Shopify Transaction Fees in the UK

Starting an online business and turning a profit from said business isn’t an easy feat. One major factor that can make or break your enterprise is your choice of eCommerce platform, and with so many options, this might prove uneasy. However, Shopify should be a major contender in this choice, especially with over 1.75 million sellers, a $79.5 billion 2021 order value and a projected 700 million users by the end of 2023. 

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Shopify is often referred to as the crown jewel of the eCommerce space, and with its record-breaking sales figures, comprehensive offerings and compatibility features, it’s no surprise why. Shopify is popular among all business types, whether small, medium or large. It is a fully-functioning platform to run an online business, and it’s ranked fourth on Forbes’ 2023 ‘Best eCommerce Platforms List’. 

Now, when considering Shopify as an eCommerce platform, many things come to mind. For instance, their plans, pricing and transaction fees in the UK. All this information will help you make an informed decision that best resonates with your business’s unique requirements. 

Let’s begin.

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What are Shopify transaction fees?

Shopify transaction fees are levies charged to the eCommerce seller. They are fees incurred on transactions made via third-party payment providers like PayPal. In essence, Shopify charges eCommerce merchants whenever they want to receive payments their customers make via a payment gateway that isn’t Shopify Payments. 

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The Shopify transaction fee covers the platform’s cost of integrating with the third-party payment provider. However, eCommerce stores that use Shopify Payments to receive their earnings will not be charged transaction fees. 

Shopify transaction fees also include credit card rates, which are levied on credit card payments made to the merchant. In essence, once a customer purchases with a Visa, MasterCard or any other credit card, Shopify charges you a fee to accept and access those payments. However, just like transaction fees, Shopify credit card rates vary with your chosen subscription plan. 

These may seem like a lot of fees, in addition to the monthly subscription and processing fees that all merchants pay. However, with the comprehensive offerings that Shopify has, the transaction fees are pretty competitive compared to other eCommerce platforms with the same breadth of features. 

Disclaimer: Shopify Payments is the payment gateway that’s Stripe-powered. It allows merchants to process credit and debit card payments from their customers. It also allows them to process payments from third-party payment providers like PayPal, and it was created as a solution to transaction fees and credit card rates. 

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Shopify subscription plans

Shopify has three main subscription tiers for eCommerce sellers, namely:

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• Basic
• Shopify
• Advanced.

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In addition to these three, Shopify has two other unique plans for eCommerce businesses at both extremities; starters and high-volume stores. These are:

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• Starter
• Shopify Plus.

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We’ll only highlight the transaction fees from the three main subscription plans. It’s important to note that each plan is priced differently and has applicable charges and transaction fees. However, the higher or more expensive the plan, the lower the applicable transaction fees. 

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1. Shopify Basic

Priced at £25 a month when billed monthly or £19 per month if billed annually, Shopify Basic is the platform’s most popular plan, and it’s perfect for businesses that exceed the capacity of social media sales. This plan enables merchants to create their eCommerce websites via a drag-and-drop builder that’s simple to use. It also permits page customisations according to product and target demographic. 

Shopify Basic gives businesses everything they need to create stores, ship products and receive payments. It is best for small-scale merchants and startups looking to add professionalism to their online businesses.

Pros

• Track and manage your product order and customer information from the Shopify admin page.
• Sellers can add an unlimited number of products to their stores. 
• 24/7 Shopify support.
• Allows you to post products, sell, manage order fulfilment and take payment from a user-friendly dashboard.
• Two staff accounts and access to 1,000 inventory locations.
• Free SSL certificates.
• Ability to print your shipping labels and monitor packages out for delivery. 
• Ability to expand into international markets to boost growth and revenue. 

Cons

• No third-party calculated shipping rates or eCommerce automation.
• Credit card rates of 2% + 25p for online transactions and 1.7% for in-person purchases. 
• 2% transaction fees via third-party payment providers. 
• Online international card rates: 3.1% + 25p. 

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2. Shopify

Shopify’s mid-tiered plan, called Shopify, costs sellers £65 a month or £49 per month (billed annually) to operate and maintain. This plan has more reporting tools than the previous one and offers intricate details on sales trends, customer behaviour and tax. 

