Using third party checkout ? Do I need to pay transaction fees ?

Retired Boards Appdev Customers Discounts And Orders
1

Hi

i am planning to use a third party checkout (like gokwik, shopflo) on my shopify store. A lot of shopify sites (like justherbs.in etc.) are seemingly using them to bypass shopify transaction costs without any issues

my questions are

  1. Do I need special permission to use these checkout apps as they are not on shopify app store

  2. am I violating any terms of service by using these apps

  3. do I need to pay anything to shopify to use them as It appears I won’t be paying any per order transaction charges to shopify

2

Hi - Vlt_hello, bypassing the native Shopify Checkout is not permitted in the Terms of Service.

3

Thanks Liam. That is what I understood from section 4.6.

My question really is how are other shopify sites doing this.

Is there a way to get special permissions from shopify to make this possible

Almost all big shopify stores in India are now using a custom checkout and they are still online so I am assuming there has to be a way

I can list many such sites

justherbs.in

dermatouch.in

etc.

4

may be they developed their own payment app.

https://community.shopify.com/post/2383459

5

Shopify’s Terms of Service may restrict how merchants use its checkout or payment systems, but in many jurisdictions (including the U.S., EU, and Australia), it’s legally problematic for a platform to force merchants to use only their proprietary payment system and penalize them for using alternatives. This can be considered an anticompetitive practice.

6

From an EU competition law perspective

  • Legal to use
  • Legal to redirect third party checkout
  • Legal to process payments outside Shopify Payments
  • Legal to accept multi currency and local methods via Stripe

EU law protects merchant choice.

7

As an EU-based merchant, I value the freedom to choose the payment setup that works best for my business. While Shopify promotes its own Payments and Checkout system, EU regulations like PSD2 and the Interchange Fee Regulation protect our right to use third-party processors and checkout systems. Using direct Stripe with third party checkout integration helps me handle multi-currency payments, reduce extra fees, and support local methods like SEPA, without being locked into a single platform’s ecosystem. Competition law exists so merchants can choose what’s best for their business and customers.

8

We have been using a third-party checkout solution for a long time. This allows us to avoid extra commission fees and fully use all the capabilities of our Stripe account.

We firmly believe this does not violate any rules, as restricting fair competition or forcing merchants into a single payment flow is neither reasonable nor legally defensible.