Last Updated on by Dan S
Originally Published August 30, 2021.
In 2023, global eCommerce is expected to reach $6.51 trillion, a 400% increase from the past seven years. ¹ So, if you’ve been thinking about launching a business online, now might be the perfect opportunity! Shopify serves millions of independent businesses worldwide, providing a user-friendly interface to make selling goods and services online a breeze.
In fact, even with limited experience, Shopify can help you reach buyers worldwide as a small start-up or an established international brand. According to Shopify, they offer lightning-fast load times, a super easy set-up process and lots of certified partners to help empower your business online. Shopify can even bring the digital shopping experience to life with immersive videos, 3D models and augmented reality. The question is, how much does Shopify cost and which Shopify plan is best for my business?
Well, Shopify offers merchants a number of pricing plans to choose from. There is a Shopify pricing plan to suit all budgets and business models. But, analyzing each Shopify package can feel slightly daunting, especially if you’re new to the platform. So, to make this process easy, we’ve put together an essential guide.
Here’s everything you need to know about Shopify transaction fees, pricing plans, and any hidden fees you should be aware of!
An Overview Of Monthly Shopify Pricing Plans for 2023
Shopify currently offers five different pricing plans, from a lite package which only costs $9 per month, up to their enterprise package, priced at around $2,000 per month. Each package will provide key features to help you market your goods and services online and generate sales.
But, typically, most Shopify pricing plans offer very similar functionality, with the main difference between each one is the Shopify transaction fees you’ll need to pay. This means you should only upgrade your plan as your business grows and you experience higher sales volumes.
With that being said, let’s take a closer look at each Shopify pricing plan in more detail.
Top tip: If you can, sign up for an annual Shopify pricing plan, as this can reduce your Shopify fees by up to 20%. However, these discounts are only available if you pay for 12 months or two years, over a monthly basis.
1: Shopify Lite Plan
Budget-friendly, dip your toe into the water with Shopify Lite Plan. Best for individual sellers who are planning on selling via Facebook, or in person, without having to develop and manage their own online store.
While you won’t have a blog or customizable checkout process, you will be able to sell goods online and through Facebook, Amazon and Messager.
Price: $9 per month
Features:
- Sell an unlimited number of products
- 2% Shopify transaction fees and 0% when using Shopify payment
- Payment gateway fees: 2.9% + 30¢: when using credit card via Shopify payments online
- Payment gateway fees: 2.7% + 0¢: when using credit card via Shopify, payments in person
- Payment gateway fees: 1.2%+ 30¢: -4% when using external payment gateways such as Paypal or Stripe
- Fraud analysis
- Automated tax rates
- 24/7 Shopify support
- Accept all major credit & debit cards, Paypal & digital currencies
- Sell on Facebook and Amazon, and through Messenger
- Professional reporting feature
- Manual order creation and order notifications
- Print shipping labels
- Offer discount codes & promotions
- SSL certificate
- Unlimited file storage
- Unlimited hosting bandwidth
- International CDN
Not included:
- Your own online store
- Sell goods on a custom domain
- One staff account
- Your own blog
- Create and sell gift cards
- Real-Time & Discounted shipping rates
- Customizable checkout
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Advanced report builder
- Merchant Success Manager
- Migration support
- Launch manager
- Expedited support
- Launchpad app
- Bulk Account Inviter
- Sell on Pinterest
- Wholesale channel
- Peak traffic delivery
- Unlimited file storage
- Ruby Scripts app
- XLM sitemaps
- Gift card API
- MultiPass login feature
- User API
- Free tax services with Avalara AvaTax
- Sell on Houzz, BuzzFeed, Wanelo and Wish
2: Shopify Basic Plan
A step up from Shopify Lite, the Basic plan enables you to create a fully functional online store, which includes being able to blog.
This is key to increasing your organic visibility within the search results, driving relevant traffic to your online store and internal linking. With such an affordable price tag, it is ideal for anyone new to the world of eCommerce, as well as small startups and independent brands.
