How it works
How to calculate your Shopify fees
Pick your Shopify plan
Select Basic ($39/month), Shopify ($105/month), or Advanced ($399/month). Each plan has different credit card rates and transaction fees, so the right choice depends on your volume.
Enter your order details
Type in your average order value and monthly order count. Choose whether you use Shopify Payments or a third-party gateway like PayPal or Stripe.
See your real cost per order
The calculator shows credit card processing fees, any additional transaction fees, your monthly plan cost spread across orders, and the total cost per order. You might be surprised how much each sale actually costs.
How to reduce your Shopify costs
Practical ways to keep more of each sale.
Use Shopify Payments to avoid the extra fee
The 2% additional transaction fee on Basic adds up fast. On $20,000 in monthly revenue, that is $400 gone just because you used a different payment gateway. Shopify Payments eliminates that charge entirely.
Upgrade when the math makes sense
The Shopify plan ($105/month) saves 0.3% on credit card rates versus Basic. Once your revenue crosses roughly $22,000 per month, the savings on processing fees exceed the extra $66 in plan cost.
Watch your app spending
The average Shopify store uses 6 paid apps. At $15 to $50 each, that is $90 to $300 per month on top of your Shopify plan. Audit your apps quarterly. If one hasn't earned its keep in the last 30 days, cancel it.
Pay annually to save on your plan
Shopify offers a discount if you pay for the year upfront. On the Basic plan, annual billing is $29 per month instead of $39, saving you $120 per year. It requires the cash upfront but the savings are straightforward.
Increase AOV to dilute fixed costs
The $0.30 fixed fee per transaction hurts more on a $10 order (3%) than a $100 order (0.3%). Product bundles, upsells, and minimum free-shipping thresholds all push AOV up and reduce the relative impact of fixed fees.
Compare plans using this calculator
Run your numbers on Basic, Shopify, and Advanced to see which plan actually costs least at your volume. A store doing 800 orders per month at $55 average often saves more on Advanced than they spend on the higher plan cost.
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Questions, answered
It depends on your plan and payment method. Using Shopify Payments on the Basic plan, a $50 order costs $1.75 in credit card fees (2.9% + $0.30). If you use a third-party gateway, add another 2% ($1.00) on top of whatever that gateway charges. So the same order could cost you $1.75 or closer to $3.20 depending on setup.
Basic charges 2.9% + $0.30 for online credit cards. The Shopify plan drops that to 2.6% + $0.30. Advanced goes down to 2.4% + $0.30. Third-party transaction fees also decrease: 2% on Basic, 1% on Shopify, 0.6% on Advanced. Higher plans cost more monthly but save on every transaction.
No, but you'll pay extra if you don't. Shopify charges an additional transaction fee (2%, 1%, or 0.6% depending on plan) when you use a third-party payment processor. That's on top of whatever Stripe, PayPal, or your other gateway charges. Most stores save money by using Shopify Payments unless they have a specific reason not to.
When the credit card savings exceed the plan cost difference. The Shopify plan costs $66 more per month than Basic but saves 0.3% on processing. Once your monthly revenue passes about $22,000, the 0.3% savings (about $66) covers the higher plan cost. Beyond that point you're saving money on every additional dollar processed.
No, in-person rates are lower. With Shopify Payments on Basic, in-person credit card rates are 2.6% + $0.10 compared to 2.9% + $0.30 online. The lower rates reflect the reduced fraud risk of card-present transactions. If you sell at markets or pop-ups, the in-person rate is a nice bonus.
They add up quietly. If you're paying $39 for Basic Shopify, $29 for an email app, $20 for reviews, $15 for upsells, and $25 for a loyalty program, your real monthly platform cost is $128, not $39. That's over 3x what the plan costs. Run through your app list and cut anything that isn't directly driving revenue.
Shopify refunds the transaction fee on the portion you refund to the customer, but they keep the fixed $0.30 per transaction. So if you refund a $50 order, you get back the 2.9% ($1.45) but not the $0.30. On stores with high return rates, those $0.30 charges add up over hundreds of refunds.
It's complicated. Amazon takes a 15% referral fee on most categories, which is way more than Shopify's 2.9% + $0.30. But Amazon brings you traffic. Etsy charges 6.5% transaction fees plus listing fees. Shopify is cheaper per order, but you're responsible for driving your own traffic through ads, SEO, or social media. The true cost depends on how much you spend acquiring customers.
Make every Shopify order count
When you're paying fees on every order, conversion rate matters more than ever. WiserReview helps Shopify stores collect and display customer reviews that turn browsers into buyers and make each transaction fee worthwhile.
7-day free trial · from $6.75 a month, billed yearly