Shopify Payments Review

Pros

• Predictable flat-rate pricing
• No early termination fee
• All-in-one payments
• Good for eCommerce
• Multicurrency-acceptance

Cons

• Sudden account terminations are possible
• Funding holds are common

What Is Shopify Payments?

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s integrated payment processor. It allows new Shopify merchants to start processing payments almost immediately. Using Shopify Payments means you won’t have to integrate an outside payment provider, nor will you have to pay the per-transaction fee Shopify charges when you use an outside processor.

While Shopify Payments has some flaws, it remains a top credit card processing option for Shopify sellers. Read our full Shopify Payments review to get a sense of the benefits as well as the more common complaints.

Products & Services

Merchants who sign up for Shopify to sell online can choose to use Shopify’s in-house credit card processor, Shopify Payments. Shopify Payments is made possible through a partnership with Stripe (which provides the back-end processing) and is now available in addition to around 100 alternative third-party gateways (such as PayPal).

All told, Shopify Payments does a great job of meeting the processing needs of Shopify merchants with its products and features, earning it an excellent rating in this category.

Let’s now summarize the products and services on offer from Shopify Payments.

Shopify Payment Processing Features

• Omnichannel Platform: Shopify has evolved from an online-only service to a complete omnichannel package. You can use Shopify’s multiple products and merchant services to set up a site and sell online and in person. You don’t even need to set up a full online shop to sell on Facebook and Instagram.
• Shop Pay: Shop Pay is an accelerated eCommerce checkout solution that you can easily enable when you use Shopify Payments. Shop Pay allows customers to save their payment information for future purchases securely. Then, when customers return to purchase at any Shopify store (including yours), the checkout process goes by much faster, resulting in fewer abandoned carts for you.
• Developer Tools: Shopify Payments provides API documentation and step-by-step guides.
• Security Features & PCI Compliance: Shopify Payments is PCI compliant, and there are no additional fees related to compliance. Also, users of Shopify Payments get access to 3D Secure Checkout, which reduces fraudulent purchases by requiring customers to verify their identities.
• Chargeback Management: When you are issued a chargeback, Shopify will compile evidence and send it to the bank on your behalf. Shopify’s fraud analysis features should hopefully reduce the number of chargebacks you have to contest.
• Shopify Shipping: This built-in shipping suite provides tools to calculate real-time shipping rates, buy and print shipping labels, and track your shipments. Shopify Shipping is a somewhat new feature, and it’s free for all Shopify merchant accounts, but it is only available for orders shipped from the US and Canada.
• Checkout Options: Shopify updated the checkout flow experience for the COVID-19 era so that you can offer what you need to stay safe and still sell to your customers. While this feature is technically separate from the payment screen and Shopify Payments specifically, we’ve included these updated features here for your knowledge:
  • Local & Curbside Pickup: Merchants can now allow options in the checkout for picking up orders in-store, curbside, or from any other location. Additionally, notifications on the updated Shopify POS app show when a buyer has arrived for curbside pickup.
  • Local Delivery: In all countries, merchants will soon be able to define their local delivery area by zip code and postal code or by radius. This update also lets you add local delivery fees and minimum order amounts for delivery.

Shopify Payments Hardware & Equipment

• Shopify POS: Shopify’s point of sale system allows you to process in-person transactions on a mobile device or a tablet, and it syncs inventory information between your online and brick-and-mortar stores. Read our full Shopify POS review for more.
• Shopify Card Readers & Accessories: Shopify offers an inexpensive mobile card reader: the Shopify Tap & Chip Reader ($49). However, if you’re looking for something more robust, Shopify now offers the all-in-one Shopify POS Go. For $399, you’ll get a touchscreen card reader + barcode scanner that actually runs the full Shopify POS app right from the device. The Shopify POS Go strengthens Shopify’s in-person selling capabilities and accepts tap, chip, and magstripe payments.
• Hardware Rentals: Shopify partners with Fello to offer hardware rentals. Available hardware includes tablets, tablet stands, card readers, barcode scanners, cash drawers, and receipt printers.