Price: $29 per month
Features:
- Create and launch your own eCommerce store
- Sell an unlimited number of products
- 2% Shopify transaction fees and 0% when using Shopify payment
- Payment gateway fees: 2.9% + 30¢: when using credit card via Shopify payments online
- Payment gateway fees: 2.7% + 0¢: when using credit card via Shopify, payments in person
- Payment gateway fees: 1.2%+ 30¢: -4% when using external payment gateways such as Paypal or Stripe
- Sell goods or services of a custom domain
- SEO friendly
- Create and assign two staff accounts
- Publish keyword-rich content for SEO & boost organic traffic
- Access small discounted shipping rates
- Manual order creation & order notification
- Fraud analysis
- Automated tax rates
- Optimise UX with the same domain
- 24/7 Shopify support
- Accept all major credit & debit cards, Paypal & digital currencies
- Sell on Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, Messenger, Houzz, BuzzFeed, Wanelo & Wish
- SSL certificate
- Unlimited file storage
- Unlimited hosting bandwidth
- XLM sitemaps
- International CDN
Not included:
- Create and sell gift cards
- Real-Time shipping rates
- Customisable checkout
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Advanced report builder
- Merchant Success Manager
- Migration support
- Launch Manager
- Expedited support
- Launchpad app
- Bulk Account Inviter
- Wholesale channel
- Peak Traffic Delivery
- Ruby Scripts app
- Gift card API
- MultiPass login feature
- User API
- Free tax services with Avalara AvaTax
3: Shopify Plan
The original Shopify plan is excellentOptimise for anyone with an established small to medium-sized eCommerce business hoping to scale up. Unlike the basic plan, you’ll unlock the ability to create and sell gift cards on your Shopify store and enjoy lower Shopify transaction fees. By upgrading from the Basic plan to the Shopify Plan, you will gain access to sales reports, retail sales reports, customer reports and marketing reports. Since knowledge is power in business, having access to as much data as possible regarding your target audience, cart abandonment rate and check out process will be key to your success.
Price: $79
Features:
- Create and launch your own eCommerce store
- Sell an unlimited number of products
- 1% Shopify transaction fees and 0% when using Shopify payment
- Payment gateway fees: 2.6% + 30¢: when using credit card via Shopify payments online
- Payment gateway fees: 2.5% + 0¢: when using credit card via Shopify payments in person
- Payment gateway fees: 1.2%+ 30¢: -4% when using external payment gateways such as Paypal or Stripe
- Sell goods or services of a custom domain
- SEO friendly
- Create and assign 5 staff accounts
- Publish keyword-rich content for SEO & boost organic traffic
- Sell gift cards and offer discounts and promotions
- Access small discounted shipping rates
- Manual order creation & order notification
- Fraud analysis
- Automated tax rates
- Optimise UX with the same domain
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Advanced report builder
- 24/7 Shopify support
- Accept all major credit & debit cards, Paypal & digital currencies
- Sell on Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, Messenger, Houzz, BuzzFeed, Wanelo & Wish
- SSL certificate
- Unlimited file storage
- Unlimited hosting bandwidth
- XLM sitemaps
- International CDN
Not included:
- Real-Time shipping rates
- Customisable checkout
- Advanced Report Builder
- Merchant Success Manager
- Wholesale channel
- Ruby Scripts app
- Gift card API
- MultiPass login feature
- User API
- Free Tax services with Avalara AvaTax
- Migration support
- Launch Manager
- Expedited support
- Launchpad App
- Bulk Account Inviter
4: Shopify Advanced Plan
If you’re already experiencing high volume orders and sustainable growth, Shopify’s Advanced Plan will be a good fit for your business. With Advanced Shopify, you can make better data-driven decisions as a business by taking advantage of the advanced report building and real-time carrier shipping features. This plan gives merchants the ability to analyse business data more efficiently as well as create custom reports to hone in on the most profitable items to sell and key metrics to tweak, which can help optimise your sales funnel and ultimately help you make more money online. You’ll also enjoy lower transaction fees and up to 15 staff accounts.