With this plan, sellers can create country-specific domains to optimise international SEO and rank in different countries. Hence, it’s the ideal plan for businesses that seek international clientele. The credit card rates and transaction fees are also lower on this plan. 

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 Pros

• More powerful reporting tools.
• Ability to sell across different platforms with social media channel integrations.
• Unique workflow and automation features that tackle all the hard work.
• Best plan for a small team of five.
• Lower credit card rates of 1.7% + 25p for online and 1.6% for in-person POS purchases. 
• Lower transaction fees of 1%. 

Cons

• There are no taxes or duty features, so merchants can’t see their estimated taxes. 

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3. Advanced Shopify

At £344 or £259 a month (billed annually), merchants can access, operate and maintain their Advanced Shopify stores. This plan is best for stores with huge clientele and an international presence. It grants merchants access to 15 staff accounts and features comprehensive reporting tools and even lower transaction fees. With this plan, merchants can create their reports from scratch, as it also features a custom report builder. 

One major pro the Advanced plan has over other plans is that it includes third-party calculated shipping rates. Hence, this plan lets you integrate your Shopify store with a third-party fulfilment service like Bezos to see the already-computed shipping rates. The Advanced plan also offers detailed analytics and international reports to track your revenue. 

Pros

• Duties and import taxes estimates. 
• Lowest transaction fees at 0.5%.
• Lowest credit card rates at 1.5% + 25p for online purchases and 1.5% for in-person purchases. 
• Most advanced customisable report building.

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Shopify transaction fees at a glance

Here are the applicable transaction fees, credit and debit card rates for the three main Shopify plans:

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How are Shopify transaction fees in the UK calculated?

We must create an example to understand how UK Shopify transaction fees are calculated. 

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Assuming a UK Shopify merchant makes a sale worth £250 to a customer who pays via PayPal (third-party), here’s how much the merchant would pay in transaction fees on each Shopify plan:

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Basic: 2% * £250 = £5

Shopify: 1% * £250 = £2.50

Advanced: 0.5% * £250 = £1.25.

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Hence, for a £250 sale made via third-party payment providers like PayPal, the Shopify merchant would relinquish £5 worth of transaction fees if he’s on the Shopify Basic plan, £2.50 if he’s on the Shopify plan and £1.25 if he’s on the Advanced plan. 

Now, there’s a way to avoid paying these transaction fees. According to Shopify, stores using Shopify Payments won’t be subject to transaction fees, regardless of their plan. 

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Other Shopify fees

Aside from transaction fees and credit card rates, Shopify sellers are still subject to other charges. These include:

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• Plugins and apps
• Shopify themes
• Domain
• Email Hosting
• Point of sale (POS).

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The first four features aren’t directly related to Shopify sales. Here’s what you need to know about them;

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1. Plugins and apps

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The Shopify platform has an extensive app store with over 3,200 apps, including various plugins. With these plugins, merchants and hired Shopify experts can customise their website design and functionality as much as they want. While some of these plugins are free, others come with a one-time fee or are subscription-based. Hence, merchants can spend anywhere from £20 to several hundred pounds extra a month. 

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2. Shopify themes

The design of your Shopify store influences its user experience (UX). Shopify themes are great for enhancing the visual and operational quality of your store, and while the platform offers nine free themes to choose from, the paid themes offer more design freedom and uniqueness. These premium themes, all 80 of them, can cost anywhere from £100 to £150. The best part is that it’s a one-off fee. 

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3. Domain name

Credibility is a quality that convinces potential customers to make a purchase, and a great domain name gives your Shopify store a credible impression. You can shop for a domain name for as little as £7 a year on Shopify or check out cheaper options. However, a domain name is part of your yearly Shopify fees. 

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4. Email hosting

Every store worth anything has a business email, and while Shopify doesn’t provide email hosting services for marketing purposes, you can still set it up. But, it will cost you. 

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5. Point of sale

A Shopify point of sale (POS) applies to merchants that want to connect their brick-and-mortar stores to their Shopify stores to unify their physical store and online presence. To do this, they’ll have to get the software and hardware that supports such integration. This software is available via the pro version of the Shopify POS app and at an additional fee. 

With Shopify POS, you can sync your in-person sales to the same system as your online sales, sell offline, and process cash and card payments. The POS software you need for the first step of this process is of two types:

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• Shopify POS Lite
• Shopify POS Pro.