While using Shopify Payments for payment processing is very convenient for Shopify merchants, it has some drawbacks. The biggest shortcoming is the inherent account instability that comes with a payment service provider (PSP). PayPal, Square, Shopify Payments, and Stripe are all PSPs.

Also called third-party processors or aggregators, PSPs accept merchants before officially reviewing them for eligibility. Later, when these PSPs do review merchants and find them ineligible (high-risk merchants are generally ineligible), they place holds on funds and even terminate non-compliant accounts without warning. The best way to avoid this risk is to study a PSP’s terms of service and acceptable use policy before signing up.

That said, Shopify Payments is a very solid option for Shopify merchants who want a convenient omnichannel platform with room to grow — including accepting international currencies with automatic currency conversion.

Fees & Rates

Shopify’s processing fees and monthly charges, while not the lowest around, are fully disclosed by Shopify with no attempt at obfuscation. We also appreciate the near-total lack of extra fees. All things considered, Shopify Payments is deserving of high marks in this category.

There are two main financial advantages to using Shopify Payments in conjunction with Shopify:

1. No Shopify Transaction Fee: Shopify will waive the 0.5%-2.0% commission it would otherwise charge on each of your sales. Plus, if you use Shopify Payments, you can also use PayPal Express without incurring Shopify’s transaction fees. Depending on which option your customer uses to check out, you’ll just pay the Shopify Payments or PayPal transaction fees.
2. Discounted Payment Processing: Most flat-rate credit card processors charge 2.9% + $0.30 per eCommerce sale. Shopify Payments charges this standard processing rate for users on the Lite and Basic subscriptions. However, Shopify’s credit card processing rate decreases for users on the Shopify ($79/month when billed annually) and Shopify Advanced ($299/month when billed annually) plans.

For your reference, here’s a breakdown of the four main eCommerce plans Shopify offers. Remember that you can activate a 25% discount on your monthly fees if you pay for a year of Shopify service in advance, so if you want the cheapest Shopify plan that also includes an online store (Basic), you’ll pay $29/month with annual billing.

Shopify Plus (Enterprise)

Merchants earning over a million eCommerce dollars per year are eligible for the Shopify Plus enterprise plan. While the standard rate for Shopify Plus is $2,000/month, rates are negotiable, so you’ll need to contact Shopify for special pricing.

Additional Fees

Like all payment processors, Shopify Payments charges a flat-rate fee for each chargeback that customers issue. The amount of this fee varies by country. In the US, it’s $15, which is the industry average (see Shopify’s list of chargeback fees). Shopify states that if the chargeback resolves in your favor, you get this chargeback fee refunded to you.

Except for the chargeback fee, Shopify does not charge any additional monthly fees, payment security fees, hidden fees, or setup fees on its payments service.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

Shopify Payments does a great job in terms of sales and advertising transparency. You’ll find all pricing information for rates and fees clearly on the website, and users haven’t reported any bait-and-switch tactics or shady sales gimmicks listed online. For these reasons, we’re giving Shopify Payments high scores in this category.

Contract Length & Early Termination Fee

With Shopify Payments, there are no long-term contracts to sign. You pay per transaction, and you can cancel at any time. Since there is no contract, there is no early termination fee (ETF). These are the exact terms we love to see from a processor, so we’re giving the company excellent ratings for this category.

Like other merchant account providers, Shopify Payments can terminate your account if you violate its Terms of Service (read Shopify’s Prohibited Businesses section before getting started with Shopify). However, if it does terminate your Shopify Payments account, that does not necessarily mean your online store account will be terminated as well.

The Shopify Payments Terms of Service (for US merchants) states: “Termination of this Agreement will not necessarily terminate your Shopify Platform Terms unless Shopify determines otherwise.”

