Shopify Fees – What’s The True Cost Of Each Plan?

Selecting a suitable e-commerce builder for your business can be confusing, particularly when attempting to navigate credit card rates or hidden charges for transactions. In this article, we review Shopify fees, investigating commonly misunderstood concepts, including transaction fees, how to remove them, and how to save on credit card fees.

But first, what’s Shopify? In case you’re hearing about it for the first time, Shopify is an e-commerce platform which allows individuals to set up an online store and sell their products. In June 2019, a statement at the Shopify Unite conference suggested that about 820,000 merchants are using the Shopify platform for their online stores with over 500,000 active stores estimated. 

It’s designed to address the needs of businesses of all sizes. A derivative of the platform – Shopify POS enables merchants to sell their products in-person. So, whether you’re selling online, in-store, on social media, or out of your car boot, Shopify has you covered. 

How Much Does A Shopify Subscription Cost?

Shopify has three major pricing categories to choose from, ranging between $29 and $299 monthly.

1. Basic Shopify – $29/month, 
2. Shopify – $79/month, and 
3. Advanced Shopify – $299/month.

Each plan has its unique features and abilities. Remember that Shopify is designed for businesses regardless of size. This means that you can easily scale with the platform as your business grows bigger. The Basic Shopify plan is designed for small businesses looking for modest e-commerce functionalities. 

As you achieve your growth goals with your small business, chances are you are going to update your website a few times. The Shopify plan comes with upgrades on the Basic Shopify, including data reporting, abandoned cart recovery and gift cards. Does your business require more advanced e-commerce tools? The Advanced Shopify plan gives you access to even more valuable extra features. Some of the extra features within this plan include more advanced data reporting, rock-bottom transaction fees and stellar shipping. It’s important to note that all Shopify plans have a 14-day trial period.

Check out the below pricing plan comparison table for more information:

Shopify Pricing Plan Comparison

Asides the apparent differences in these Shopify plan fees, here are some other significant differences you should pay attention to:

• Credit Card Rates – marginal decrease in higher plans (Basic Shopify plan – 2.9% + $0.30; Shopify plan – 2.6% + $0.30; Advanced Shopify plan – 2.4% + $0.30)
• Transaction Fees – significant decrease in higher plans (Basic Shopify plan – 2%; Shopify plan – 1%; Advanced Shopify plan – 0.5%)
• Abandoned Cart Recovery ( Available in both the Shopify and Advanced Shopify plans)

How To Save 20% on Shopify Fees

On the Shopify pricing page, the monthly cost for individual plans assumes that you pay on a monthly plan. However, if you decide to go with the Shopify yearly plans, you save a minimum of ten percent across the Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans for one year subscription and that discount increases to 20% for a two year plan. 

Businesses often fall into the trap of going for the monthly plan without giving it much thought. We’ll all agree that the monthly plan provides us with a lot of flexibility but considering that you can save close to $1,435.20 over two years with the Advanced Shopify plan, it may be worth giving it deeper consideration to help with your business cashflow.

Shopify Discount Plan Options

Does Shopify Have Transaction Fees?

Unfortunately but understandably yes, there’s a transaction fee for every transaction on Shopify. When shoppers land on your store, they’ll browse around before deciding to purchase a product. Every time a customer buys from you, a transaction cycle is completed, and thus, a transaction fee is charged. These transaction fees help Shopify to keep your website active with zero down-time and operating optimally regardless of the number of visits at any time.

How Much Does Shopify Charge Per Transaction?

How much Shopify fees you’re charged per transaction is dependent on which Shopify plan you purchased. 

There are two different Shopify transaction charges: 

• Shopify fees (between 0.5% and 2%, depending on Shopify plan you subscribe to as indicated above). The Basic Shopify plan, Shopify plan, and Advanced Shopify plan charge 2%, 1%, and 0.5%, respectively. However, Shopify eliminates these transaction fees if you activate Shopify Payments as your payment processor (read more below).
  
• Credit Card Rates (this includes payment gateway charges such as Authorize.net, PayPal, or Stripe. 

What are Credit Card Rates & How Do They Work With Shopify?

When a credit card is used to purchase your product, whether offline or online, there’s a fee you’ll pay. This is referred to as the payment processing fee. This is the fee charged by your payment processor to collect payment from your customer’s bank and deposit it into your bank. All merchants pay this fee — it’s just how the commerce world works.

However, you can control your credit card rates which are determined by which payment processor you’re using. If you enable Shopify Payments, the payment processing rates for each transaction are as follows:

• Basic Shopify Plan – 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
• Shopify Plan – 2.6% + 30 cents per transaction
• Advanced Shopify Plan – 2.4% + 30 cents per transaction

Of course, these fees are charged per transaction and not per item sold. If you’re selling products in-person using the Shopify POS, the credit card rates or payment processing fees are lower.

• Basic Shopify Plan – 2.7% + 0 cents per transaction
• Shopify Plan – 2.5% + 0 cents per transaction
• Advanced Shopify Plan – 2.4% + 0 cents per transaction

How Do I Avoid Transaction Fees On Shopify?

