How Shopify fees work in United Kingdom
Selling on Shopify in United Kingdom 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 United Kingdom (GBP)
Shopify bills UK merchants in pounds. Paying annually instead of monthly cuts the effective monthly fee by roughly a quarter across Basic, Grow and Advanced; Plus is quoted individually and starts from £1,800/month.
Rates last verified 2026-08-05. Shopify occasionally adjusts pricing, so always confirm against the official United Kingdom pricing page before committing.
British payment methods
Shopify Payments in United Kingdom supports the local methods British shoppers expect. Each is selectable in the calculator’s advanced options:
- Standard card (Visa / Mastercard)
- American Express: Amex costs roughly 1.1 percentage points above the standard rate on every plan.
- International card: Cards issued outside the UK are charged at the same rate as American Express on each plan.
Shopify Payments in the UK charges 2% plus 25p on Basic for a standard Visa or Mastercard transaction, dropping to 1.7% on Grow and 1.5% on Advanced. Amex and non-UK cards cost about 1.1 points more on every plan. Stores that route payments through a provider other than Shopify Payments still pay Shopify's own transaction fee of 2%, 1%, 0.6% or 0.2% depending on plan, on top of whatever that provider charges.
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 British merchants, using Shopify Payments removes this fee entirely and is the cheaper route unless a specific gateway gives you a materially better processing rate.
VAT considerations
UK VAT is 20% at the standard rate. You must register once your rolling 12-month taxable turnover passes £90,000 (deregistration sits at £88,000). Storefront prices for UK consumers are usually shown VAT-inclusive, so divide the gross price by 1.2 to get the net revenue figure.
This tool works in net (VAT-exclusive) terms. If your listed prices include VAT at 20%, 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
VAT 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 is £19/month if you pay annually, or £25/month billed monthly. It carries the highest card rate (2% + 25p) and the highest external provider fee (2%), so it suits stores that have not outgrown the basics yet. Once volume builds, Grow at 1.7% and Advanced at 1.5% start paying for their higher subscriptions.
About 1.1 percentage points more than a standard UK card on every plan: Amex and non-UK cards run 3.1% on Basic, 2.7% on Grow and 2.5% on Advanced, always plus 25p. If a lot of your customers are overseas, that gap adds up quickly.
No, everything here is net. Storefront prices shown to UK shoppers normally include 20% VAT, so divide the gross sale price by 1.2 before entering it. Registration becomes mandatory once your rolling 12-month turnover passes £90,000.
If you accept payments through a provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own fee on top: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. Switching to Shopify Payments removes this fee entirely.
If you are committed for the year: Basic drops from £25 to £19/month, Grow from £65 to £49, and Advanced from £344 to £259, saving roughly a quarter. Use the advanced options to spread either plan fee across your real monthly order count to see the true effect on margins.
Sources
- Shopify UK pricing
- GOV.UK, VAT registration thresholds