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The Shopify POS Lite is free of charge with any of the previously-mentioned Shopify subscription plans, and the Shopify POS Pro has a fixed price of £89 per month across all plans. 

With the POS Pro, which is available per location, the merchant receives faster workflows, more control over staff permissions, smart inventory management and comprehensive reporting tools. All these come as an addition to every feature in the Lite plan. 

Now, the hardware part of Shopify POS involves getting a card reader integrated with Shopify POS. You can also use your phone for this or the WisePad 3 Reader. Nevertheless, once you connect hardware and software, you should be able to make online and offline sales and manage them seamlessly. 

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Shopify fulfilment with Bezos

Once you’ve chosen Shopify as your preferred eCommerce platform, the next important decision is a fulfilment provider. You need a company that is Shopify-compatible and gets the job done. You need Bezos. 

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At Bezos, we specialise in fulfilling your Shopify orders via our comprehensive services for fast-growing Shopify stores. We aim to transform what was previously a labour-intensive task into a competitive advantage for your Shopify brand. Here’s a breakdown of how we can help you:

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1. Inventory reception

Once you choose Bezos as your Shopify fulfilment partner and submit a fulfilment request, our world-class services kick in. We offer inventory reception by directly receiving your order inventory from you, your manufacturer or your supplier. With 63 fulfilment centres in 17 countries, you should choose the location closest to your customer for optimal efficiency. 

Another way we can receive your inventory is by arranging a pick-up from your supplier to eliminate intermediary fees. Our extensive infrastructure enables us to handle large order volumes, as our average Shopify partners ship over a thousand orders with us. 

Speak to our experts to get started!

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2. Inventory processing

Our inventory-processing service ensures your received stock is prepared for sale within 48 hours. We begin by carefully counting, inspecting and disinfecting the inventory upon receipt. Next, we register the inventory, assign SKUs and package it for delivery. We’ll attach delivery notes and assign a reference number for easy retrieval. 

We offer custom packaging services that guarantee your customers an enjoyable unboxing experience and, by so doing, elevate your overall customer service. Our warehousing solutions are also available for short or long intervals, providing secure order storage.

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3. Order shipping

We understand that shipping is one of the more crucial steps in fulfilling Shopify orders, and we prioritise prompt deliveries of all orders. 

Leveraging our 63 fulfilment facilities across 17 countries, we ensure fast and efficient shipping regardless of your customer’s location. Our global fulfilment networks enable sellers to ship to their local and international client base. Finally, with our 10+ delivery options, same-day dispatch and late cut-off time of midnight, we guarantee that your Shopify customers will receive their orders within their preferred time and manner.

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4. Order tracking

At Bezos, we provide innovative solutions that put Shopify sellers in control, including our advanced order tracking system. Shopify brands gain full visibility into their order fulfilment process through the Bezos Seller Portal, powered by sophisticated AI technology. This includes access to inventory status, storage and delivery updates, tracking numbers, dispatch and delivery metrics, warehouse status, inventory and stock information, reports and more. 

This full visibility into all fulfilment operations helps our Shopify merchants stay informed and keeps their customers informed.

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5. Returns solutions

We understand the part effective returns management plays in boosting customer loyalty. For this reason, our returns solutions are highly robust and customisable, catering to the unique needs of your consumers. 

When a customer initiates a return, we act to ensure their immediate satisfaction, whether through a refund or an exchange. We diligently document and update all return-related information, including product IDs, return numbers, quantities, customer locations and return reasons. You can conveniently access and track these details through the Bezos Seller Portal.

With Bezos as your fulfilment partner, you can reap the benefits of our Shopify-centred services.

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FAQs

What does Shopify charge per UK transaction?

Shopify charges anywhere from 0.5% to 2% for transactions made via third-party payment providers like PayPal. 

What is the Shopify 20% fee?

The Shopify 20% is a recurring commission of 20% of the subscription fee, which the platform pays merchants for as long as they remain active as Shopify partners or paying customers.  

What percentage of sales does Shopify make in the UK?

As of December 2022, Shopify contributed a market share of 20% of total eCommerce sales in the UK. It came second to WooCommerce, which held a 25% market share.