How Much Does Shopify Take Per Sale? (2024 Fees)

Every dollar that leaves your revenue before it hits your bank account matters. This guide breaks down exactly how much Shopify takes per sale across every plan, payment method, and scenario — so you can protect your margins and pick the right setup for your store.

The Short Answer: Shopify Takes Between $1.75 and $5.98 on a Typical Sale

Shopify charges two types of fees on every sale: a payment processing fee (the credit card rate) and, if you don’t use Shopify Payments, an additional transaction fee. The exact amount depends on which Shopify plan you’re on and which payment processor handles the transaction.

Here’s a quick example. On the Basic plan using Shopify Payments, a $100 online sale costs you $2.90 + $0.30 in processing fees — meaning Shopify takes $3.20 and you keep $96.80 (Source: Shopify Pricing Page, as of 2024). That’s the simplest scenario. If you use a third-party processor like PayPal instead, Shopify adds an extra 2% fee on top.

The rest of this article walks through each fee layer, plan by plan, with real dollar examples so you can calculate your actual costs.

Shopify Plan Costs vs. Per-Sale Fees: Two Separate Line Items

New merchants frequently confuse the monthly subscription with the per-sale fees. They’re two separate costs. Your monthly plan fee (Basic at $39, Shopify at $105, Advanced at $399) is a flat charge you pay regardless of whether you make zero sales or ten thousand (Source: Shopify Pricing Page, as of 2024).

Higher-tier plans don’t eliminate per-sale fees, but they do lower the rates you pay on each transaction. At the edges of Shopify’s plan lineup, the Starter plan costs just $5/month but carries a steep 5% transaction fee, while Shopify Plus starts at $2,300/month with negotiated processing rates.

Merchants who set up their first Shopify store often focus on the subscription cost and overlook the per-sale fees — which, at scale, typically dwarf the monthly plan price. A store processing $30,000/month on the Basic plan pays $39 in subscription but roughly $900 in processing fees. This article focuses specifically on that per-sale cut.

Shopify Payments Processing Rates by Plan (as of 2024)

When you use Shopify Payments — Shopify’s built-in payment processor powered by Stripe’s infrastructure — you pay zero additional transaction fees on every plan from Basic through Plus. You only pay the credit card processing rate. Here’s how those rates break down:

(Source: Shopify Pricing Page, as of 2024)

A few important details beyond the headline rates:

International cards and American Express transactions may carry slightly higher processing rates — typically an additional 1% for international cards. Shopify Payments is also not available in every country; as of 2024, it operates in 23 countries (Source: Shopify Help Center). Merchants in unsupported regions must use a third-party processor and will incur the additional transaction fee.

The Starter plan is a special case. It’s designed for social media selling and link-in-bio stores, not full e-commerce operations. That 5% fee makes it impractical for any store doing meaningful volume — a merchant selling $2,000/month on the Starter plan pays $100 in transaction fees alone, far exceeding the $39 Basic plan subscription.

Real-world example: A jewelry seller on the Basic plan processing $8,000/month through Shopify Payments pays roughly $262 in processing fees monthly (averaging $3.28 per $100 in sales). If she upgraded to the Shopify plan at $105/month, her processing fees would drop to about $238/month — saving $24 in fees but costing $66 more in subscription, making the upgrade not yet worthwhile at her volume.

What Happens If You Use a Third-Party Payment Processor?

If you process payments through PayPal, Stripe, Square, or any processor other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an extra transaction fee on top of whatever your processor charges. This is a separate fee that goes directly to Shopify — essentially a platform toll for using an outside gateway.

Here are the additional transaction fees by plan:

(Source: Shopify Pricing Page, as of 2024)

The math gets painful fast. Consider a $100 sale on the Basic plan using PayPal: PayPal charges approximately 3.49% + $0.49, which equals $3.98 (Source: PayPal Merchant Fees, as of 2024). Then Shopify adds its 2% transaction fee — another $2.00. Your total fees on that single sale: $5.98, meaning you keep just $94.02.

Compare that to the same $100 sale using Shopify Payments on Basic: $2.90 + $0.30 = $3.20 total. The difference is $2.78 per transaction. Multiply that across hundreds or thousands of orders per month, and the double-fee structure can drain thousands from your bottom line.

This is precisely why the majority of Shopify merchants use Shopify Payments as their primary processor. If you’re in a country where Shopify Payments isn’t available (such as parts of Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America), factor these additional fees into your plan selection carefully — the Advanced plan’s 0.5% additional fee may justify its higher subscription cost at sufficient volume.

Real-World Cost Examples: How Much Shopify Actually Takes

Abstract percentages are hard to evaluate. Here are the numbers on three specific scenarios.

