On Shopify’s Basic plan, a $20 sale paid online with a standard Australian card costs you 64 cents in card fees: 1.7% of $20 is 34 cents, plus a fixed 30 cents per transaction. That is 3.2% of the sale. Add your share of the monthly plan, any apps, and an extra fee if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, and the real cut is higher.
The figures below come from Shopify’s Australian pricing page as checked in November 2026. Shopify changes its rates from time to time, so confirm them on the live page and your own bill before you set prices. Build and setup costs are a separate question; this article is only about what each sale costs you.
The $20 sale, line by line
With Shopify Payments on the Basic plan, the fee depends on how the customer pays:
| How the customer pays | Basic plan rate | Fee on a $20 sale | Share of the sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Australian card, online | 1.7% + 30c | $0.64 | 3.2% |
| American Express, online | 2.9% + 30c | $0.88 | 4.4% |
| International card, online | 3.5% + 30c | $1.00 | 5.0% |
| Card in person (point of sale) | 1.85% | $0.37 | 1.85% |
So the same $20 sale can cost you anywhere from 37 cents to a dollar, depending on the card and the channel.
Why small sales feel the fee most
The fixed 30 cents is charged on every online card transaction, whatever the order value. On a large order it barely registers. On a small one it does most of the damage. Using the Basic standard card rate:
- A $5 sale costs about 39 cents, or 7.7%.
- A $20 sale costs 64 cents, or 3.2%.
- A $100 sale costs $2.00, or 2.0%.
- A $250 sale costs $4.55, or about 1.8%.
If your store sells lots of low-priced items, the fixed fee matters more to your margin than the percentage does.
How your plan changes the cut
Higher Shopify plans lower the card rate. For a $20 sale on a standard Australian card, online:
- Basic (1.7% + 30c): 64 cents.
- Grow (1.55% + 30c): 61 cents.
- Advanced (1.35% + 30c): 57 cents.
- Plus (1.15% + 30c): 53 cents.
The savings are small per sale, and the plans cost more each month. On monthly billing, Grow costs $93 a month more than Basic ($149 against $56) and saves 0.15% on standard card sales. You would need about $62,000 a month in those sales before the lower rate alone paid for the upgrade. On annual billing the gap is $72 a month ($114 against $42), so the break-even drops to about $48,000 a month. Upgrade for the features you need, not for the fee saving.
If you do not use Shopify Payments
Shopify adds a third-party transaction fee when an order is paid through another payment provider. On the current Australian plans that fee is 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. It sits on top of whatever your chosen provider charges.
On a $20 sale using Basic, that is an extra 40 cents. As an illustration, if your provider charged the same 1.7% + 30c as Shopify Payments, the total would be $1.04, or 5.2% of the sale. That is why most small Shopify stores use Shopify Payments unless there is a strong reason not to.
Do not forget the subscription
The monthly plan is also part of the cost of each sale. Spread the Basic plan’s $56 monthly price across your orders:
- At 100 orders a month, the plan adds 56 cents per order. Your $20 sale now costs about $1.20 in total, or 6%.
- At 1,000 orders a month, the plan adds under 6 cents per order, and the total falls to about 70 cents, or 3.5%.
Any paid apps work the same way. For example, an app costing $30 a month adds 30 cents to every order in a 100-order month.
Ways to keep more of each sale
- Lift the average order value with bundles, multi-buy offers or a free shipping threshold, so the fixed 30 cents is spread across more revenue.
- Use Shopify Payments to avoid the third-party transaction fee.
- Choose annual billing if you are confident you will stay on the platform.
- Audit your apps every quarter and cancel the ones that do not earn their keep.
- Price your products with the full per-order cost in mind, not just the card rate.
If you are setting up a store and want the numbers modelled against your real products and order volumes, our ecommerce website design team does that before anything is built.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 30 cent fee charged per item or per order?
Per transaction. A $20 order with three items attracts one 30 cent fee, not three, which is another reason bigger baskets are more efficient.
Do I pay Shopify fees on PayPal orders?
Generally yes. Orders paid through a provider other than Shopify Payments usually attract Shopify’s third-party transaction fee on top of that provider’s own charges. Check how each payment method in your checkout is treated in your Shopify settings.
Where can I see the fees I have paid?
Your Shopify admin shows the fees taken from each Shopify Payments payout, and your Shopify bill lists the subscription, app charges and any third-party transaction fees. Check both, and look at how GST is shown, when you reconcile your margins.
Plan your store’s numbers properly
Fees are one line in the profit of every order. Talk to our ecommerce website design team about building a store priced for real margins, or book a discovery call and bring your product list.
