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Shopify Pricing and Fee Structure – Which one is Best for you?

Shopify has those reasons that insist you make an account and start earning. But before that, you should know what structures and plans they are providing you and which is best for you.

Basically,  Shopify provides three main subjective plans that will be enough for your business to run. They are as follows:

  • Basic Shopify 

            (Per month 29$)

  • Shopify 

          ( Per month 79$)

  • Advanced Shopify

(Per month 299$)

They are providing you two additional plans.

Each plan provides you with its specific features.

Before subscription, they will provide you with a 14-day free trial that will check how it works.

Which one should you pick?

In this blog, we will discuss the features about Shopify Pricing and Fee Structure that each plan is providing you.

Shopify pricing - Which one should you pick?

1. Basic Shopify

This is the cheapest plan available throughout this platform. It only costs 29$ per month. If you are new or if you are opening a store for the first time and if you build an online storefront or dropshipping store for your existing one then this is the best plan for you. Shopify don’t bound you on the number of products or storage.

It also provides you with a significant characteristic that is enough to run your business. Such as

  • Customizable store
  • Child account
  • 24/7 customer service
  • Unlimited products listing
  • Unlimited storage

Other than this,  they are also providing you with abandoned cart recovery emails, SSL certificates,  discount coupons and lots more.

If you have stores at different locations,  don’t worry about that,  it can be managed easily.

One of the negligible pros is that they are not going to provide you daily progress reports. However; it helps you in growing your business.

This minor drawback will not affect you if you are starting up a new business.  

Now let’s talk about transaction fee. Shopify charges a fee of 2.9% ,  $0.30 per transaction for all online purchases made under this plan. While on the other hand, physical purchases attract a 2.7% fee per transaction. Moreover,  2% will also be charged if you are using any payment method other than Shopify payments.

2. Shopify

If your business is growing rapidly then you need a powerful store according to your environment. You should have the features that are needed to run your store.

This plan is used the most around the world. Although there is a vast difference in fees. But this plan provides you with enough features that will recover your money.

This Shopify plan is although a little expensive one but provides you with all the characters and features which are compulsory.

The number of login staff increases from two to five, which is enough for a business.

You have an option of five different inventories in your warehouse.

They are also going to provide you with a report in which you can easily determine your daily growth, your visitor buying behaviour,  your daily sales and so on.

One of the most outstanding features is that they provide you with abandoned cart recovery. Most people just buy this plan due to this functionality. Because it helps in increasing the sales. So, if you want to buy your dream shopify store then startstorez is the best place.

With these cons,  you can encourage your customer to complete their purchase by automated email.

Moreover+ they also provide you pay with gift cards and Shopify POS.

This plan needs a fee of 2.5% + $0.30 on every online credit card transaction. There’s also a 2% fee payable on all in-person card transactions. If you go for another payment method aside from Shopify Payment, then you’ll be charged a fee of 1% of every transaction.

This plan is good for growing business. As it provides all the essential features that a growing business require.

Last but not the least ; here is an upside of this plan that the transaction fee is 50% off from the basic plan.

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3. Advanced Shopify

It is the most expensive plan Shopify is providing with monthly fee of 299$. This plan is best for the E-commerce website that wants to increase its business ten times more than now.

This plan provides you with all the basic and Shopify features but with that, you also get magnificent features as well. Such as third-party calculated rates, and reporting that is even more simple and advanced than what you’ll get in lower Shopify plans.

Along with the third-party calculated rates you are also provided with desegregating third party shipping providers. These providers also provide you with the cost of shipping for each customer’s goods at checkout.

In return,  your customer will decide which shipping rates they prefer. They can also use discount coupons.

This plan allows you to provide a deep report of your business’ performance. This feature permits you to correct your default points and helps to reach more customers.

One thing that advanced this plan is that everything is unlocked and unlimited. You don’t have any restrictions on any features. You have unlimited product listing and unlimited storage and unlimited room to post your unlimited images and videos.

You are provided with 15 staff login features and eight different inventories of warehouses.

Transaction fee on this plan is least that is 2.4% + $0.30 for any in-person and debit card transaction. You also get a discount of 75% off on transaction, plus you only have to pay 0.5$.

