Shopify Payment Fees and 3rd Party Providers

[CLOC]

We're trying to understand all the fees associated with using a Shopify-approved 3rd party payment provider in Canada (specifically Moneris).  Moneris' fees on face value seem much less than Shopify, except for what appears to be an additional 2% fee that Shopify charges. It seems as though the formula when using Moneris would be Assessment Fee + Interchange Fee + Moneris Fee and then is it an additional 2% Shopify fee on top of those other three fees?

Is it possible to get confirmation on the fees that will be charged by Shopify Canada on top of an approved payment provider like Moneris?    Any insight/confirmation would be really appreciated.

[Trevor]

Hey, @CLOC.

Great question! When using Shopify, you will be charged either a credit card fee, or a transaction fee depending on what payment provider you use in your store. If you would like to use Moneris to accept credit card payments and not Shopify Payments then your store would be subject to a transaction fee that ranges from 0.5% - 2% per order (based on your monthly plan). The transaction fee would be on top of what you are being charged by Moneris, so you would be seeing the Assessment Fee + Interchange Fee + Moneris Fee + Shopify Transaction Fee.

Transaction fees are charged to help cover the cost, maintenance and upkeep of our integrations with 3rd party payment providers as well as our SSL checkout. They are charged on a monthly basis alongside your bill unless your account reaches its' threshold. If your threshold is reached, then the outstanding balance will be charged immediately instead of beside your monthly invoice. We have further information on transaction fees through our help centre here. 

May I ask why you're wanting to use Moneris over Shopify Payments for your online store? 

[HymnZ]

@Trevor  .. I've been a Shopify partner from India for 6 years and help merchants with their Shopify needs. In recent times, Shopify has come under huge amounts of criticism for the additional 2% charges over orders. Two things for your team, the devs and the management to consider.

1. Shopify Payments is not available in MANY countries. I repeat MANY countries. The merchants in these countries have no option other than going ahead with a 3rd Party Payment Processor (3PPP). So charging this extra 2% fee as "integration" charges is very unethical on part of Shopify.
2. Even in countries where Shopify Payments is available, there are many features it lacks which other 3PPPs offer and also comes with many rules and regulations. This is a very strong reason for merchants to opt for a 3PPP beside Shopify Payments. A simple example, you don't offer any internet banking option.
3. Every day a new 3PPP launches with new features and better rates. Your Hosted Payment SDK is closed (you won't believe how many 3PPPs approached me for integration this year alone!). The ecosystem is being killed and you're giving customers move away from Shopify by becoming a closed ecosystem. I understand there are many developer time constraints for important aspects and I believe Shopify Partner developers like me can pitch in and keep the wheels turning in this ecosystem. I personally know 45-50 merchants who turned away from Shopify because of this and for others the integration process is more of a makeshift process rather than a tight integration, which leads to higher fraud rates.

I really hope someone considers this side of things in Shopify more seriously, strategically and take decisions that benefit the ecosystem as a whole!

[CLOC]

Hi @Trevor 

Thanks for getting back to us.  To answer your question regarding the use of Moneris, we've inquired with them and on face value, the shopify fees seem quite expensive. However once the additional shopify fees are layered on, Moneris ceases to be competitive for our shopify subscription level.  Can you confirm that the math below is correct given the example of a $150 charge using a Canadian Visa online:

Shopify $29/month

$150 x 2.9% +$0.30 = $4.65 

Shopify $79/month

$150 x 2.7% + $0.30 = $4.35

Are those accurate summaries of the charges? Would there be any other charges?  

Also, can you please confirm whether shopify payments accepts apple pay (both online and in store)?

Thanks so much,

Jenny

[Trevor]

@HymnZ 

I can appreciate your standpoint here as I can understand how the transaction fee can be impactful to businesses' bottom line; however, the fees are an industry-standard fee that helps cover the cost, maintenance and upkeep of our integrations with 3rd party payment providers as well as our SSL checkout. I do agree that this can be costly considering the fact that the transaction fee charged by Shopify is on top of what the payment provider will charge. While I can not guarantee that we will be able to lower or remove transaction fees based on region, we do have an existing feature request which I have added your feedback to. By doing adding your feedback, it will allow our teams to review it further to determine what the best route will be. If we are able to reduce or remove transaction fees then our teams will take the appropriate steps to put that into action. 