Price: $299 per month
Features:
- Create and launch your own eCommerce store
- Sell an unlimited number of products
- 5% Shopify transaction fees and 0% when using Shopify payment
- Payment gateway fees: 2.4% + 30¢: when using credit card via Shopify payments online & in-person
- Payment gateway fees: 1.2%+ 30¢: -4% when using external payment gateways such as Paypal or Stripe
- Sell goods or services of a custom domain
- SEO friendly
- Create and assign 15 staff accounts
- Publish keyword-rich content for SEO & boost organic traffic
- Sell gift cards, offer discounts and promotions
- Access discounted and real-time shipping rates
- Manual order creation & order notification
- Fraud analysis
- Automated tax rates
- You’ll have a professional reporting feature
- Optimise UX with the same domain
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Advanced report builder
- 24/7 Shopify support
- Accept all major credit & debit cards, Paypal & digital currencies
- Sell on Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, Messenger, Houzz, BuzzFeed, Wanelo & Wish
- SSL certificate
- Unlimited file storage
- Unlimited hosting bandwidth
- XLM sitemaps
- International CDN
Not included:
- Customisable checkout
- Merchant Success Manager
- Migration support
- Ruby Scripts App
- Launch Manager
- Expedited support
- Launchpad App
- Bulk Account Inviter
- Wholesale channel
- Peak traffic delivery
- User API
5: Shopify Plus Plan
Best for big household brands and international eCommerce businesses, If you are selling worldwide and have a high volume of sales, Shopify Plus might be the best option for you!
You’ll have the ability to sell and market your goods in several languages, as well as enjoy the benefits of having fully automated currency conversion across your Shopify site. This plan is used by household names such as Heinz and staples as well as fashion brands such as Steve Madden.
Price: No set monthly fee, but typically around $2,000 per month.
Features:
- You can sell an unlimited number of products
- 0% Shopify transaction fees & 0% when using Shopify payment
- Payment gateway fees: 2.15% + 30¢: when using credit card via Shopify payments online & in-person
- Payment gateway fees: 1.2%+ 30¢: -4% when using external payment gateways such as Paypal or Stripe
- You have the ability to create geo-localized subdomains for no extra Shopify fee
- Ability to translate your website into a wide range of languages
- SEO friendly eCommerce website
- You can sell goods or services on a custom domain
- Unlimited staff accounts
- Create and sell gift cards
- Offer customers discount codes and promotions
- Publish keyword-rich content on your own blog
- Gain access to significantly reduced shipping fees, as well as real-time shipping rates
- Print shipping labels as needed
- Manual order creation & order notifications
- Fraud analysis
- Tax rates are automated
- You’ll have a professional reporting feature
- Optimize five UX with same domain & customisable checkout
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Advanced report builder
- 24/7 Shopify support & a dedicated Merchant Success Manager
- Migration support for existing eCommerce sites
- Launch Manager
- Launchpad App
- Bulk Account Inviter
- Accept all major credit & debit cards, Paypal & digital currencies
- Sell on Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, Messenger, Houzz, BuzzFeed, Wanelo & Wish
- SSL certificate
- Ruby Scripts app
- Unlimited file storage
- Unlimited hosting bandwidth
- XLM sitemaps
Shopify Fees Explained
To answer the question ‘How much does Shopify cost?’, we need to consider all the Shopify fees involved when selling via this eCommerce platform, not only the transaction fees!
Subscription Fees
This depends on the Shopify pricing plan you choose initially and on the subscription billing period. As we’ve mentioned above, you can sign up for as little as $9 per month or opt for the enterprise business model, which will cost around $2,000 per month.
Shipping Labels
When you start generating sales online, you’ll need to purchase shipping labels through Shopify Shipping. This fee will be added to your Shopify account; however, they are charged separately from your Shopify pricing plan. If you’re selling goods worldwide, you’ll also need to consider the different tax rules that apply to the country you’re shipping goods to.
Shopify Transaction Fees
When using Shopify Payments, there is a 0% Shopify transaction fee for all Shopify pricing plans. Transaction fees also don’t apply when manual payment methods are involved. This could include cash on delivery, test orders, draft orders and bank deposits.
Shopify transaction fees don’t apply for POS orders either. Shopify transaction fees are only added when using a third-party payment provider for sellers in Sweden, Austria, and Belgium. You can review the individual pricing plans above to consider the best option for your unique business model and the associated Shopify transaction fees.
Important: When a payment is made using a credit card via Shopify, the transaction fees will not be returned to you if a refund is issued.
