Contribution Margin Inputs for Shopify Stores Using Shop Pay
A platform-specific guide to the exact processing rate Shopify operators should plug into their contribution margin — Shop Pay, Shopify Payments, third-party gateways, and Shopify Plus tiers.
Quick answer
For most Shopify stores on Shopify Payments (which is what powers Shop Pay), enter 1.5–2.4% + €0.25 per order as your blended processing fee. Shop Pay itself doesn't carry a separate rate — it inherits the Shopify Payments rate on your plan. If you use a third-party gateway (Stripe, Adyen, PayPal), add Shopify's 0.5–2% third-party transaction fee on top of the gateway's own rate.
Contribution Margin Inputs for Shopify Stores Using Shop Pay
The platform-specific processing fees, transaction fees, and chargeback costs a Shopify operator should subtract per order when calculating contribution margin.
Contribution margin on Shopify is order revenue minus the variable costs that scale with each sale — COGS, pick-pack, shipping, returns, and payment processing. The processing line is where most operators get the math wrong, because Shopify bundles three different fees: the card-network rate on Shopify Payments, the third-party transaction fee if you use an external gateway, and chargeback fees on disputes. Shop Pay is a checkout accelerator, not a separate processor — it runs on whichever payment account is active. Getting the right percentage and the right fixed-fee tail into your calculator changes per-order margin by 80–250 basis points, which is the difference between scaling a paid channel and bleeding cash on it.
This page is the Shopify-specific companion to the contribution margin calculator. It tells you exactly which number to type into the "payment processing %" field if your checkout is on Shop Pay, Shopify Payments, or a third-party gateway.
The wrong rate isn't a rounding error. A €60 AOV apparel store on Shopify Basic that enters 2.9% + €0.25 — the US Shopify Payments rate — instead of the EU rate of 1.8% + €0.25 overstates fees by €0.66 per order, or roughly 1.1% of margin on every sale.
Shop Pay vs Shopify Payments: what to enter
Shop Pay is Shopify's one-click checkout. It stores the customer's card and address and pushes them through faster, but it does not have its own processing rate. Every Shop Pay transaction is processed by Shopify Payments under the hood, at the rate listed on your Shopify plan.
So if your calculator has one "processing fee" input, use your Shopify Payments rate. On Shopify Basic in the Eurozone that's around 1.8% + €0.25 for European cards, rising to 2.4–2.9% + €0.25 for international cards and Amex. Most operators blend these and use 2.0–2.4% as a single plug value.
Shop Pay Installments is different
If you offer Shop Pay Installments (BNPL via Affirm), those orders carry a separate merchant fee in the 5–6% range. If installment orders are more than ~3% of your revenue, model them as a second processing-fee line rather than blending them into the headline rate — otherwise they distort margin on full-price orders.
Third-party gateways: the hidden Shopify surcharge
If you process through Stripe, Adyen, Mollie, PayPal, or any non-Shopify gateway, Shopify charges an additional transaction fee on top of the gateway's own rate. This fee exists to nudge merchants onto Shopify Payments and it varies by plan: 2.0% on Basic, 1.0% on Shopify, 0.5% on Advanced, and 0.15% on Shopify Plus.
Your calculator input is the sum of both fees. A Shopify store on the mid-tier plan processing through Stripe at 1.4% + €0.25 actually pays 2.4% + €0.25 — Stripe's rate plus Shopify's 1.0% surcharge. Forgetting the surcharge is the most common margin error on stores that migrated from another platform and kept their old gateway.
PayPal Express and similar wallet integrations are treated as third-party in Shopify's eyes and trigger the same surcharge. Apple Pay and Google Pay processed via Shopify Payments do not — they ride on the native rate.
