Shopify Payments Canada fee calculator

What a Shopify sale costs in Canada

Shopify charges in two separate ways. The plan is a fixed monthly subscription you pay whether you sell anything or not. Shopify Payments, the built-in card processor, takes a percentage plus a fixed amount from each card payment. The calculator above spreads the plan over your monthly order count and adds the card fee for one order, so you can see the real cost of a single sale. All rates are in Canadian dollars and were read from Shopify's Canadian pricing page on 2026-10-17. Shopify Plus is not covered here.

Plan prices and card rates

Yearly billing is paid up front for the year; the per-month figure is that charge divided by twelve. In-person card payments through Shopify POS have no fixed fee, and in-person Interac debit is a flat $0.15 per transaction regardless of the amount, which makes debit the cheapest way to take payment at a pickup counter or a market table.

Why the card fee is charged on the tax you collect

A card processor charges on the full amount it takes from the card. If you are registered for GST/HST and charge an Ontario buyer 13% HST, that HST is part of the charge, so Shopify Payments takes its percentage on it even though the tax goes to the CRA, not to you. For a buyer in British Columbia the base includes GST of 5% plus PST of 7% if you are registered for BC PST; for Quebec, GST plus QST of 9.97% if you are registered for QST. The cost is small per order but adds up: at 2.8%, $10,000 a month of Ontario sales before tax carries $1,300 of HST, and the card fee on that tax alone is $36.40 a month.

Worked example: a $29.99 item with $12 shipping to Ontario, Basic plan

1. Item plus shipping: $29.99 + $12.00 = $41.99.
2. HST at 13% adds $5.46, so the card is charged $47.45.
3. Card fee: 2.8% of $47.45 plus $0.30 = $1.63. Without the tax in the base it would be $1.48.
4. Plan share: $37.00 a month on yearly billing, spread over 40 orders, is $0.93 per order (rounded).
5. Shopify cost for the order: about $2.55. With $11.00 postage and a $9.00 item cost, you keep $19.44.

The same buyer paying with an Amex or a card issued outside Canada is charged 3.5% plus $0.30, which is $1.96 on this order. You do not choose which card the buyer uses, so if a large share of your customers pay with Amex or foreign cards, price with the higher rate.

When Grow beats Basic

Grow lowers the online card rate from 2.8% to 2.6%, a gap of 0.2 percentage points. The plan costs $99.00 against $37.00 per month on yearly billing, a difference of $62.00. Divide the plan difference by the rate gap: Grow only pays for itself on card fees once you process about $31,000 a month online (tax and shipping included). On monthly billing the difference is $132.00 minus $49.00, $83.00, and the break-even rises to about $41,500 a month.

The Amex and international gap (3.5% against 3.4%) and the in-person gap (2.6% against 2.5%) are smaller still, so they push the break-even higher, not lower. The same method puts Advanced over Grow at about $145,000 a month online on yearly billing ($290.00 plan difference over a 0.2 point gap). For most small resellers the reason to move up a plan is a feature, such as more staff accounts or better reports, not the card rate. Compare the rate saving against what that feature is worth to you.

Using a payment provider other than Shopify Payments

If a payment is taken by another provider -- for example PayPal as your only checkout, or a third-party card processor -- you pay that provider's own rate, and Shopify adds its own transaction fee on top: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. On the $47.45 example, the Basic transaction fee is $0.95 before the provider has charged anything. Here the plan gap is a full percentage point, so on yearly billing Grow pays for itself at about $6,200 a month taken through another provider ($62.00 divided by that one point). Enter your provider's rate and fixed fee in the calculator to see both lines.

Orders that were paid somewhere else and only recorded in Shopify are different. A cross-lister who imports eBay orders into Shopify as already paid, so that Shopify stays the one inventory record for every channel, pays no Shopify Payments fee on those orders because no card is charged in Shopify; eBay's fees already covered the payment. Those orders still count toward the order total you use to spread the plan fee.

Selling in other currencies

If you let buyers pay in their own currency, Shopify Payments charges a currency conversion fee of 2% on Canadian stores when it converts the payment to Canadian dollars. It stacks with the card rate. A US buyer paying for the same $29.99 item with $12 shipping, with no Canadian tax charged on the export, costs you 3.5% plus $0.30 on a US card ($1.77) plus the conversion fee ($0.84): $2.61 on a $41.99 order on Basic. Pricing US buyers in Canadian dollars avoids the conversion fee but shows them a price in a currency they do not use, which costs some sales. Tick "Buyer pays in another currency" in the calculator to include it.

Trial terms

Shopify's Canadian offer is 3 days free, then $1.00 a month for 3 months. The introductory price covers the plan fee only; card processing on any orders you take is charged at your plan's normal rates from the first sale. After the introductory months the plan bills at the full price in the table, so put that price, not the introductory one, into your per-order cost.

GST/HST registration and the tax checkbox

You do not have to register for GST/HST while you are a small supplier: your taxable sales worldwide, across all channels and not only Shopify, stay at or below $30,000 in any four consecutive calendar quarters. Unregistered, you do not charge GST/HST, so untick "I collect GST/HST" in the calculator and the card fee is charged on item plus shipping only. Once you pass the threshold you must register and start charging tax at the rate of the buyer's province. Quebec's QST is registered separately with Revenu Quebec, and BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba each have their own provincial sales tax rules for sellers outside the province. Being registered also lets you claim back any GST/HST charged on Shopify's own invoices as input tax credits.

Frequently asked questions

Does Shopify charge its card fee on the shipping and the tax?

Yes. Shopify Payments takes its percentage and fixed fee on the whole amount charged to the card, which includes the shipping you charge and any GST, HST, PST or QST you collect.

How much do I need to sell before Grow is cheaper than Basic?

On card fees alone, about $31,000 a month of online card payments on yearly billing, or about $41,500 on monthly billing. Below that, Basic is cheaper unless you need a Grow feature.

What does it cost to use PayPal instead of Shopify Payments?

PayPal's own fee plus Shopify's transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow or 0.6% on Advanced, on every payment it takes.

Are Amex cards more expensive to accept?

Yes. Online Amex and cards issued outside Canada pay 3.5% on Basic, 3.4% on Grow and 3.3% on Advanced, plus the same $0.30 fixed fee.

I am not registered for GST/HST. What should I enter?

Untick the tax checkbox. While your taxable sales stay at or below $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters you do not charge GST/HST, so the card fee applies to the item price and shipping only.

Sources: Shopify Canada pricing, Shopify Help Center: local currencies. Estimates only.