You can completely avoid Shopify fees by setting up Shopify Payments as your payment processor. It’s crucial to understand that setting up Shopify Payments removes the Shopify charges completely. Therefore, regardless of which platform your customers pay through (PayPal, Amazon Pay, etc.) Shopify won’t charge you any additional fee. Set up is free, and there’s no monthly cost. 

Shopify Payments is available to stores in specific countries. Here is a complete list of supported countries and requirements for using Shopify Payments. Is your country not included in the list? Shopify is fully integrated with more than 70 different payment processors, accepting credit cards from across the globe.

How Does Shopify Fare Compare Fee Wise With Its Competition?

Shopify Vs Etsy Fees – Do Etsy Charge Transaction Fees?

Etsy is an online marketplace that allows you to list your products alongside other online merchants. The website promotes itself as “a creative marketplace” where vendors only sell craft, handmade, or vintage goods. Etsy Standard plan has no monthly fees – only the listing fees, payment processing charges and transaction costs applied to products.

You can upgrade to the Plus plan which costs $10 per month and offers you a wider set of tools (like more customizable options and email alerts) to help grow your store.

Etsy has now started its e-commerce platform, which helps merchants build a website to sell their products. It’s called Etsy Pattern. It has less product restrictions than the Etsy marketplace. It offers a 30 days free trial and costs $15/month afterwards. The downside of the Etsy Pattern to online sellers is that they you will be responsible for generating your traffic as it’s separate from the Etsy marketplace. Note that you must be an Etsy seller to use Etsy Pattern.

But how do you choose between both of them? For online selling, Shopify is the better choice. It’s more flexible, more scalable, and offers better e-commerce tools than Etsy. However, this choice lies with you. It all depends on your business needs, budget, and goals.

Differences between Shopify and Etsy Pattern

Everyone loves alternatives that offer great value for money. Shopify offers its subscribers several attractive perks – as is the case with Etsy. So the biggest question here is – Is Shopify better than Etsy?

Well – In our opinion, Shopify comes out on top in almost every aspect.

Specifically Shopify beats Etsy in the following categories:

• Design Flexibility
• Domain and URL Structure
• E-commerce Tools and Features
• Help and Support

Easy gets a marginal win in terms of being able to attract customers. The Etsy marketplace is very popular with over 33 million shoppers. You just sit back, relax and let the shoppers find your products, though you do have to hope that buyers select your products from a pool of millions.

On the other hand, Shopify provides more control and more unique online presence, but does require a more intensive marketing approach and specifically in depth SEO techniques to boost rankings.

They both seem to be at par in some categories, including Ease of Use and Pricing. So what about Transaction Fees? This is among the first things any online seller considers before choosing the ideal e-commerce builder for their business. Transaction fees are often the monsters lurking in the shadows waiting to jump out at the last moment and give you a shock.

Etsy’s basic plan doesn’t charge you monthly fees, but it charges a listing fee of $0.20/product. This is just the publishing cost for your product and is active for four months. However, Etsy charges you a transaction fee of 5% in addition to the 3% + $0.25 payment processing fee. 

Using Etsy with Shopify

Perhaps you are looking to get the best of both worlds when it comes to Easy and Shopify?

We have great news for you! You can integrate your Shopify store and Etsy marketplace using the Shopify App Store. The real-time synchronization ensures you avoid overselling or confusion by syncing your Shopify and Etsy stores whenever you make any changes.

This integration has a 7-day free trial after which costs an additional $60/month to your existing Shopify and Etsy subscription and includes unlimited product upload and custom features. It’s an excellent option for Shopify store owners looking to diversify their online presence as you cannot reach a new audience through the Etsy marketplace.

Wrap Up

Shopify is among the best available and most comprehensive hosted e-commerce builders today. They certainly aren’t the cheapest, but they do deliver excellent value for money with their vast array of e-commerce tools. If you’re serious about building a successful online store, Shopify is an excellent platform to help you reach your goals.

FAQs

Can I upgrade or downgrade my existing Shopify plan easily?

Yes, you can change your existing plan type anytime. An upgrade or downgrade will commence a new billing cycle and stop the existing one. All existing funds will be credited to your new plan.

Can I cancel my Shopify subscription?

Correct, you can cancel your Shopify subscription at any time. To cancel your Shopify subscription and online store, go to “Settings” > “Account page” select the “Close my Store” option.

Does Shopify charge for refunds?

No, Shopify doesn’t charge a transaction fee for any fully refunded transaction – Shopify will automatically remove the charge. But if it has already billed you, Shopify will issue you credit upon your next invoice. Please note that Shopify will still charge you the original transaction fee if a purchase was only partially refunded.

Am I required to input my credit card details for the 14-day free trial?

Not at all. You only have to enter a functional e-mail address to access the 14-day free trial.

Does Shopify have any hidden fees?

There are no hidden charges in Shopify. You’ll subscribe to your preferred plan, and then you’re billed an additional credit card and Shopify transaction fees per transaction completed on your store (this is when Shopify Payments is turned off – see above). However, extra Shopify fees to be conscious of include Apps, Domain name and E-mail hosting.