Plan-by-plan processing rates
Shopify processing rates by plan (Eurozone, domestic cards) — use as your contribution-margin plug value
| Plan | Shopify Payments rate | 3rd-party gateway surcharge | Fixed fee per order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic | 1.8% | 2.0% | €0.25 |
| Shopify (mid) | 1.7% | 1.0% | €0.25 |
| Shopify Advanced | 1.6% | 0.5% | €0.25 |
| Shopify Plus | 1.4–1.5% | 0.15% | €0.25 |
| Shop Pay Installments | 5.0–6.0% | n/a (Shopify-owned) | €0.30 |
| International / Amex add-on | +1.0–1.5% | — | — |
Shopify Plus rates are negotiable above ~€800k monthly GMV — the table shows the published floor, but Plus merchants regularly land at 1.3% + €0.20 or lower with a signed interchange-plus deal. If you're on Plus, pull your actual blended rate from the last 90 days of payouts rather than using the rate-card number.
Chargebacks, refunds, and currency conversion
Shopify Payments charges €15 per chargeback (refunded if you win the dispute). For most apparel and beauty stores, chargebacks run 0.1–0.4% of orders, so the contribution to per-order cost is €0.02–€0.06 — small enough to fold into your fixed-fee plug rather than break out separately.
Refunds return the percentage fee but not the €0.25 fixed fee on Shopify Payments. If your return rate is above 15% (typical for apparel), model this by adding €0.04–€0.05 per gross order to your processing line. Cross-border sales on Shopify Markets carry a 1.5% currency conversion fee that should be added to your processing rate for any store where international is more than 10% of revenue.
Mapping it into the contribution margin calculator
Take a Shopify-plan apparel store on the mid-tier plan, AOV €72, 90% Shopify Payments / 10% PayPal, 8% international, 18% return rate. The blended processing rate works out to roughly 2.1% + €0.30 per gross order — that's the number to enter, not the 1.7% on the rate card.
If your calculator only accepts a single percentage, convert the fixed fee: €0.30 ÷ €72 AOV ≈ 0.4%, so enter 2.5% total. Re-check this number whenever AOV shifts by more than 15%, because the fixed-fee component swings the effective rate hardest on low-AOV orders.
Frequently asked questions
No. Shop Pay is a checkout accelerator that runs on top of Shopify Payments. The rate that applies is the Shopify Payments rate for your plan and the customer's card type — Shop Pay itself adds nothing.
Blend them weighted by order share. If 85% of orders go through Shopify Payments at 1.8% and 15% through PayPal at 3.4% plus Shopify's 1.0% third-party surcharge, your blended input is roughly 2.2% + €0.30.
Reduced, not waived. Shopify Plus drops the third-party gateway surcharge to 0.15%, which is small enough that many Plus merchants ignore it in margin math. Below Plus it's material and must be included.
In the Shopify admin, go to Settings → Payments → View payouts. Sum total fees across the last 90 days and divide by total gross sales. That number is your true blended processing rate and should overrule any rate-card figure.
No, as long as they're processed through Shopify Payments — which is the default. They ride on the standard Shopify Payments rate with no surcharge. Apple Pay routed through a third-party gateway would inherit that gateway's pricing plus Shopify's surcharge.
Yes, but as a small adjustment. The €15 per-chargeback fee at a 0.2% dispute rate adds about €0.03 per order. Fold it into your fixed-fee plug rather than maintaining a separate line — unless your dispute rate is above 0.5%.
Shop Pay Installments via Affirm charges merchants 5–6% per transaction. If installment orders are more than 3% of revenue, model them as a separate processing-fee line. Otherwise they distort headline margin and obscure performance on full-price orders.
Per order, regardless of cart size. This means low-AOV orders are disproportionately expensive to process — a €15 single-item order pays an effective rate of about 3.5% once the fixed fee is included, versus 2.1% on a €72 order.
Shopify charges a 1.5% currency conversion fee on cross-border sales settled in your home currency. If international orders are more than 10% of your volume, add the international share × 1.5% to your processing-rate input.
Use the "payment processing %" and "fixed fee per order" fields in the contribution margin calculator. Enter your blended percentage (Shopify Payments rate + third-party surcharge + international share × 1.5%) and the fixed fee adjusted for return rate (€0.25 ÷ (1 − return rate)).
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