Shopify pricing and fee structure Comparision

FeaturesBasic ShopifyShopifyAdvanced Shopify
Monthly Price$29.00$79.00$299.00
Online Credit Card Rates2.9% + $0.302.6% + $0.302.4%+$0.30
In-Person Credit Card Rates2.7% + $02.5% + $02.4%+$0
Transaction FeeShopify Payments = 0.0%Other Processors = 2.0%Shopify Payments = 0.0%Other Processors = 1.0%Shopify Payments = 0.0%Other Processors = 0.5%
No. of ProductsUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited
24/7 SupportYesYesYes
Discount CodesYesYesYes
BloggingYesYesYes
Free SSLYesYesYes
Gift CardsNoYesYes
Detailed ReportingNoYesYes
Abandoned Cart RecoveryNoYesYes
Advanced ReportingNoNoYes
Real-Time ShippingNoNoYes
FeaturesBasic ShopifyShopifyAdvanced Shopify

4. Shopify Lite and Shopify Plus

Shopify Lite and Shopify Plus

Other than these three plans, Shopify is also providing us with two more plans called Shopify lite and Shopify plus.

Shopify Lite

You can buy Shopify lite for just 9$ per month. This is the cheapest plan Shopify had ever sold. Now you must be thinking that why Shopify is selling other plans when we have the cheapest Shopify lite plan available?

In the Shopify Lite plan, you are not provided with the facilities that are provided in Basic Shopify, Shopify and Advanced Shopify. It will not be going to provide you standalone customizable online store. Rather than this, Shopify will issue those facilities that will help you to sell your products through an existing website or social media app and platforms. All you just have to include a “buy” button on your favourite one.

Furthermore, it also allows you to Shopify POS lite, Admin feature, from which you can issue gift cards, view the daily report and also have the ability to split bills.

Additionally, with 9$ per month, you also have to pay 2.4% per transaction through credit card payment. If you use a payment method other than Shopify then a further 2% will also be charged.

This Shopify lite plan is the best for the ones who have just started their E-commerce carrier.

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Shopify Plus

Yes.! your guess is right. This plan is specially designed for large scale E-commerce enterprises.

Shopify plus plan is providing all those features that the Advanced plan is providing. But along with that, it provides you with automation that saves a lot of your time. It supports uncountable currencies, third-party integration software and advanced security.

It also provides you next level and enhanced features such as customized support services, a devoted project manager, launch manager, merchant success manager, and account manager. Last but not the least, it can automate everything.

By using Shopify plus plan, you can manage 10,000 orders in a minute and easily manage multiple stores at a time.

Along with that, you can personalize your shipping process and you can also get to know the experience of each customer using AI(Artificial Intelligence).

The cost of this plan is generally not mentioned. For that, you have to contact the company. An estimated price is 2000$ or more. This price may vary according to your needs.

Get 10 – 30% off on Shopify

Until now we have talked about the monthly plan. And whatever the discount we get is mainly on the monthly plan. But what we say is if you buy a yearly plan, you will get more than what you are thinking. 

Yes, that’s true. Shopify further provides us with three more plans known as Annual plan, Biannual plan and Three-year plan.

You can get 10% off if you buy an Annual plan. While you can get 25% off on the biannual plan and 30% off on the three-year plan. This is the next level way of saving your cost from investing.

This plan is the best for the one whose business is successful or developing day by day.

But the one who has just opened his store should buy the monthly plan so that they can configure which plan is the best, whether there is a need of upgrading the plan or it is more than what  they have ever expected .

But once you decide and your business start getting traffic then these annual, biannual and three-year plans are the best for you.

Shopify Pricing PlansShopify BasicShopifyAdvanced Shopify
Monthly$29.00$79.00$299.00
Annual plan (1 year)$/monthly26.10$71.10$269.10$
Saving (%)10%10%10%
Biannual plan (2 year)$/monthly21.75$59.25$224.25$
Saving (%)25%25%25%
Three-year plan (3 years)$/monthly20.3$55.3$209.3$
Saving (%)30%30%30%

Shopify is the only platform where we can see the highest customer score for E-commerce. This is just because of their free hand. And don’t forget Shopify is providing a 14-day free trial as well.

Additional Shopify Costs

Some of the costs remain constant. It does not depend on the plan you buy.

Some of them are the following:

1. Website Building Cost

For creating a website for E-commerce and online store, you will have to buy the domain names, themes and apps which you prefer the best.

Domain Name

Shopify does not require owners to download or host their own domains. As it  includes domain names as part of all its plans, store owners can choose any of the free forms of myshopify.com domains that it offers.

If you are not good with the domain that Shopify provided you, then you can buy a custom domain of your own choice. This custom domain will charge you around 11$ per year and can go up to 81$ according to your demand.

And if you already have a registered domain that is not in use, you can use it without any charges.

Themes and Design

Next level theme and design are most necessary to run your E-commerce store.

Luckily, Shopify is providing a theme customizable with your ideas so that your website should look engaging.

There are 100 free themes available but if you are not happy with that, then you can buy premium themes costing you around 150$ to 350$.

Apps

Shopify is also providing third-party apps that are designed to work with Shopify. These apps allow personalized features that are not available on the Shopify platform.

Happily, Shopify is providing more than 3000 apps that you can utilize to enhance the functionality of your own store. Some of them are free while some are premium.

