One of the single biggest factors in deciding whether or not to upgrade your ecommerce solution is the cost.

Here at Fuel Made, this question comes up often and there is a lot of confusion surrounding the true cost of Shopify Plus. In this article we’ll breakdown the costs associated with Shopify’s enterprise solution so you know what to expect to pay for the platform.

This article won’t cover the value of Shopify Plus and if it’s worth the extra money. For that, you can check out this article which answers the question: when should I make the leap to Plus?

Instead, we’ll stick purely to the cost. When you look at Plus’ pricing, you’ll need to factor in a few fees:

• Shopify Plus platform fee
• Credit Card processing fees
• App fees
• Maintenance fees

Note: All fees are in US dollars, and Shopify will always bill you in that currency.

Shopify Plus platform fee

Cost: minimum of $2,000 per month

Shopify Plus’ pricing model is based on usage (usage equates to monthly sales volume in Shopify). This is based on the principle that the more sales you make, the more support and server resources you’ll need.

The minimum fee you can expect to pay for using Shopify Plus as your platform is $2,000 per month, and the majority of merchants fall in this category. Once you make $800,000 or more per month, the fee turns into a revenue-based model and you’ll pay 0.25 % of your monthly revenue. 

Shopify Plus costs the greater of $2,000 or 0.25% of sales volume per month.

To give you a better idea, a merchant who makes $1 million in sales per month will pay $2,500, whereas you would need $16 million in sales per month to get hit with the maximum price.

Credit card processing fees

Cost: Varies by country, but it includes an extra 0.15% fee if you aren’t using Shopify Payments.

In addition to their ecommerce platform, Shopify also offers payment processing through what they call “Shopify Payments” (which is backed by Stripe). If you use Shopify Payments you don’t need a merchant account or payment gateway, Shopify Payments takes care of that for you.

Now, let’s take a look at the card processing fees you’ll pay on a Shopify Plus plan:

With Shopify Payments, in the United States, you’ll pay 2.15% + $0.30 for each transaction on domestic Visa and MC, with an additional 1% on AMEX and international cards.

There are times you may be able to negotiate this rate down further with Shopify. Your ability to do so is based on a number of factors including your merchant history, and sales volume.

Without Shopify Payments, you’ll pay an additional 0.15% on top of whatever your current credit card processing fees are.

Some merchants choose to use a third-party payment gateway because they’ve got a negotiated rate with lower fees than what Shopify Payments can offer (even with the 0.15% charge). Shopify is integrated with more than 70 gateways around the world, and each gateway charges different credit card rates, so it’s worth shopping around.

There are also some countries where Shopify Payments is not yet available.

A note about Shopify Payments: There are some industries that are not supported under the Shopify Pay terms and conditions, such as e-cigarettes and other high-risk businesses. So if you’re in one of those industries, you’ll be looking at an external payment solution regardless.

App fees

Cost: Varies

Although it has a strong baseline functionality under its belt, your Shopify Plus store may require third-party apps for some more robust-features (think loyalty programs, subscription services, robust search solutions, etc.).

It’s hard to place a number on how much these apps will cost you - they can range anywhere from a few dollars to thousands of dollars per month. However, it’s worth pointing out that Plus stores often spend less overall on apps because custom solutions to challenges can be built right into their themes.

In any event, when you’re factoring in your overall monthly cost, it’s helpful to consider what you may be spending on apps.

Maintenance fees

Cost: Varies

Another cost to keep on your radar is routine maintenance. It’s worth noting that compared to other platforms (such as Magento) the maintenance fees will be quite minimal. This is simply because of Shopify’s nature - it’s a hosted platform, so you’ll never have to worry about server maintenance, kernel upgrades or security patches.  

Can you negotiate these fees with Shopify?

Simply put… no.

As we mentioned earlier, it might be possible to negotiate Shopify Pay credit card rates, but that is dependent on your financial history within the industry.

As for the Shopify platform fee, that number is consistent across all merchants on the platform and won’t budge.

Prior to 2017, you could negotiate this price a bit, but that’s no longer possible. This fixed pricing rolled out at the start of 2017. Existing merchants were ramped up to the new pricing, and new folks all start at the new pricing. So regardless of any negotiating, or who you talk to, you’ll be quoted and pay the same price.

We hope this breakdown of costs gives you a better idea of what you can expect to pay for Shopify Plus. Depending on the maturity of your company, the cost may seem hefty at first glance, but once you’re at a certain level with your business, paying $2,000+  per month for the extra features may be worth it.

Ready to talk about if Shopify Plus might be right for you? Let's talk.