On a $100 sale, Shopify takes $3.20 on the Basic plan with Shopify Payments. That's the number you'll see quoted everywhere. It's also only half the story. This post walks through what Shopify actually keeps from every $100 you make in 2026: the card fee, the third-party gateway penalty, the refund fee you never get back, the amortized app stack, and the international surcharge. Then we'll do the same math on a flat-fee alternative.
I'm Jakub. I run Your Next Store, a flat-fee alternative to Shopify. We compete with them, so take my bias into account. If I get a number wrong, open an issue on GitHub and I'll fix it.
TL;DR: On a domestic $100 sale via Shopify Payments, you keep $96.80 on Basic, $97.00 on Grow, or $97.20 on Advanced. Use a third-party gateway and the penalty drops that to $94.80 on Basic. On an international order paid in a foreign currency, you keep $93.80 or less on Basic. Apps, themes, and the monthly plan aren't included in those numbers.
The One-Number Answer by Plan
Shopify charges two per-transaction fees on every order: a percentage of the sale, plus a fixed $0.30 fee. On a $100 domestic sale paid with a US-issued card through Shopify Payments, here's exactly what you keep before any other line item:
| Plan | Monthly (yearly billing) | Card rate (online) | Fee on $100 | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $5/mo | 5.0% + $0.30 | $5.30 | $94.70 |
| Basic | $19/mo (or $25 billed monthly) | 2.9% + $0.30 | $3.20 | $96.80 |
| Grow | $49/mo (or $65 billed monthly) | 2.7% + $0.30 | $3.00 | $97.00 |
| Advanced | $299/mo (or $399 billed monthly) | 2.5% + $0.30 | $2.80 | $97.20 |
| Plus | $2,300+/mo (3-year term) | ~2.2%–2.4% (negotiated) | ~$2.50–$2.70 | ~$97.30–$97.50 |
Prices pulled from Shopify's pricing page (US merchants, April 2026). Note that Shopify dropped Basic and Grow subscription prices in April 2026, so older articles quoting $29/$79 are now out of date. Card rates are from Shopify Payments' help documentation.
The card rate itself isn't actually Shopify's fee. It's a pass-through of what Visa and Mastercard charge, marked up slightly. Shopify Payments is built on top of Stripe, so in practice the Basic rate (2.9% + $0.30) matches Stripe's public pricing for any merchant. The per-plan discount you see on Grow and Advanced is real, but it only applies if you stay inside Shopify Payments.
Where That $3.20 Actually Goes
On Basic, the $3.20 isn't pure Shopify profit. Most of it flows through to other parties:
- The card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) take the largest slice as interchange and assessments. Per Visa's US interchange schedule, consumer credit card interchange alone typically sits at 1.5%–2.0% + $0.10 for card-not-present transactions.
- Stripe takes a smaller processor margin on top of interchange. Shopify Payments is built on Stripe, and Shopify Basic's rate of 2.9% + $0.30 matches Stripe's own public rate for direct merchants.
- Shopify's take on the card line is slim at Basic's price point. The gap widens on Grow, Advanced, and Plus, where Shopify Payments rates are discounted but the wholesale rates Stripe passes through don't drop proportionally.
Shopify doesn't publish this split. What matters for your P&L is the top-line number, but the distinction is important: when people say "Shopify takes 2.9%," they're lumping the card networks and the processor in with Shopify itself. The real Shopify-specific fees are the monthly subscription, the third-party gateway penalty (if you use one), the app tax, and everything else in this post.
When $100 Costs You More Than $3.20
The one-number answer assumes the ideal case: domestic card, domestic customer, Shopify Payments, no refunds, no apps, US dollars. Almost nothing in production hits that ideal. Here are the five places where real $100 sales leak more money than the headline fee suggests.
1. The Third-Party Gateway Penalty
If you use anything other than Shopify Payments (Stripe directly, PayPal, Adyen, Mollie), Shopify charges a separate fee on top of your processor's rate:
| Plan | Third-party fee | Stripe's fee | Total on $100 | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 2.0% | 2.9% + $0.30 | $5.20 | $94.80 |
| Grow | 1.0% | 2.9% + $0.30 | $4.20 | $95.80 |
| Advanced | 0.6% | 2.9% + $0.30 | $3.80 | $96.20 |
| Plus | 0.2% | 2.9% + $0.30 | $3.40 | $96.60 |
A $100 sale on Basic through Stripe direct costs $5.20, 62% more than the headline rate. Shopify's third-party payment provider documentation spells this out, but the rate is rarely quoted on pricing pages.
Shopify Payments is available in roughly 50 countries as of 2026 (after recent expansion into Mexico and most of the EU). Merchants in India, most of Southeast Asia, most of Latin America, and almost all of Africa still have no choice but to eat this fee on every sale.
