Shopify charges $1.03 on a $25 sale. Amazon charges $7.59. Shopify is cheapest by 7×. Except that $1.03 is only true if your customers all use standard domestic cards, you use Shopify Payments, and you sell in one currency. Change any of those and the number moves — from $0.75 to $1.53 on the same sale. Add a Klarna payment at 4.99% and it's $1.55. Add currency conversion at 1.5–2.0% and the full chain to your bank account is over $2.00. And the $23.97 "take-home" still has to cover fulfilment, customer acquisition, and returns — costs the seller provides that Amazon bundles in.
742 fee configurations across plans, card types, payment methods, and regions. 146 cost levers. This page maps every published rate. Not "about 3%." The real number.
For the full methodology → How it works →
Shopify is not a marketplace. The fee structure covers fundamentally different things.
| What Shopify charges for | What Shopify does NOT provide |
|---|---|
| Platform subscription (monthly) | Marketplace traffic — the seller drives every visitor |
| Payment processing (per transaction) | Fulfilment — the seller stores, packs, ships, handles returns |
| Customer acquisition — the seller runs ads, SEO, social, content | |
| Customer service — the seller handles everything |
No referral fee. No commission. No fulfilment fee. No storage fee. No insertion fee.
So what? The $23.97 take-home looks dramatically better than Amazon's $17.41. But Amazon's $7.59 includes fulfilment, returns handling, AND access to 300M+ customers. The $6.56 gap is the cost of everything Amazon bundles in that the Shopify seller provides separately. If your fulfilment plus your customer acquisition cost exceeds $6.43 per unit, you keep less on Shopify despite platform fees 7× lower.
PAYMENT PROCESSING
Most sellers think Shopify costs "about 3%." The actual cost depends on your plan, your card mix, your processor, your customer's payment method, and whether you sell internationally. The range on a $25 sale: $0.75 to $2.05. That's not a rounding error — it's a 2.7× spread.
| Plan | Online rate | Fixed fee | Cost on $25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 2.9% | + $0.30 | $1.03 |
| Grow | 2.7% | + $0.30 | $0.98 |
| Advanced | 2.5% | + $0.30 | $0.93 |
| Plus | Negotiated | Negotiated | — |
Upgrading from Basic to Grow saves $0.05 per $25 transaction. At the subscription cost difference ($105 vs $39/month), the $0.05 saving requires roughly 1,320 transactions/month to break even. Below 1,320: Basic is cheaper. Above: Grow starts paying for itself.
Source: Shopify pricing verified via shopify.com/pricing
| Payment method | Rate (Basic) | Cost on $25 |
|---|---|---|
| In-person (POS, standard card) | 2.6% + $0.10 | $0.75 |
| Online, standard domestic card | 2.9% + $0.30 | $1.03 |
| Online, premium card (Amex) | 3.5% + $0.30 | $1.18 |
| Online, international card | 3.9% + $0.30 | $1.28 |
| PayPal Wallet | 3.49% + $0.49 | $1.36 |
| Klarna (UK) | 4.99% + £0.30 | ~$1.55 |
The payment mix problem: A seller with 100% domestic cards pays $1.03. A seller with 20% Amex, 15% international, and 10% Klarna pays approximately $1.16 per transaction — $0.13 more per unit. At 10,000 transactions/year: $1,300 in extra processing costs driven entirely by which payment methods the customers choose. Not a decision the seller made. A cost the seller probably never tracked.
Sellers using a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments pay an additional transaction fee to Shopify:
| Plan | Additional Shopify fee |
|---|---|
| Basic | 2.0% |
| Grow | 1.0% |
| Advanced | 0.6% |
| Plus | 0.2% |
This is ON TOP of whatever the processor charges. On Basic with a processor charging 2.9% + $0.30: total = 4.9% + $0.30 = $1.53 per $25 sale. That's 48% more than Shopify Payments ($1.03).
$0.50 more per transaction. At 10,000 transactions/year: $5,000. Entirely avoidable by switching to Shopify Payments. One setting. One change. $5,000.
Source: Shopify pricing verified via shopify.com/pricing
Selling internationally or receiving payouts in a different currency triggers conversion fees most sellers never see:
| Conversion scenario | Fee |
|---|---|
| Shopify Payments currency conversion (US/UK) | 1.5% |
| Shopify Payments currency conversion (other regions) | 2.0% |
| Multi-Currency Payout (Advanced) | 1.5% |
| Multi-Currency Payout (Plus) | 1.0% |
| PayPal Wallet currency conversion | 3.0% |
A UK seller receiving EUR payments through PayPal Wallet pays 3.0% in currency conversion — on top of the payment processing fee. On €500/month in EU sales: €180/year in conversion fees alone. Through Shopify Payments: €90/year. Half the cost, same money arriving in the same bank account.
So what? Currency conversion isn't a single fee — it depends on which method the customer used, which payout option the seller selected, and which plan they're on. Most sellers call this "about 3%." The full chain is usually higher.
PLAN SUBSCRIPTION
Shopify charges a monthly subscription — not a commission on sales. The plan determines your payment processing rate. Higher subscription, lower per-transaction cost. The crossover depends on your volume.
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly (per month) | Processing rate (standard card) | Third-party fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 | $29 | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.0% |
| Grow | $105 | $95 | 2.7% + $0.30 | 1.0% |
| Advanced | $399 | $360 | 2.5% + $0.30 | 0.6% |
| Plus (3-year) | — | $2,300 | Negotiated | 0.2% |
All plans include 1% back on sales as a subscription credit reward.