Would you be willing to elaborate on what you mean by "internet banking option" along with providing examples of the features you're referring to in point number 2? I can make sure that feedback is sent up to our teams as well. As for your third point, access to our Payment SDK is extremely limited and we can not guarantee approval; however, you can request access through our Developer help centre here. 

__________

@CLOC 

Thank you for the context! Your math is spot on other than the 2.7% in your second calculation. The Shopify plan for $79 charges a credit card rate of 2.6% + 30 cents for every order so the amount would be $4.20. There wouldn't be any other fees; however, you would see a higher credit card rate for International & AMEX cards. Shopify Payments credit card rates can be seen on our pricing page. You will also have different credit card rates for selling online versus in-person. Meaning that if you choose to use Shopify Payments & Shopify POS then you would see a lower credit when processing in-person payments through our card reader. In addition to this, Apple Pay, and Google Pay are supported by Shopify Payments for both online and in-person transactions; however, Apple Pay can not be setup when using Moneris. 

Let me know if you have any questions!

[dannycohen81]

Hi,

 I work with Best Merchant Services, here we help merchants from Shopify get up and running by leveraging our relationships with banks to help high risk merchants get approvals. 

Email me if you have any questions:

danny@bestmerchantservices.com

Regards,

Danny 

[CLOC]

Hi @Trevor 

Would we be able to have an offline conversation about this? I've got some questions about our specific POS system (we require functionality that shopify POS doesn't offer) and how things integrate - and I'd rather not be sharing all those details in a public forum.  Can you please let me know if there's a way to connect directly with support?

Thanks so much,

jenny

[dannycohen81 · Accepted solution]

Absolutely.  Give me a call or send me your number and I'll call you. (800) 383-1553

[CLOC]

Hi @Trevor 

Is it possible for us to speak directly (or just with any shopify staff) about this as we've got some specific questions that I'd rather not get into on a public forum.  Please let me know.  Thanks so much,

Jenny

[Trevor]

@CLOC 

You bet! I have shipped you an email titled "Shopify Forum Support." Feel free to respond there with the questions you have so I can help source the answers you're after. 

[theonlytoshka]

The 2% fee is outrageous! Given the amount that one decent store pays just with the 2% is enough to maintain the entire ecosystem of 3RD Party integrations. As sellers we pay a monthly fee which should cover all those expenses you listed above, if it doesn't raise that, by charging us 2% you essentially become a partner not a service provider. I just learned that i am paying 2% on top of all of my transactions for a year now. Why i did not go with Shopify Payments? Because i have a health related website and you declined to service my business. I am very very upset.

[HitKingsSc]

For Reference, other web site platforms, do NOT charge additional fees if you choose to not use their built in processing.  

It's highly unethical, predatory, and another reason shopify will be one of the first things to cut this year.  

So that everyone is not being deceived by Shopify Support's "rationale" for having an added fee, lets consider the following:

- 3rd Party integrations are coded, updated and maintained by the 3rd party.  It is in the 3rd party's best interest to provide working and maintained integrations.  

- Very small work effort is required by any technical resource at shopify, to verify working code and working 3rd party processing integrations

- Shopify will charge between .5% and 2.0 % per transaction, on TOP of the 3rd party processing fees, yet there is no processing, no payment gateway, no actual function that is occurring for each and any transaction.  

So why does Shopify feel they are entitled to a transaction fee on every transaction, when they arent doing anything?

- Manipulating customers to use their own payment processing, (which is actually uses STRIPE as the payment processor), which brings effortless profit to their wallet. 

- Taking advantage of Shopify customers who are already live and embedded in their current website platform (changing platforms can be challenging and requires learning curve). 

- Greed

[GLIMMER]

Very unfortunate that Shopify does not all 3rd Party processing integrations. We had many clients that we

boarded on Shopify Plus and Shopify POS but many have left to use Big Commerce and other integrated POS 

because they provide much more 3rd party flexibility on payments. Its a huge issue for high volume, more enterprise, merchants.

MD

[HitKingsSc]

When companies like Shopify lose their focus, the founders sell or move on, or the passion for their business fades, its the beginning of the end.  

Just a suggestion, consider looking elsewhere and save yourself the time and headache of having to migrate later...

[jordan123]

Right there with you - it's absolutely ridiculous. We are FORCED to use a 3rd party payment processor as opposed to Shopify Payments, and yet, we're forced to pay up the extra 2%. So much for arming the rebels.