2. Shopify Transaction Fee

Another way of paying to Shopify is transaction fee. You will have to pay on every transaction while using the third party payment service provider.

It all depends upon you , that which plan you buy. If you are using Basic Shopify, you have to pay 2% of the transaction, if you are using Shopify, you have to pay 1% and if you are using Advanced Shopify then you have to pay 0.5% of the transaction.

But if you are using Shopify’s own method ”Shopify payment” then there will be no charge on every transaction.

3. Shopify Credit Card Rates

You also have to keep an eye on the credit card rates while purchasing any of the plans. This is so because it affects your profit percentage.

Shopify charges each transaction through credit cards. The fee percentage is usually higher due to the risk of online payment.

The fee percentage depends upon the plan you subscribe. If you have the Basic Shopify plan, then they will charge 2.9% + $0.3 and 2.7%, if you have a subscription to Shopify then you are going to pay 2.6% + $0.30 and 2.5% and if you subscribe for Advanced Shopify then you will pay 2.4% + $0.30 and 2.4%.

4. Shopify POS Payments

If you are not agreed to receive the payment through credit cards then Shopify will provide you with further two methods known as Point-of-Sales (POS).

Shopify offers you two options:

  • Shopify POS Lite
  • Shopify POS Pro

Shopify POS Lite is available for all plans. It authorizes you to manage orders, customer profiles, and products. In Shopify POS lite, transactions of credit cards will also be charged.

You can get access to Shopify POS pro by just paying 89$ per month and per location. Keep in mind that you will also be charged on the credit card transaction.

How to reduce your cost on Shopify?

Have you ever noticed that the higher the plan you get, the lesser you have to pay from your credit card. There are also other ways as well.

If you are new to the E-commerce website and your business is just getting started then it is better to buy a Basic Shopify plan and save your money. 

1. Use Shopify Payments to avoid the Shopify transaction fee :

Usually you get charged on the transaction fee but if you pay through Shopify then some of the costs will be recovered .Using Shopify payment is not hard. It is a piece of cake. Shopify payment system is available in the USA, UK, Australia ,Newzealand, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Japan and a few other countries.

If the Shopify payment system is not working in your country then consult the Shopify guide.

It is necessary to keep in mind that Shopify payment removes the extra charges of the transaction, so even if one of your customers are paying you through PayPal and Amazon, you won’t be charged anymore on the transaction fee. The fee will remain the same. You just have to go directly to the Shopify payment rather than contacting the third-party payment service. So if it is available in your country then go for it without any hesitation.

2. Purchase your domain name elsewhere

Whether you buy any plan or not, you have to buy domain hosting for your website for about  11$ per year which is enough to turn your mood off. Rather than this, you can buy your domain from another website that is providing it at a cheap price such as Namecheap, GoDaddy, etc.

Moreover, each plan allows you to add apps from the Shopify platform or use a custom template and theme. Half of them are free while the other is premium. Hence, we recommend that you test Shopify extensively during your free trial.

3. Upgrade to a yearly or biannual plan (if you’re sure Shopify is for you!)

You can cancel, upgrade and degrade your plan according to your business report. It is good to buy a Basic Shopify plan at the beginning of your business carrier so that you can manage your project easily or you can cancel your plan at any time if it is not going good.

But if you have decided that you will keep trying only on this platform and one day you will get success or your business is already getting enough traffic so that it is easy for you to buy an Annual, Biannual or Three-year plan, then go for it because it is providing you 10%, 25% and 30% on each plan.

How to Avoid Shopify Transaction Fee?

I have complaint about the transaction fee because my profit is severely disturbed.

Shopify is charging different fee on different plans. Shopify Basic charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, while Advanced Shopify drops just half a percentage point to 2.4% + $0.30. 

But the transaction is not only your matter. This Q/A will mostly cover all problems, you surfer.

No-one likes to pay extra charges. However, if you don’t understand how they work. Then 

spend some of your precious time investigating the fee structure.

How do transaction fees work?

Whenever a customer buys a single product, you will have to pay a transaction fee which depends upon your subscribed plan. If you have Basic Shopify then you will pay 2%, on Standard Shopify, you will pay 1% and on an Advanced plan, you will pay 0.5%. The more expensive subscription you buy the less transaction fee you will pay.

What are transaction fees for?

Whenever a customer visits your store, they look around the store before purchasing any product. To keep the customer in your store, Shopify needs resources to boost your website and insist them to buy products .

So your transaction fee helps Shopify to keep operating your store at a prime level. So it will not hang whether there are 10 or 10,000 customers in your store at a time.

Doesn’t the monthly plan fee cover this already?