The crossovers:
| Upgrade | Extra monthly cost (yearly billing) | Saving per transaction | Breakeven |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic → Grow | $66/month | $0.05 | 1,320 transactions/month |
| Grow → Advanced | $265/month | $0.05 | 5,300 transactions/month |
| Basic → Advanced | $331/month | $0.10 | 3,310 transactions/month |
So what? Below 1,320 transactions/month, Basic is cheapest. Between 1,320 and 5,300, Grow. Above 5,300, Advanced starts paying for itself. These numbers shift with your average order value — because the percentage component scales with price while the $0.30 fixed component doesn't.
Important: These crossovers assume standard domestic cards. If your payment mix includes significant Amex, international, or local payment method volume, the per-transaction saving from upgrading is different — because premium and international card rates also drop with higher tiers.
Source: Shopify pricing verified via shopify.com/pricing
COSTS YOU DON'T TRACK
Beyond the headline processing rate, Shopify has fees for tax collection, marketplace syncing, chargebacks, and payment failures. Each one is small individually. Together, they add up.
After a $100,000 free tier (per store location), Shopify charges a fee on transactions where it collects tax:
| Scenario | Rate |
|---|---|
| US store collecting US tax (non-Plus) | 0.35% |
| US store collecting US tax (Plus) | 0.25% |
| US store collecting EU/UK tax (non-Plus) | 0.25% |
| US store collecting EU/UK tax (Plus) | 0.15% |
On a $25 product at 0.35% (US, non-Plus): $0.09 per transaction. After the $100K free tier (roughly 4,000 transactions), a seller doing 10,000 transactions pays 0.35% on 6,000 transactions: $525/year in tax collection fees. Small per unit. Real across volume.
Sellers syncing marketplace orders (Amazon, eBay) through Shopify get 50 free synced orders per month. Above 50: 1% per order.
A seller syncing 200 marketplace orders/month at an average $30 order value: 150 billable orders × $0.30 = $45/month, $540/year.
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Chargeback (B2B, ACH Direct Debit) | $15 per occurrence |
| Payment failure (B2B, ACH Direct Debit) | $4 per occurrence |
Low frequency for most sellers. But a B2B seller with 20 chargebacks/year: $300.
WHAT IT DOESN'T CHARGE
No operationally-driven fees. No storage surcharges. No inventory penalties. No aged inventory charges. No inbound placement fees. The seller's operational costs sit entirely outside Shopify's fee schedule.
Shopify charges nothing based on how the seller operates. No inventory velocity penalties. No seasonal storage increases. No shipment configuration fees.
This is the fundamental trade-off: marketplace platforms charge higher fees but provide traffic, fulfilment, and customer trust. Shopify charges lower fees but the seller builds and pays for everything else.
So what? On Shopify, every cost outside the platform fee is the seller's decision and the seller's problem. More control — and more cost uncertainty. A seller who assumed 3% processing and budgeted $3/unit for fulfilment, then found their actual costs were 4.1% processing and $4.50/unit fulfilment, is $1.60/unit worse than projected. At 10,000 units: $16,000/year in margin erosion from cost uncertainty.
Platform fees only. Before fulfilment, marketing, customer acquisition, and everything else the seller provides.
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale price | $25.00 |
| Payment processing (2.9% + $0.30) | −$1.03 |
| Platform fees | −$1.03 |
| Passed through (before fulfilment, marketing, and COGS) | $23.97 |
What changes at YOUR payment mix and configuration:
| Scenario | Processing cost per $25 sale | Annual impact (10,000 sales) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard domestic cards only | $1.03 | $10,300 |
| 20% Amex + 15% international | $1.16 | $11,600 (+$1,300) |
| Third-party processor on Basic | $1.53 | $15,300 (+$5,000) |
| 10% Klarna + 15% international | $1.22 | $12,200 (+$1,900) |
| International sales + 1.5% conversion | $1.03 + $0.38 FX | $14,100 (+$3,800) |
The "about 3%" assumption understates the real cost for every scenario except domestic-only standard cards on Shopify Payments.
The comparison that matters:
| Cost | Shopify seller pays | Amazon FBA seller pays |
|---|---|---|
| Fulfilment (pick, pack, ship) | Yes — seller arranges ($2–5/unit) | Included in $3.68 FBA fee |
| Customer acquisition (ads, SEO) | Yes — seller drives all traffic ($3–8/unit) | Marketplace provides traffic |
| Returns handling | Yes — seller handles ($0.50–2/unit) | Included in FBA service |
If fulfilment ($3.50) + customer acquisition ($5.00) + returns ($1.00) = $9.50/unit, the Shopify seller keeps $25.00 − $1.03 − $9.50 = $14.47. The Amazon seller keeps $25.00 − $7.59 = $17.41. The "cheaper" platform costs $2.94 more per unit. At 10,000 units: $29,400/year in margin the seller thought they were saving.
742 fee configurations. 146 cost levers. Your plan, your payment mix, your country. Launching September 2026.
Your product. Your fees. Computed.
A seller who thought Shopify was her cheapest channel discovered her fulfilment and acquisition costs made it her most expensive — one of twelve findings in a £37,400/year analysis.
See every fee line computed on one product →
Amazon seller fees — 2,021 fee configurations →
eBay seller fees → · Walmart seller fees →
All figures from published Shopify rate cards. Sources linked inline.
Rates verified 27 May 2026.