How Shopify fees work in Germany
Selling on Shopify in Germany means three separate costs eat into every order, and it is easy to under-count them. This calculator brings them together so you see real profit per unit, not just the headline margin on your product.
- Subscription: a fixed monthly plan fee, spread across the orders you actually take.
- Payment processing: a percentage of each sale plus a small fixed fee, charged by Shopify Payments or your gateway.
- Third-party transaction fee: an extra Shopify charge that only applies if you don’t use Shopify Payments.
On top of those sit your product cost, shipping and advertising; the calculator subtracts all of them to give net profit, margin, break-even price and the maximum you can spend on ads per order before you lose money.
Shopify plan pricing in Germany (EUR)
Shopify prices Basic, Grow and Advanced identically in euros across the euro area, so Germany matches France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium: annual billing brings the effective monthly cost down by roughly a quarter. Plus is quoted individually from €2,100/month.
Rates last verified 2026-08-05. Shopify occasionally adjusts pricing, so always confirm against the official Germany pricing page before committing.
German payment methods
Shopify Payments in Germany supports the local methods German shoppers expect. Each is selectable in the calculator’s advanced options:
- Standard card (Visa / Mastercard)
- American Express: Amex is roughly 1.1 points above the standard card rate on every plan.
- International card: Cards issued outside the EU are charged at the same rate as American Express on each plan.
Shopify's continental European card rate applies to Germany: 2.1% + 0.30 € on Basic, 1.8% on Grow and 1.6% on Advanced for a standard online card, with Amex and non-EU cards roughly 1.1 points higher on each plan. These figures come from Shopify's own rate tables and independent German cost breakdowns agree with them, but Shopify's German pricing page only shows local figures to visitors browsing from Germany, so treat the exact decimals as well-corroborated rather than live-confirmed and check Settings > Payments in your own admin before relying on them. Giropay and SOFORT work through Shopify Payments but have no reliably published per-plan rate, so they are not modelled here.
Third-party gateway fees
If you use an external payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a transaction fee on top of whatever your gateway charges: 2% on Basic, falling to 0.2% on Plus. Switch the calculator’s payment method to “Third-party provider” to enter your gateway’s own rate and see the combined cost.
For most German merchants, using Shopify Payments removes this fee entirely and is the cheaper route unless a specific gateway gives you a materially better processing rate.
USt considerations
German standard VAT (Umsatzsteuer) is 19%, with a 7% reduced rate for certain goods. The Kleinunternehmerregelung small-business exemption applies while prior-year revenue stays under €25,000 and current-year revenue under €100,000; crossing the €100,000 line triggers VAT liability immediately on the transaction that tips you over. Storefront prices are normally shown VAT-inclusive, so divide the gross price by 1.19 for the net figure.
This tool works in net (USt-exclusive) terms. If your listed prices include USt at 19%, convert to net before entering them so your margin reflects money you actually keep.
How this calculator works
Every figure is traceable to a formula:
- Processing fee = Price × rate% + fixed fee
- Plan allocation = Monthly plan fee ÷ Monthly order volume
- Break-even price = (fixed costs + fixed fee) ÷ (1 − variable fee rate)
- Max ad spend = profit per order before advertising is deducted
USt is excluded throughout. The price-sensitivity table re-runs the full model at ±10/20/30% of your price so you can see how margin moves before you discount or raise prices.
Frequently asked questions
Basic runs €24/month billed annually or €32/month billed monthly, the same euro pricing Shopify uses across the euro area. It carries the highest card rate (2.1% + 0.30 €) and the full 2% external provider fee. Grow (1.8%) and Advanced (1.6%) earn their higher subscriptions back through lower processing once volume builds.
About 1.1 percentage points above the standard rate on each plan: roughly 3.2% on Basic, 2.9% on Grow and 2.7% on Advanced, plus 0.30 € per transaction. Shopify's German pricing page only shows exact local figures to visitors in Germany, so confirm the rate for your own account under Settings > Payments in the Shopify admin.
Standard Umsatzsteuer is 19%. Under the Kleinunternehmerregelung (prior-year revenue below €25,000 and current-year below €100,000) you do not charge VAT at all. Otherwise storefront prices are usually VAT-inclusive, so divide by 1.19 for your net revenue.
If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify still charges 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced or 0.2% on Plus on top of that provider's own fees. This disappears once you switch to Shopify Payments.
By roughly a quarter: Basic goes from €32 to €24/month, Grow from €92 to €69, and Advanced from €384 to €289. Spread either fee across your real monthly order volume in the advanced options before comparing plans.
Sources
- Shopify Germany pricing
- UStG §19 (Kleinunternehmerregelung)