Absolutely not. Your monthly fee allows you to use features and facilities to keep your store up to date . While transaction fee powers up your store so that your customers don’t leave until they buy something. And it is only charged when any customer purchases anything.

What about other similar E-commerce builders? Do they charge transaction fees?

Yes, they charge transaction fees but in a different manner.

For BigCommerce (the closest competitor of Shopify), although at each transaction they don’t charge transaction fees. But if you generate specific sales dollars per month, they automatically hump you to the upper-level plan, no matter how much sales you bring out.

For Wix(an Ideal E-commerce website for newcomers), they are not going to charge for each transaction. However, the plan you subscribe to is a little bit more expensive than Shopify. But keep in mind that you will have to pay some percentage of your earnings to the third-party payment service provider. And they will charge according to their rates.

For Volusion, they don’t take transaction fee directly but they limit your bandwidth. You can take bandwidth as a customer limit. They won’t allow to have traffic more than a specific limit. To increase your bandwidth, you have to pay handsome money while Shopify is providing you unlimited bandwidth.

Everyone charges transaction fee although in different manners.

Is there any way to remove Shopify’s transaction fee?

Yes, there is a way. If you want to remove transaction fee then you can use the Shopify payment method. Because they are not charging there. And it is available in most of the countries.

What’s the catch? Assuming I use Shopify Payments and Shopify removes all transaction fee, how can they keep my E-commerce website powered?

If Shopify will not take your transaction fee then they will boost your store by using credit card fee. 

As you know that Shopify  takes a credit card fee to proceed with payment from a customer and deposits it into the your registered bank account number. 

This helps them to waive the transaction fee. Instead of paying both fees,  you just have to pay credit card fee if you are using the Shopify payment service. However, if you use another method of payment even if it is Paypal, then you have to pay fee.

Will using Shopify Payments cost me anything more?

Not at all. If you are using the Shopify payment service then there is no need of paying a transaction fee while the credit card fee is also not too much that you have to worry about. The transaction fee is fixed and there are no hidden charges as well whether your customer is a foreigner or not.

Is using Shopify Payments going to save me more money as compared to using other similar E-commerce builders?

Indeed, we have already discussed above how other platforms are charging us. In BigCommerce, they will not allow you to sell your product anymore once you reach a certain limit and they will force you to upgrade your level. 

But in Shopify, you can sell billions of products while using the same and lowest plan of 29$ only.

Similarly, if you are using Volusion they will limit your bandwidth due to which a certain number of customers will be going to shop from your store. And if you want to increase your sales then you have to increase more bandwidth.

As we have already discussed that Shopify is providing us boundless bandwidth, which will not affect our sales.

Are a lot of Shopify users using Shopify Payments?

Absolutely right, according to the research in 2017, 85% of the store owners are using Shopify payment. The remaining percentage is not using Shopify payment because up till now this facility is not available in their countries.

This is not shocking, because everyone wants to save money by getting as many discounts as possible.

FAQ Summary,

In the end, we get the conclusion that using Shopify payment allows you to save money. As it not only abdicates transaction fee but also reduces credit card fee as compared to Paypal.

It won’t cost you anything. You must need someone who handles the payment ,so why not Shopify?

Shopify pricing and fees structure-Conclusion

We hope, all the important information about Shopify is delivered to you. Now you get to know how much it will cost you to open and run a store.

Shopify is one of the best E-commerce platforms that provide you with every reliable feature and facility. Although their plan is not cheap , the features and the offers they are providing you can restore your money.

They are providing us with a very wide range of tools and apps which are over 1400 with theme designers and experts. Shopify is one of the most fast-growing platforms.

If you have a fair budget and you want to build a strong and fast-growing store then Shopify is the best store for you.

Their plans and packages are not quite expensive and anyone who wants to build their store can easily afford and manage them.

If you are a newcomer and have recently built your site then we recommend you to use the Basic Shopify plan so that you can get an idea of how it works. But when your store starts taking orders daily then you should upgrade your plan to decrease transaction fee rates per transaction.

When your business is developed then we recommend you to use Annual, Biannual and Three-year plans to take advantage of saving 10%, 25% and 30% which is enough in a year.

More that we think you should read:

For more info visit Whatsmind.com

Waqar Ahmad

Waqar Ahmad, CEO of whatsmind.com, brings over 6 years of expertise in the dynamic realm of SEO. With a passion for delivering authentic and valuable information, his focus spans across Business, Technology, Celebrities, and Trending topics. Waqar excels in Technical SEO, Link Building, and Keyword Searching, navigating Google's algorithms with finesse. His goal is to provide readers and content seekers with specific knowledge served with a dash of grammar and English flair. With a knack for crafting engaging strategies, Waqar ensures targeted organic traffic flow to websites. Join him on a journey where information meets excitement!

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