Shop Pay Fees Explained: What Merchants Actually Pay

Shop Pay is Shopify's accelerated checkout — it saves customers' shipping and payment details for one-tap repeat purchases. For most Shopify merchants, the fee question is simple: Shop Pay itself is free to enable and use. If you use Shopify Payments as your processor, Shop Pay adds no additional transaction fees beyond your standard card processing rate. If you use a third-party payment provider, Shopify's standard transaction fees apply regardless.

Here's the complete breakdown of every fee involved when Shop Pay is in the picture.

Is Shop Pay Free?

Yes. Shop Pay has no setup fee, no monthly subscription, and no per-transaction surcharge. Enabling Shop Pay in your Shopify settings costs nothing. The fees merchants pay on Shop Pay orders come entirely from card processing — the same rates that apply to every Shopify Payments transaction.

The only time Shop Pay adds a cost beyond standard processing is if you offer Shop Pay Installments (Shopify's buy now, pay later option). That program has a separate fee structure, detailed below.

Shop Pay Transaction Fees: The Full Breakdown

If You Use Shopify Payments

When a customer checks out using Shop Pay and you're on Shopify Payments, you pay the standard Shopify Payments card processing rate for your plan. No additional fee for the Shop Pay checkout method.

If You Use a Third-Party Payment Provider

If you use Stripe, PayPal, or another third-party gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an additional transaction fee on every order — regardless of whether the customer uses Shop Pay or regular checkout:

This fee is charged by Shopify on top of whatever your third-party processor charges. For most merchants processing significant volume, this makes Shopify Payments the more cost-effective choice.

Shop Pay Installments Fees

Shop Pay Installments is the buy now, pay later option that lets customers split purchases into 4 interest-free payments (for orders $50–$999) or monthly installments with interest (for orders $150–$17,500). Merchants are paid the full purchase amount upfront; the installment risk is absorbed by Affirm, Shopify's BNPL partner.

The merchant fee for Shop Pay Installments is 5–6% per transaction, depending on the installment plan chosen by the customer. This is higher than standard card processing but comparable to other BNPL providers like Afterpay or Klarna.

Merchants receive the full order amount within 1–3 business days regardless of which installment plan the customer selects.

Does Shop Pay Increase Conversion Rate?

Shopify's own data shows Shop Pay has a 1.72x higher checkout completion rate compared to guest checkout. For returning customers who have saved their details with Shop Pay, the one-tap checkout experience removes significant friction. The practical benefit for merchants is that enabling Shop Pay typically increases conversion rate at no additional cost for standard transactions.

Shop Pay vs. Other Accelerated Checkouts

How to Enable Shop Pay

Shop Pay is available to any Shopify merchant using Shopify Payments (US, Canada, UK, Australia, and select other markets). To enable it:

1. Go to Settings > Payments in your Shopify admin
2. Under Shopify Payments, click Manage
3. Check the box next to Shop Pay
4. Click Save

Once enabled, Shop Pay appears as a checkout option for eligible customers automatically.