If your Shopify Payments account is terminated but not your Shopify store, you’ll have to pay Shopify’s 0.5%-2.0% transaction fee when you find another processor.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Shopify keeps its customer service and technical support in-house, including support for Shopify Payments. You can contact support 24/7 via phone, live chat, or email. Plus, Shopify offers an extensive and robust knowledgebase for self-support.

We’ve had good personal experiences with using Shopify’s customer service and have found representatives to be informed and prompt in their responses. Many merchants report being quite poorly-served by Shopify’s support reps, however. These experiences are far from universal, however. We’re giving Shopify Payments a decent rating in this category, though there is definitely room for improvement here.

Here’s a quick breakdown of Shopify Payments’ support options:

• Phone Support & Live Chat: Shopify offers both live chat and phone support, which will help you contact a Shopify representative with general knowledge. They may escalate your issue to the Shopify Billing department, which will respond via email.
• Online Knowledgebase: Shopify has dedicated an entire section of its knowledgebase to payments. You can find answers to many of your questions within these resources. Having used this database to look for help with a question I had, I found my answer in only a few seconds.
• Email Support: Reach Shopify gurus or the Shopify Billing department via email.
• User Forum: Shopify has an active user forum. Use this forum to ask questions to fellow merchants. Occasionally, Shopify representatives also respond to questions on the forum.

User Reviews

We at Merchant Maverick read as many user reviews as possible when researching a payment processor. The challenge with Shopify Payments is that while reviews of Shopify are plentiful, reviews of Shopify Payments, in particular, are much rarer. For this reason, and because you’ll be using Shopify Payments with Shopify, we’re providing reviews for the Shopify platform as a whole.

Here’s what users think on some of the major consumer review sites:

• G2 Consumer Reviews: 4.4/5 stars with 4,460 reviewers
• Better Business Bureau: A+ rating from the BBB with a 1.07/5-star rating from 95 customer reviews (Keep in mind that BBB users typically come with complaints in mind!)
• Apple Store: 4.6/5 stars with 13,300 reviews
• Capterra: 4.5/5 stars with 6,242 reviews

All told, for a provider of this size and magnitude, Shopify’s public reception is remarkably good. While it’s not perfect by any means, we stand impressed by the number of positive reviews the company gets — thus, we’re giving Shopify Payments top marks in this category.

Final Verdict

Shopify Payments, and the Shopify eCommerce platform as a whole, is a top-notch solution that suits a wide variety of eCommerce businesses, earning it an excellent overall score and our general recommendation. However, it’s not for everybody.

While it doesn’t happen to the vast majority of accounts, we’ve read enough reports of merchants getting their accounts terminated by Shopify Payments to know that it does happen.

If you have any doubt about whether your business qualifies, speak with the risk department directly before signing up. It’s better to be completely honest about your business from the get-go than to fudge the details and hope it will all work out (it won’t).

For most merchants, Shopify offers outstanding value. The platform allows for a lot of flexibility and provides even more cost-efficiency when it comes time to scale up. You’ll have all the tools you need to start selling on your site or outside marketplaces and social media channels. There are great benefits to having integrated payments, and if your store follows all the rules, Shopify Payments could be the best choice for your store.

Credit Card Processor Review Methodology

We evaluate and test each payment processor that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on certain key characteristics in order to generate our granular ratings for merchant accounts and credit card processors.

For payment processing reviews, we use a 24-point rubric to evaluate the provider. First, we look at pricing structure – interchange plus, subscription-based, tiered, or hybrid – giving the most points to providers that provide fair, transparent pricing and docking those that rely on tiered models. Then we examine rates, the presence and transparency of early termination fees, and any additional fees.

We also look at contract length and fairness and test out sales staff and customer service channels ourselves to ensure that the company uses reputable, above-the-board sales techniques. Finally, we take the company’s online reputation into account, reading customer reviews and comments.

Read more about how we rate payment processors.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Shopify Payments	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Shopify Payments for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Shopify Payments	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Shopify Payments for yourself.

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