A merchant considering a plan upgrade to reduce card fees discovered that newer Shopify plans impose a 3-market limit, requiring deactivation of existing markets beyond this threshold.
Key Questions Raised:
Why the new market restriction exists (seen as a service downgrade)
Whether staying on the legacy plan preserves current market configurations
How the limit affects shipping zones versus markets
Community Responses:
The 3-market limit appears designed to push merchants toward higher-tier plans (Advanced), increasing Shopify’s revenue while simplifying smaller operations
Legacy plans remain grandfathered: Merchants keeping their current plan retain existing market configurations without forced changes
Shipping zones are separate: The 9 shipping zones can be maintained, but customers from deactivated markets may lose purchasing ability despite zone coverage
Workaround Identified:
Shopify Support confirmed that the Advanced plan allows 3 main markets with up to 15 submarkets each. Only main markets count toward the quota, enabling merchants to consolidate 20+ markets into this structure while preserving functionality. This requires strategic grouping based on pricing strategies or customer segments.
The discussion remains open, with one participant requesting official Shopify confirmation of the submarket workaround.
Summarized with AI on October 27.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
We are considering upgrading our Shopify plan to access lower card fees.
However, when we try to do this, we are told there is a 3 market limit with the new plan and we must deactivate a number of our existing markets.
Q1: Why has this new limit been imposed on new Shopify plans? This appears to be a serious downgrade in service from Shopify.
Q2: If we remain on our existing plan will anything change or can we continue with our existing markets?
Q3: At the moment we have 9 shipping zones configured. Are shipping zones also restricted to 3 or an we retain our 9 shipping zones even with just 3 markets?
Shopify has restructured its plans in recent years, and these changes are part of the tiered structure they offer. The introduction of a 3-market limit may be a move to streamline services, prioritize specific customers, and encourage businesses to upgrade to higher-tier plans for more flexibility
2.If you stay on your current plan: You should be able to continue with the existing configuration of your markets and shipping zones as they are, without any changes.
3.Shipping Zones vs. Markets: The 3-market limit applies to markets (which are typically associated with geographical regions and localized stores
Q1: The introduction of three markets on the new Basic, Shopify and Grow plans by Shopify, increasing merchants’ compulsion to buy the advanced plan which offers more markets and this will most probably lead to revenue increase and easier customization of little stores but a step down for those trading internationally.
Q2: If you stick with what you have, you will be able to have nine markets since plans that have been left as they are do not count towards this three market plan limitation, although there could be changes made moving forward.
Q3: With the three market limit, you still get to have nine shipping zones; however clients from deactivated marketplaces may not be able to make purchases even when you have included them within the specified shipping zones areas.
@MagCAD Same here, in our case it’s the multi currency payout functionality from the advanced plan.
From a recent chat with the Shopify Support, I received the following information:
06:42 Mikhal Montano (Support Advisor): Here’s how the workflow will look:
06:43 Mikhal Montano (Support Advisor): Current Setup: You have 20 individual markets on your legacy plan.
New Plan Limitations: The Advanced plan includes only 3 main markets, but you can create submarkets under these main markets.
Proposed Setup: You can consolidate your existing 20 markets into 3 main markets, each with up to 15 submarkets. This means you will need to group your markets strategically based on similar pricing strategies or customer segments.
Market Creation: Each main market can have its own unique settings, including pricing, currency, and themes, while submarkets can inherit these settings from their parent market
06:43 Mikhal Montano (Support Advisor): During the transition, ensure that you review your existing market configurations and decide how to best group them into the new structure. This may involve some planning to ensure that you maintain the customer experience you desire while adhering to the new plan’s limitations
So if I understand correctly. only main markets count towards the quote of the plan while submarkets are not. Meaning that once everyone has access to the new markets experience, consolidating and then upgrading is the way to go.
Would appreciate a double confirmation from someone @Shopify_77