2. International Cards and Currency Conversion
A non-US card costs an extra +1.5% on top of the base rate. If the buyer also pays in a different currency from your store, Shopify adds another 1.5%–2% currency conversion fee. A EUR-paying customer buying from a US store on Basic looks like this:
| Component | Fee on $100 |
|---|---|
| Base rate | 2.9% + $0.30 = $3.20 |
| International card surcharge | +1.5% = $1.50 |
| Currency conversion | +1.5% = $1.50 |
| Total | $6.20 |
| You keep | $93.80 |
On Grow, the same sale costs $6.00. On Advanced, $5.80. If you sell globally, your effective rate is 0.5%–3% higher than what Shopify's landing page implies, depending on mix. Stripe's own international card pricing is similar (+1.5% for international, +1% for conversion), so this isn't purely a Shopify markup. Shopify's 1.5%–2% conversion rate is, however, higher than Stripe's base 1%.
3. Refund Fees Aren't Refundable
This one surprises almost every new merchant. When you refund a customer, Stripe (and Shopify Payments on top of Stripe) keeps the $0.30 fixed fee. You eat it.
Refund a full $100 sale and:
- Customer gets back: $100
- You get back from Stripe/Shopify: $96.80
- You're out of pocket: $3.20
Stripe's refund documentation spells this out: "The fees incurred for the original transaction aren't refunded." Shopify Payments inherits the behavior because it's Stripe underneath. If you run a store with a high return rate (fashion, furniture, anything over $150 AOV), the refund keep can add 0.1%–0.3% to your effective take rate depending on your return percentage.
4. Chargebacks
A disputed transaction costs $15 on top of the card fee. You can get the $15 back only if you win the chargeback, and merchants win a minority of disputes. Stripe's own guidance frames disputes as an expensive and time-consuming process. At typical ecommerce chargeback rates (0.5%–1.5% of orders), chargeback fees alone can add $0.08–$0.20 to the average $100 sale once amortized.
5. The App Tax, Amortized
A $100 sale doesn't sit in isolation. The average Shopify store runs 5 to 10 paid apps, and the usual stack (email marketing, reviews, upsells, SEO, a page builder) costs $150–$500/month. If your store does 500 orders/month, every $100 sale is carrying $0.30–$1.00 of app cost amortized on top of the card fee.
This isn't strictly "Shopify taking money" (the apps are third-party), but Shopify collects a 15% revenue share from app developers above their first $1M lifetime, so a slice of your Klaviyo bill funds Shopify's platform economy. The app stack is the number that makes the $3.20 quote misleading.
Where Your $100 Actually Goes
Adding up the lines for a realistic scenario (Basic plan, domestic card, a $300/mo app stack amortized over 500 orders, and the plan subscription amortized), a real $100 sale breaks down like this:
Scenario A: with Shopify Payments (the headline case)
- $3.20 to Shopify Payments / the card networks
- $0.60 amortized app stack (at $300/mo ÷ 500 orders)
- $0.05 amortized Basic subscription (at $25/mo ÷ 500 orders)
- $96.15 to you
Scenario B: without Shopify Payments (Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, or any third-party gateway)
- $3.20 to Stripe (or your chosen processor) for card processing
- $2.00 to Shopify as the third-party gateway penalty (2% on Basic)
- $0.60 amortized app stack
- $0.05 amortized subscription
- $94.15 to you
That $2.00 difference is the real cost of "Shopify's flexibility": you can use another processor, but Shopify charges you for the privilege. For merchants in the roughly 140 countries where Shopify Payments isn't available, Scenario B isn't optional; it's the default. The headline "Shopify takes $3.20" is the floor, not the ceiling.
Effective Take Rate at Scale
The fixed $0.30 fee and the flat monthly subscription mean your effective take rate depends on your AOV and order volume. Here's what Shopify actually keeps as a percentage of gross at different store sizes, on Basic (monthly billing, $25/mo) using Shopify Payments only (no apps included):
| Monthly revenue | Orders @ $100 AOV | Card fees | Subscription | Effective take |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | 50 | $160 | $25 | 3.70% |
| $20,000 | 200 | $640 | $25 | 3.33% |
| $50,000 | 500 | $1,600 | $25 | 3.25% |
| $200,000 | 2,000 | $6,400 | $25 | 3.21% |
| $500,000 | 5,000 | $16,000 | $25 | 3.21% |
At low volume, the $25 plan fee dominates. At scale, you converge to ~3.2%. Dropping AOV to $40 and the same $5k store pays ~5.3% in card fees alone because the $0.30 fixed fee is now 0.75% of every sale. If you sell low-ticket items, Shopify's effective rate is much higher than the quoted 2.9% suggests.
Moving up plans changes the curve. At $50k/month (monthly billing), switching from Basic ($25) to Grow ($65, card rate 2.7% + $0.30) costs $40 more in subscription but saves $100/mo in card fees (0.2% × $50k), for a net $60/mo gain. At $200k/month (2,000 orders), Advanced ($399, card rate 2.5% + $0.30) costs $374 more than Basic but saves $800/mo in fees (0.4% × $200k), for a net $426/mo gain. Your break-even is a function of order volume, not revenue. See our deeper Shopify transaction fees breakdown for the plan-selection math.