To calculate how much Shopify will cost when it comes to transaction fees, use the following equation;
[ ( cost of products – discounts ) + tax + shipping charged ] x rate
The rate for your Shopify transaction fee depends on your pricing plan. This formula is used to calculate Shopify transaction fees for a 30-day period. ²
Shopify Emails
Another fee you might incur while using Shopify is a $1 email fee. In order to increase your inbound traffic and improve your conversion rate, you might want to launch email marketing campaigns, to highlight discounts, seasonal offers or reward loyal customers.
Sending e-newsletters to your mailing list is now part of Shopify’s latest features. Shopify Email works with the Shopify interface and provides sellers with an easy to use email marketing software. Sellers can send up to 2,500 emails each month for FREE, with only a $1 Shopify fee added on for every 1,000 emails you send after you’ve hit the 2,500 mark.
Shopify POS Fees
Suppose you have a Shopify site but also a traditional bricks and mortar business. You may want to use Shopify’s point-of-sale feature, which allows businesses to sell online and in-store simultaneously.
By investing in a Shopify POS device, no matter which pricing plan you have chosen to use, you can sell online and in-person and have your digital inventory automatically in sync.
There is a lite version of this add-on, as well as a Shopify POS Plus option. Go Plus if you plan on working with a large number of POS-only staff, allowing customers to buy online and collect in-store, offer product exchanges, use a large number of cash registers and reward staff members depending on sales targets. This add-on will cost you around $89 more a month, per location and on top of your existing Shopify fees.
How To Minimise Shopify Fees
Here are five easy ways to significantly reduce your Shopify fees.
1: Consider Downgrading Your Shopify Pricing Plan
One easy way to minimise your Shopify fees is to consider downgrading the pricing plan you’re currently signed up for. Ask yourself, how many of the key features do you actually use and benefit from?
Then review the plan below the one you have and decide whether you can downgrade and pay less each month without limiting or restricting your business growth. You might be paying for the Shopify Advanced Plan when you only really need the Shopify Plan. In this case, you’d be saving $220 per month, an annual saving of $2,640.
2: Reduce Transaction Fees
Having multiple payment gateways on your website could actually be costing you money. Many payment gateways charge based on the number of transactions made, and so if you’re not hitting the top usage levels that generate lower fees, you could be spending more money on transaction fees than you need to.
By restricting the number of payment gateways you offer, you can minimise the amount of money you’re spending as a business each month.
3: Neglected App Subscriptions
When creating a Shopify site, you might be tempted to install a number of apps to help you collect data and optimize your sales funnel. But, some apps might be running in the background for months down the line, costing you money without you ever actually using them.
So, purge your website of old app subscriptions and only install apps that will benefit your Shopify site. You should also look out for apps that offer multiple services, such as Sales Rocket, which has the power of 40+ apps in one!
4: Beware Of Chargebacks
Prevent chargebacks, which can impact your profit margins, by using an app. While a 5% chargeback is fairly normal, if you can reduce chargebacks on your website, you’ll see instant results in your ability to generate healthy profits.
Always investigate suspicious orders on your Shopify store before you fulfil them and make your store’s terms and conditions regarding transactions and sales crystal clear. By informing customers about your store’s policies, you are proactively safeguarding your business against misconduct, customer complaints and fraud.
5: Sell Bulk Orders
What many sellers fail to realise is that Shopify transaction fees are charged on single transactions, not on the value of the order. So, let’s say you sell graphic tees online for $20 each. If you’re on the basic plan and sell one item, you’ll be charged a 30 cent transaction fee.
But if you sell 10 tees in one transaction, you’ll still only be charged 30 cents for that order, even though the value of the order is far higher. So selling goods in bulk is a great way to reduce your Shopify transaction fees and increase your profit margins.
Where Can You Review Your Shopify Fees
If you need to figure out exactly how much money you’re paying while using Shopify as an eCommerce platform, here’s how to find your Shopify transaction fees;
Step 1: From the Shopify admin, click Settings.
Step 2: From Settings, click on Billing.
Step 3: You can now view and click on the bills you’d like to review.
Step 4: If a bill contains a Shopify transaction fee, it will be included within the Transaction fees section, and you’ll be able to click on a link to see the associated order.
Step 5: Once the panel opens, you will be able to review all the transaction fee details for every order covered by the bill.
References:
1:https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095969/retail-sales-by-channel-worldwide/
2:https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/manage-billing/your-invoice/charges
