A shop owner in Japan is exploring whether they can sell to the U.S. market while receiving payments in Japanese yen at their Japanese company bank account.
Key Confirmations:
Shopify Payments for Japan allows accepting card payments with payouts in JPY, regardless of customer location
Customers can browse and pay in USD while the merchant receives JPY payouts
Shopify Markets offers features for selling internationally
Print-on-demand integration with Printful (located in Japan) works by having customers pay the store directly, while Printful fulfills orders with the store’s branding
Billing & Currency Display Issues:
The owner wants to see Shopify subscription pricing in USD but the site displays JPY due to geo-location features
Setting region to USA on the pricing page doesn’t change the displayed currency (confirmed as expected behavior, not a bug)
Workaround: Using a VPN allows viewing USD pricing
Japan supports local currency billing, but merchants can change their billing currency to USD through Shopify Admin settings
Current pricing shows JPY subscriptions are cheaper due to exchange rates (¥3,650 vs $29/month), but JPY has higher transaction fees (3.55% vs 2.9% + $0.30)
Trial Offer:
Currently 3 days free, then first month for $1 on select plans.
The discussion remains open with the owner still evaluating options before starting their trial.
Summarized with AI on October 29.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
I still haven’t signed up for a trial yet because I haven’t decided on what I’m selling, sourcing, and so on.
My original thought was to sell to the Japanese market because I live in Japan and have a little company incorporated here.
But now I’m thinking of maybe drop-selling some things I’m familiar with to the U.S. market and selling in U.S. dollars.
If I do that and use Shopify’s payment system and I sign up with my company’s bank account here in Japan will settlement still come in yen to my bank in Japan?
Welcome to Shopify and I hope you find the platform to be suited to you and your business’ needs. You can enable Shopify Payments for Japan on your store to accept card payments online and your payouts will be paid out in JPY. This will be the case whether you sell to customers in Japan, the United States, or both.
If you do decide to sell to the United States or other overseas markets, you can still offer pricing in other currencies which means American customers can browse your store and pay in USD, even though your payouts will be paid out in JPY. If you do decide to sell to overseas markets I’d recommend checking out Shopify Markets as it contains a number of features geared towards helping you sell abroad effectively.
I hope this helps but please let me know if you have any further questions about Shopify.
Hi. With all my procrastination I still haven’t signed up for a trial yet. Now I have an idea of some things to sell. But it looks like the trial conditions have changed? Is that right? Wasn’t it previously the first 3 months for $1/month or something like that?
Anyway, I’m going to check out dropshipping services in the U.S. for items shipped in the U.S.
Hi, @douglerner ! Shopify is constantly testing our plans, trial lengths and offerings to ensure we’re able to provide the right value for our merchants and business. At the moment the trial being offered is 3 days for free and your first month for $1 on the Starter, Basic, Retail, Shopify, or Advanced plan.
If you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to let us know! This guide can also help you find a dropshipping supplier: https://shopify.link/rqvG.
Hi. I am excited about setting up a Shopify shop and have some concrete ideas finally about some on-demand printed items to sell that I think might be popular. I also notice that Printful is actually located in Japan! How does the connection with Shopify and Printful work? Does a customer order from my Shopify store and then payment goes to Printful who delivers? Does the delivery look like it comes from Printful or from my store? How are returns handled if necessary?
Great job on getting started! When a customer orders a print-on-demand item from your Shopify store connected to Printful, the payment goes to you. Printful fulfills the order, ships it to the customer in packaging branded with your store’s name, and handles returns if necessary. This setup streamlines the process, allowing you to sell custom products without inventory management. You can learn more via their Help Center here.
Hi again. I also asked this in another discussion, but I’m not getting an answer there. I haven’t signed up for my first shop yet, but I’m interesting in doing so. But I can’t see the pricing in US dollars anymore. Usually I see them in Japanese yen (maybe because I live in Japan) and sometimes, for some reason in Canadian dollars. But I will be using my US credit card for payments, and would like to see the store pricing in dollars. How can I force the site to show me the current costs (and trial offers) in US dollars?
Yes, you should be able to do this still on the pricing page. If you scroll to the bottom you should see an option to change your region and this will then display our plan prices for that region:
Hi there, @douglerner . Thanks for following up with us!
I did some digging into this situation, and it looks like you’re being presented ‘local currency’ information as opposed to USD pricing information due to a geo-location feature of our pricing pages, and this is expected behaviour depending on the region that users are accessing these pages from. If you’re like to see what this pricing looks like in USD, you can use a currency converter available via third party, or use a VPN (virtual private network) to access the page as if you were viewing from the United States so the prices appear as USD for you.
Thanks for checking. That has changed, since it didn’t use to do that.
Since I am interested in opening a shop and paying using my U.S. credit card and U.S. address does that mean I would need to connect via VPN every time I want to access my shop now? I can’t just set the currency in a setting somewhere?
The admin interface and your store’s frontend are accessible globally. You don’t need to use a VPN to access your store if you’re based outside the U.S. but want to use a U.S. credit card and address. Shopify allows you to set the currency for your store independently of your physical location.
Thanks for your reply. I did realize that point. But I was wondering if I could similarly set my own Shopify fees (my store subscription costs) so they appear in dollars instead of yen?
In countries and regions where local currency billing is supported (including Japan), Shopify issues bills in a local currency instead of in USD. When your bills are issued in your local currency, it can reduce the amount that you pay in currency exchange fees. In addition, you can predict some recurring expenses, such as your Shopify subscription, more easily because they’re priced at a set cost in your local currency. You can learn more here: https://shopify.link/r1wB.
I also have US credit cards. I might use my Shopify shop to sell in the US as well. It would be nice to know the prices and get billed on my US credit card in dollars. Can I at least see the costs? Thank you.
While you will still be billed in your local currency, you can check out our plans and pricing page here. You can scroll to the bottom of the page to change the country you’re viewing from to see pricing in USD. I will however, submit this feedback to our developers!
As mentioned above, I did change my country to US, but that didn’t affect the currency displayed. It used to in the past. I believe you have a bug there regarding that, and it would be nice to fix. It’s really the only thing holding me up from starting my trial! Thanks.
Thanks for following up with us, @douglerner ! My name is Imogen. It’s nice to speak with you again!
If you’re curious to see the pricing shown on the Pricing Page in USD from Japan, you will have to use a VPN to trick the pricing page into thinking you’re not accessing it from a region that uses our Geolocation features on this page to present local prices. I previously advised on this, but wanted to reiterate it for you in case you missed it.
As for your billing currency, you do have the ability to control the currency in which you are billed via your Shopify Admin if you’re operating in Japan. We have a help document here that outlines the steps you would need to take in order to change your billing currency. Japan is a supported region for local currency billing and since it’s a supported region you’re able to adjust your billing currency to a different desired currency, like USD if you so choose by following the steps outlined in the help document I’ve shared with you.
If you have difficulties changing your billing currency once you start your trial, you can reach out to our Support Team via our Help Center so we can get you authenticated, access your store and store information, and assist with making the change.
Thanks for your reply, Imogen. I had not noticed the VPN suggestion. That did work. It didn’t used to be required. Previously, just setting the region on the page worked.
I notice that the monthly and yearly subscription rates in Japanese yen are much lower than the USD rates. Probably because of the falling yen. For example, it’s $29 per month, but just ¥3,650 per month, which is $22.80 per month. I hope when I check later today that hasn’t changed.
On the other hand, the card processing rates for USD subscriptions is 2.9% + 30 cents, while for JPY subscriptions they are 3.55% (with no per sale extra). So I need to take that into account as well.
Thank you.