What $100 Costs on a Flat-Fee Alternative
Here's the bias-disclosed part. YNS has three paid plans, Starter at $25/mo (yearly), Growth at $50/mo, and Pro at $300/mo, and charges 0% platform transaction fees on every plan. You pay Stripe's standard rate directly, with no Shopify-style percentage on top.
On a $100 domestic sale paid with a US card through Stripe, YNS keeps $0. Stripe keeps $3.20 (2.9% + $0.30). You keep $96.80, identical to Shopify Basic on the card math. The difference is everything around it:
| Scenario | Shopify Basic | YNS Growth |
|---|---|---|
| $100 domestic sale, Shopify Payments / Stripe | You keep $96.80 | You keep $96.80 |
| $100 international (EUR, EU card) | You keep $93.80 | You keep ~$94.80 (no Shopify markup on conversion) |
| App stack amortized over 500 orders | $0.30–$1.00/sale | ~$0 (AI builder, reviews, SEO, search, translations built in) |
| Monthly subscription (yearly billing) | $19 | $50 |
| Platform transaction fee | 0% (with Shopify Payments only) | 0% (all payment methods) |
Where YNS wins isn't the headline card rate; that's a pass-through to Stripe either way. It's three things:
- No third-party gateway penalty. Using PayPal, Klarna, Affirm, or Stripe's local payment methods on YNS costs the same as credit cards. Shopify charges you 0.6%–2% for the same payment methods if you're outside Shopify Payments.
- No app tax. AI store builder, reviews, product search, SEO tools, translations, and analytics are built into the platform subscription. The $300–$500/month Shopify app stack isn't needed.
- Open-source escape hatch. The storefront template is free on GitHub. If you outgrow the managed platform, you keep the storefront code and connect it to the YNS REST API yourself.
Where Shopify still wins: If your order volume is high enough to justify Advanced or Plus, Shopify Payments' card rate (down to 2.5% on Advanced, negotiated lower on Plus) structurally beats Stripe's published 2.9%. At 10,000+ orders/month, that ~0.4% saving on card fees can outpace the $300–$500/month in apps you'd avoid on YNS. Run the math; don't take either vendor's word for it.
0% platform transaction fees on every plan. If you're comparing what Shopify keeps vs what a flat-fee alternative keeps, this is what "no platform markup" actually looks like on a $100 sale.
FAQ
How much does Shopify take from a $100 sale on the Basic plan?
$3.20 on a domestic sale paid with a US card through Shopify Payments. That breaks down as 2.9% of $100 ($2.90) plus a $0.30 fixed fee. You keep $96.80 before your monthly plan fee ($19/mo on yearly billing), apps, and any refunds.
How much does Shopify take if I use Stripe instead of Shopify Payments?
On Basic, $5.20. That's Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 ($3.20) plus Shopify's 2% third-party gateway penalty ($2.00). You keep $94.80. The penalty drops to 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, and 0.2% on Plus.
Does Shopify refund the transaction fee when I refund a customer?
No. Shopify Payments (and Stripe behind it) keeps the fixed $0.30 fee on every refund. The percentage portion is returned. On a fully refunded $100 sale, you're out $3.20 on Basic: the customer got their $100 back, but you don't get your fee back.
What's the cheapest Shopify plan per $100 sale?
By effective rate at high volume, Shopify Plus is lowest (negotiated down to ~2.2%–2.4%). By total cost, the cheapest plan depends on order volume. Under $5k/month, Basic at $19/mo (yearly billing) wins on flat costs. Above $50k/month, Grow starts paying for itself. Above $200k/month, Advanced does.
Are there any Shopify fees I can't avoid?
Shopify Tax kicks in after your first $100k in US sales each year at 0.35% per taxed order, capped at $0.99/order and $5k/year. Chargebacks cost $15 each. Currency conversion is 1.5%–2% on cross-currency sales. The $0.30 fixed fee applies to every transaction including refunds. Those five are structural: you can't plan around them, only absorb them.
Is the YNS platform really 0% transaction fees on every plan?
Yes. YNS charges a flat monthly subscription ($25–$300/mo depending on plan) and 0% platform fees on sales. You still pay Stripe's standard card processing (2.9% + $0.30 in the US), which is a pass-through to Stripe. YNS doesn't mark it up or add a percentage on top. See YNS pricing for the full breakdown.
The Bottom Line
When Shopify says it takes $3.20 from a $100 sale, they're quoting the line item. The real number is closer to $3.85 in the best case (apps and subscription amortized) and $5.85 in the default case for any country outside Shopify Payments' footprint. Run your own math before you lock in. The card rate isn't where the money goes; it's everything around it.
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