Scenario 1: $50 Sale — Basic Plan + Shopify Payments

• Credit card fee: ($50 × 2.9%) + $0.30 = $1.45 + $0.30 = $1.75
• Transaction fee: $0 (using Shopify Payments)
• Total Shopify takes: $1.75
• You keep: $48.25 (96.5% of the sale)

Scenario 2: $200 Sale — Shopify Plan + PayPal

• PayPal fee: ($200 × 3.49%) + $0.49 = $6.98 + $0.49 = $7.47
• Shopify transaction fee: $200 × 1.0% = $2.00
• Total fees: $9.47
• You keep: $190.53 (95.3% of the sale)

Had this merchant used Shopify Payments instead, the fee would have been ($200 × 2.6%) + $0.30 = $5.50 — saving $3.97 on a single order.

Scenario 3: $1,000 Sale — Advanced Plan + Shopify Payments

• Credit card fee: ($1,000 × 2.4%) + $0.30 = $24.00 + $0.30 = $24.30
• Transaction fee: $0
• Total Shopify takes: $24.30
• You keep: $975.70 (97.6% of the sale)

On the same $1,000 sale using the Basic plan, the fee would be ($1,000 × 2.9%) + $0.30 = $29.30 — a difference of $5.00 per transaction. A store processing fifty $1,000 orders per month would save $250/month just from the rate difference.

The Upgrade Break-Even Point

The break-even point depends on your monthly revenue. Upgrading from Basic ($39/month) to the Shopify plan ($105/month) saves you 0.3 percentage points per online transaction. The extra $66/month in subscription cost breaks even at roughly $22,000/month in online sales (where the 0.3% savings equals $66). If you’re consistently above that volume, upgrading pays for itself purely through lower processing rates.

Real-world example: A supplements store processing $35,000/month switched from the Basic plan to the Shopify plan. Processing fees dropped from roughly $1,045/month to about $940/month — saving $105 in processing fees, which fully offset the $66 subscription increase and netted an extra $39/month. Over a year, that’s $468 recovered just by choosing the right plan.

Hidden and Overlooked Fees That Affect Your Per-Sale Margin

Beyond the core processing fees, several other charges can eat into your per-sale margins. Merchants who track only their Shopify Payments rate often underestimate their true cost per order by 1–3%.

Chargebacks cost $15 per dispute — and Shopify does not refund this fee even if you win the dispute (Source: Shopify Help Center, as of 2024). For stores in high-dispute categories (supplements, electronics, fashion), this adds up quickly. According to a 2023 Chargebacks911 report, the average US e-commerce merchant faces a chargeback rate of 0.60%, meaning a store with 1,000 orders/month could see six chargebacks ($90/month) before accounting for lost merchandise.

Currency conversion carries a 1.5% fee when your customer pays in a currency different from your Shopify Payments payout currency (2% if you’re outside the US or UK). If you sell internationally and your store displays prices in EUR but you get paid in USD, every one of those orders loses an extra 1.5% (Source: Shopify Payments Documentation, as of 2024).

Third-party app revenue shares are easy to overlook. Popular subscription apps like Recharge (which charges 1% + $0.10 per transaction on its Standard plan, as of 2024) or upsell tools may take their own percentage on revenue they help generate. These fees don’t appear in your Shopify Payments payout; they’re billed separately.

Shopify POS Pro costs $89/month per location for in-person sellers who need advanced features like staff permissions and local delivery management. The standard POS Lite is included free, but retailers with multiple locations can face significant add-on costs (Source: Shopify POS Pricing, as of 2024).

How Shopify Fees Compare to Competitors

Your per-sale cost on Shopify only makes sense in context. Here’s how it stacks up against the main alternatives:

(Sources: Respective platform pricing pages, as of 2024)

BigCommerce stands out by charging zero platform transaction fees on every plan, regardless of which payment processor you use — a genuine differentiator for merchants who want processor flexibility (Source: BigCommerce Pricing Page, as of 2024). However, BigCommerce does impose annual sales thresholds that force plan upgrades at $50K, $180K, and $400K in annual revenue.

WooCommerce has no platform fee, but you’ll pay for hosting, security certificates, maintenance, and plugin updates. According to a 2023 analysis by Website Builder Expert, the total cost of ownership for a WooCommerce store typically ranges from $120 to $700+ per year before any premium plugins — and that estimate assumes the merchant handles technical maintenance themselves.

Etsy’s 6.5% transaction fee (raised from 5% in April 2022) is why many growing sellers migrate to Shopify. A store doing $10,000/month on Etsy pays $650 in transaction fees alone — compared to roughly $320 on Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments. The tradeoff: Etsy provides built-in marketplace traffic, while Shopify merchants must drive their own visitors.

Amazon’s referral fees vary by category but typically range from 8% to 15%, with some categories like jewelry reaching 20% (Source: Amazon Seller Central Fee Schedule, as of 2024). The advantage is access to Amazon’s massive buyer base; the cost is significantly less margin per sale.

