What Shopify's transaction fee is
On top of the payment gateway's own charge, Shopify can add its own fee - 0.2% to 2% per sale, depending on the plan - if you don't use Shopify Payments. It's a cut of every order, separate from the plan and the gateway. On real sales volume, it adds up to a number most sellers overlook.
When it applies
| How you take payments | What you pay |
|---|---|
| Outside payment provider | Both the gateway fee and Shopify's cut |
| Outside provider, higher plan | Shopify's percentage falls, but doesn't vanish |
| Shopify Payments | No Shopify transaction fee |
Why it matters more than the plan price
A plan is a fixed monthly number. A transaction fee is a variable one that grows with your success. At low volume it's easy to ignore. At real sales, a percent or two on every order can outweigh the plan itself. Always model the fee against your expected sales, not today's.
The rate on each Shopify plan
| Plan | Monthly billing | Yearly billing | Fee with a third-party provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | ₹1,994 a month | ₹1,499 a month | 2% |
| Grow | ₹7,447 a month | ₹5,599 a month | 1% |
| Advanced | ₹30,164 a month | ₹22,680 a month | 0.6% |
| Plus | From ₹1,75,000 a month | Not shown | 0.2% |
Why Indian stores pay it on most online orders
Shopify skips its fee when you take payments through Shopify Payments. The catch is where that works. Shopify's pricing page says Shopify Payments is available only in certain countries. Its help centre lists those countries, and India is not on the list. So an Indian store takes UPI and cards through a third-party provider like Razorpay. That means your plan's fee applies to every online payment. Read global guides with care. Advice to switch to Shopify Payments does not help a store based in India.
What the fee is worked out on
The fee is not charged on the product price alone. Shopify's help centre says it counts the product cost, minus discounts, plus tax and shipping. So GST and delivery charges carry the fee too. Say a buyer pays ₹1,060 by UPI. That is ₹1,000 for the product, GST included, and ₹60 for shipping. On Basic, Shopify's 2% comes to ₹21.20 on that order. Shopify adds these fees up for each 30-day period and puts them on your Shopify bill. Your gateway's own charge is separate.
COD orders do not carry the fee
Cash on delivery is a manual payment method on Shopify. Its help centre says you aren't charged third-party transaction fees for manual payments. Bank transfers count as manual payments too. Once the courier collects the cash, you mark the order as paid yourself. So a store where many buyers choose COD pays the fee on a smaller share of its sales. Don't push buyers to COD just to dodge the fee, though. A returned COD parcel costs you shipping and brings in nothing.
Refunds do not bring the fee back
When you refund an order, the fee stays spent. Shopify's help centre says third-party transaction fees aren't returned to you when you issue an order refund. Picture a prepaid order from a buyer in Indore who sends it back. You refund the full ₹1,060, but Shopify keeps its ₹21.20 on Basic. If you sell a category with many returns, those small sums add up over a month. Count refunded orders when you work out what the fee really costs you.
Gift cards and store credit can count too
One newer rule is easy to miss. For stores created after 12 May 2025, Shopify's help centre says the fee can also apply when an order is paid with store credit or a gift card. So a Diwali gift card promotion is not free of the fee either. If you plan to sell gift cards, check this line on your bill after the first month. Then decide whether the promotion still makes sense on your margins.
How to keep it in check
You have a few options. Shopify Payments would remove the fee, but it is not offered in India. So offer COD where it fits, since manual payments skip the fee. Move up a plan once your sales make the lower rate pay. Or choose a platform whose fee is low or zero on your plan. Either way, the goal is to stop paying a cut on every sale that you don't have to.
When a higher plan pays for itself
A higher plan costs more each month but takes a smaller cut. You can work out where it pays off. Moving from Basic to Grow adds ₹5,453 a month on monthly billing, and the fee falls from 2% to 1%. So Grow pays for itself once your online sales pass ₹5,45,300 a month. Moving from Grow to Advanced adds ₹22,717 a month and saves 0.4%. That only pays off above ₹56,79,250 a month. Below those points, stay on the lower plan unless you need what the bigger plan adds, like more staff accounts.
Yearly billing lowers the plan, not the rate
Paying for a year up front cuts the plan price. Basic falls from ₹1,994 to ₹1,499 a month, and Grow from ₹7,447 to ₹5,599. The fee rate does not change. Basic still takes 2% on each online sale, and Grow still takes 1%. On yearly prices, the gap between Basic and Grow is ₹4,100 a month. So on yearly billing, Grow pays for itself once online sales pass ₹4,10,000 a month. Run both versions before you lock in a year.
A month at ₹2 lakh of online sales
| Cost line | Basic | Grow |
|---|---|---|
| Plan, monthly billing | ₹1,994 | ₹7,447 |
| Shopify fee on ₹2,00,000 | ₹4,000 (2%) | ₹2,000 (1%) |
| Razorpay fee on ₹2,00,000 | ₹4,000 plus GST | ₹4,000 plus GST |
| Total before GST and apps | ₹9,994 | ₹13,447 |
Check what you paid last month
- Open your latest Shopify bill and find the third-party transaction fees.
- Export last month's orders and total the ones paid online, leaving out COD.
- Multiply that total by your plan's rate and compare it with the bill.
- Add your gateway's fee from its settlement report.
- Check the total against the Grow and Advanced break-even points above.
Read the total, always
Plan, plus platform transaction fee, plus gateway fee, is the real cost of taking a payment. When you compare platforms, line up all three. The cheapest plan with the highest fee often loses to a pricier plan with no fee at all.
How The Storemate handles it
The Storemate is upfront about this. Storemate Payments costs 2.36%–3.54% per online order depending on your plan, and that figure INCLUDES the gateway's own charges rather than sitting on top of them - so it is the whole cut, not the first half of it. Prefer your own Razorpay? Connect it on a paid plan and we take nothing per order. Either way the number is shown alongside the plan price, not buried in fine print.