payments rate. One month of split traffic skews the blended number.
- Currency conversion on international orders. The conversion charge is easy to miss because it folds into the payout, not the order total.
- Pending versus paid. Fees on refunded or disputed orders are already accounted for differently — compare "net payout" to "gross sales" over the same date range, or the math will confuse you.
The 2-minute check
- Go to Settings → Plan — confirm which plan you're actually on.
- Go to Settings → Payments — read your current transaction rates off the page.
- Open Finances → Payouts (or Settings → Payments → View payouts, depending on your admin) — pick one payout, expand it, and reconcile the fees against the rates from step 2.
- If a fee line doesn't match anything in step 2, screenshot it. That's your support ticket evidence.
One thing to remember
Shopify's rates change by plan and over time. Any article quoting a specific Shopify Payments domestic rate without a date is a liability, not a reference. Your dashboard is the source of truth; everything else is a starting point for questions.
Sources
Fee figures on this page were verified against Shopify's official sources on October 20, 2026: shopify.com/pricing (US region, USD: Basic $39/mo monthly, $29/mo yearly; Grow $105/mo monthly, $79/mo yearly; Advanced $399/mo monthly, $299/mo yearly; Plus from $2,300/mo, no annual billing) and the Shopify Help Center — pricing overview (third-party transaction fee 2% on Basic). Rates change over time; your Shopify dashboard is the source of truth.