How to Lower the Amount Shopify Takes Per Sale

You can’t eliminate processing fees entirely, but you can minimize them with these specific strategies.

Use Shopify Payments. This is the single biggest lever. It eliminates the additional transaction fee (0.5%–2% depending on plan), which means you’re only paying the credit card processing rate. If Shopify Payments is available in your country, there’s rarely a financial reason to use a different primary processor. You can still offer PayPal as a secondary option at checkout — Shopify Payments just needs to be your primary gateway to avoid the surcharge.

Upgrade your plan when the math supports it. Calculate your monthly processing fees at your current rate, then compare to what you’d pay at the next plan tier minus the subscription difference. The Basic-to-Shopify upgrade breaks even around $22,000/month in sales. The Shopify-to-Advanced upgrade ($294/month difference, 0.2% rate savings) breaks even around $147,000/month.

Reduce chargebacks proactively. Use Shopify’s built-in fraud analysis tools (found under Orders > Fraud analysis in your Shopify admin), add clear return and refund policies to your checkout flow, and ship with tracking on every order. Each prevented chargeback saves you $15 plus the lost revenue. According to Baymard Institute’s 2024 checkout usability research, clearly displaying return policies during checkout also reduces cart abandonment.

Negotiate on Shopify Plus. If you’re on Plus (or approaching the volume that qualifies you), processing rates are negotiable. Merchants processing $1M+ annually often secure rates below the published 2.15% + $0.30 starting point. Multiple Shopify Plus agency partners have reported negotiated rates as low as 1.6% + $0.30 for high-volume stores, though results vary based on industry, average order value, and chargeback history.

Audit your apps for revenue-share fees. Review every installed app’s pricing model under Settings > Billing in your Shopify admin. Some charge a flat monthly fee, but others take a cut of the revenue they touch. Switching to flat-fee alternatives where possible keeps your per-sale costs predictable.

Pay annually for your plan. Shopify offers a 25% discount on annual billing (Source: Shopify Pricing Page, as of 2024). While this doesn’t change your per-transaction rate, it lowers your effective monthly subscription cost — the Basic plan drops from $39 to roughly $29/month — improving your overall margin per sale.

Consider offering non-card payment options. Shopify Payments supports Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, which in many cases process at the same rate as standard credit cards but can improve conversion rates. According to Shopify’s own data (2023), Shop Pay checkouts convert up to 50% better than guest checkouts, which means more revenue to offset fixed costs.

FAQ

Does Shopify take a percentage of every sale?

Yes. Shopify takes a credit card processing fee on every sale through Shopify Payments (ranging from 2.4% to 2.9% + $0.30 depending on your plan, as of 2024). If you use a third-party payment processor instead, Shopify also charges an additional transaction fee of 0.5% to 2%.

What is the Shopify transaction fee vs. the payment processing fee?

The payment processing fee is what Shopify (or your processor) charges to handle the credit card payment — this covers interchange costs, fraud prevention, and payment infrastructure. The transaction fee is a separate charge Shopify adds only when you use a payment processor other than Shopify Payments. Using Shopify Payments eliminates the transaction fee entirely.

How much does Shopify take on the Basic plan?

On the Basic plan ($39/month, as of 2024), Shopify Payments charges 2.9% + $0.30 per online sale and 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person sales. If you use a third-party processor, Shopify adds a 2% transaction fee on top of whatever your processor charges.

Can I avoid Shopify’s transaction fees?

Yes — use Shopify Payments as your payment processor and Shopify waives the transaction fee on all plans (Basic through Plus). Transaction fees only apply when using external processors like PayPal or Stripe. Shopify Payments is available in 23 countries as of 2024.

Does Shopify take a cut of in-person sales?

Yes, but at a slightly lower rate than online sales because card-present transactions carry lower fraud risk. In-person sales via Shopify POS use these rates: 2.6% + $0.10 on Basic, 2.5% + $0.10 on Shopify, and 2.4% + $0.10 on Advanced — all using Shopify Payments.

Is there a Shopify plan with no transaction fees?

All paid Shopify plans (Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Plus) have 0% transaction fees when you use Shopify Payments. The Starter plan ($5/month) charges a 5% transaction fee regardless of payment method and is the only plan where this fee cannot be avoided.

How does Shopify’s cut compare to selling on Amazon or Etsy?

Etsy charges a 6.5% transaction fee plus $0.20 listing fees and 3.0% + $0.25 payment processing (Source: Etsy Seller Fees, as of 2024). Amazon takes 8–15%+ in referral fees depending on category (Source: Amazon Seller Central, as of 2024). Shopify’s 2.4–2.9% processing rate is typically much lower, though you bear your own marketing, hosting, and traffic acquisition costs — a tradeoff that generally favors Shopify once a brand has established its own customer acquisition channels.