Does turning on Shop Pay add anything to what a Shopify store pays in fees?

Summary

Turning on ordinary Shop Pay does not add a separate processing fee: transactions use your Shopify Payments rates. Shop Pay Installments is different. There is no activation cost, but an installments order carries a higher fee that includes the normal processing fee. Check that rate in your admin before offering installments.

Keep the two payment options separate

Shop Pay saves a buyer’s checkout details so they can pay without entering them again. Installments lets an eligible buyer spread payment over time. The Shop Pay help confirms the standard-rate treatment; the installments payment guide explains the higher combined fee. Do not add the standard fee a second time to that combined rate.

Order type	Merchant fee	Budget implication
Ordinary Shop Pay	Your applicable Shopify Payments rate	No separate Shop Pay fee
Shop Pay Installments	Higher combined fee shown in admin	Use this rate for installments orders only
Refund of a card order	No extra refund transaction fee; original fee remains	A sale refunded in full still costs the processing fee
Refund of an installments order	Installments fee is not returned	Keep the original fee in the return budget

An $80 US order as a worked example

Assume a US Basic store, an online payment on a standard domestic card, and a rate of 2.9% + $0.30. The fee is $80 × 0.029 + $0.30 = $2.62, whether the buyer uses ordinary Shop Pay or the normal card checkout. Premium and international cards can have different rates; this is not a Japanese-store rate.

If the whole order is refunded, the buyer gets $80 back, but the store does not recover the $2.62 processing fee. Fifteen such refunds cost $2.62 × 15 = $39.30 in retained fees. Stock, shipping and return handling are separate costs. The refund policy states that the original card fee is not reimbursed, even if the order was canceled before fulfillment.

Read the installments rate before enabling it

Go to Settings > Payments, manage Shopify Payments, then Manage payment methods and View payment rates. The merchant-specific installments fee is shown there. Availability depends on eligibility; the FAQ lists eligible stores in the US, Canada and UK, and confirms that installments fees are not returned on refunds.

The payment guide says the merchant receives the order amount less the fee within 1–3 business days after capture, under the configured payout schedule. You do not wait for each buyer installment, but bank timing and payout dates still matter for cash planning.

Ordinary Shop Pay can be evaluated as a checkout option at your existing rates. Before adding installments, compare the displayed fee with your order margin and expected returns. If that cost leaves too little margin, you can keep ordinary Shop Pay without offering installments.

Sources

Checked 10 October 2026. USD amounts exclude tax.

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What changed on this page

correction11 October 2026 SaaS COMPASS article 57 — Ordinary checkout vs installments
Payment methods mixed with broad chargeback and payout timing claims. → Kept the direct no-extra-Shop-Pay-fee answer; separated higher combined installments fee, refund cost and merchant-specific rate. Retired unrelated payout/chargeback claims.
Editorial correction based on official evidence checked10October2026; not a claim of vendor price change.

Every recorded change to this site is in the change log.

Does turning on Shop Pay add anything to what a Shopify store pays in fees?

Summary

Keep the two payment options separate

An $80 US order as a worked example

Read the installments rate before enabling it

Sources

What changed on this page

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