How Much Does Shopify Charge Per Sale?

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Three Layers of Shopify Fees
3. Credit Card Processing: The Core Cost
4. Transaction Fees: Avoiding the "Third-Party Tax"
5. How Subscription Tiers Impact Your Per-Sale Cost
6. Hidden Costs: Apps, Domains, and Themes
7. Why Native Integration Matters for Your Profit Margins
8. Comparing Shopify Fees with Course Platforms
9. Tevello: The Zero-Transaction Fee Learning Powerhouse
10. Case Study: The Impact of Transaction Fees on Digital Growth
11. Digital vs. Physical: The Margin Difference
12. Action Checklist: Reducing Your Selling Fees
13. Strategic Advantages of Recurring Revenue
14. Maximizing Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
15. Conclusion
16. FAQs

Introduction

Did you know that the global e-learning market is projected to soar past $460 billion by 2026? This massive shift in the creator economy has led thousands of traditional physical goods retailers to ask a critical question: how can they capture a slice of this digital pie without their margins being devoured by platform fees? When you are running a business, every percentage point matters. Whether you are selling a $20 artisanal candle or a $500 comprehensive certification course, understanding the unit economics of your platform is the difference between a thriving brand and a struggling one.

The question of how much does shopify charge per sale is not just about a single number; it is about understanding a multi-layered ecosystem of subscription costs, payment processing fees, and transaction penalties. For many merchants, the complexity of these fees leads to "billing shock" at the end of the month. Our goal with this guide is to demark the boundaries of Shopify’s pricing architecture, providing you with a clear roadmap to optimize your expenses. We will explore the nuances of credit card processing, the strategic advantage of using native payment gateways, and how digital products can actually help you offset the costs of your physical inventory.

At Tevello, our mission is to turn any Shopify store into a digital learning powerhouse. We believe that your platform should work for you, not the other way around. By the end of this article, you will have a comprehensive understanding of Shopify's fee structure and how to leverage tools that keep your costs predictable while maximizing your revenue.

The Three Layers of Shopify Fees

To accurately calculate how much does shopify charge per sale, we must first break down the three distinct layers of cost associated with the platform. Many new merchants confuse these terms, but they are separate line items on your financial statements.

1. The Monthly Subscription Fee

This is the "rent" you pay to keep your store's doors open. It covers your hosting, security, and the core Shopify admin. Depending on your business stage, you might be on the Basic ($39/mo), Shopify ($105/mo), or Advanced ($399/mo) plan. While this is a fixed cost, it directly impacts the variable "per sale" fees you pay later.

2. Credit Card Processing Fees

Whenever a customer swipes a card or enters their details online, the banking networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) take a cut. This is standard across all e-commerce platforms. Shopify facilitates this through Shopify Payments, and the rate you pay is determined by your subscription plan. For instance, on the Basic plan, you typically pay 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

3. Third-Party Transaction Fees

This is the most "avoidable" fee in the Shopify ecosystem. If you choose not to use Shopify Payments and instead use a third-party gateway like PayPal or Stripe, Shopify charges an additional transaction fee. This ranges from 2% on the Basic plan down to 0.5% on the Advanced plan. This is on top of what the third-party gateway charges you.

Credit Card Processing: The Core Cost

The bulk of what you see when asking how much does shopify charge per sale comes from credit card processing. These fees are mandatory if you want to accept digital payments, and they represent the cost of moving money securely across the internet.

On the Basic Shopify plan, the online credit card rate is 2.9% + $0.30. This means if you sell a digital download for $100, the processing fee is $3.20 ($2.90 + $0.30). You receive $96.80 in your bank account. As you scale and move to the "Shopify" plan ($105/mo), that rate drops to 2.6% + $0.30. On the "Advanced" plan ($399/mo), it drops further to 2.4% + $0.30.

It is important to note that these rates apply to domestic cards. If you are selling globally, international credit card fees usually add an extra 1% to the transaction. For a merchant selling specialized gardening courses to a worldwide audience, this 1% can represent a significant portion of the marketing budget. This is why we advocate for all the key features for courses and communities to be housed within a system that minimizes unnecessary friction and extra costs.

Transaction Fees: Avoiding the "Third-Party Tax"

One of the most common mistakes merchants make is using a third-party payment gateway without realizing Shopify will penalize them for it. If you use Shopify Payments, your transaction fee is 0%. If you use any other gateway, you pay a "platform fee" that scales with your plan:

• Basic Plan: 2% extra per sale
• Shopify Plan: 1% extra per sale
• Advanced Plan: 0.5% extra per sale

If you are selling a high-volume product, these percentages are massive. Consider a store doing $50,000 a month in sales. On the Basic plan using an external gateway, you would pay $1,000 a month just in platform transaction fees—money that could have been used for ad spend or product development. By staying within the native Shopify ecosystem, you eliminate this layer of cost entirely.

This is a core philosophy we hold at Tevello. We believe merchants should own their customer data and brand experience, which is why we created a solution that utilizes Shopify's "Native Shopify Integration." This ensures a seamless checkout experience using the payment gateways you already trust, without adding extra "success fees" that some other course platforms might charge.

How Subscription Tiers Impact Your Per-Sale Cost

The relationship between your monthly subscription and your per-sale fee is a classic "break-even" math problem. As your sales volume grows, the lower credit card processing rates on the higher-tier plans eventually "pay for" the higher monthly subscription.

Let’s look at the transition from the Basic plan to the Shopify plan. The Basic plan costs $39/mo with a 2.9% rate. The Shopify plan costs $105/mo with a 2.6% rate. The $66 difference in subscription cost is the hurdle. To save $66 through the 0.3% difference in processing fees, you would need to process roughly $22,000 in monthly sales.

However, the math changes if you are also looking at third-party transaction fees. If you insist on using a third-party gateway, the drop from a 2% transaction fee (Basic) to a 1% transaction fee (Shopify plan) means you only need about $6,600 in monthly sales to justify the upgrade. Understanding this math is vital for comparing plan costs against total course revenue.

Hidden Costs: Apps, Domains, and Themes

When calculating how much does shopify charge per sale, many forget the "invisible" costs that inflate the effective cost per acquisition.

1. Apps: The average Shopify store uses 6–10 apps. If you are paying $20/mo for a loyalty app, $30/mo for an email tool, and $50/mo for a course platform, your fixed costs are suddenly $100/mo higher.
2. Themes: A premium theme can cost between $180 and $350 as a one-time fee. While this doesn't hit every sale, it affects your initial ROI.
3. Domain Names: Expect to pay $14–$30 per year for a custom domain.

At Tevello, we tackle the "app bloat" problem by providing an all-in-one ecosystem where physical products, digital courses, and community engagement live side-by-side. Instead of paying for three different apps to manage your membership, your videos, and your student profiles, we provide a unified solution for a flat-rate plan that supports unlimited members.

Why Native Integration Matters for Your Profit Margins

Many course platforms operate on a "subdomain" model. They take your customer away from yourstore.com and send them to yourstore.thirdpartyplatform.com to finish the sale. This is not just a branding issue; it is a conversion issue. Every time a customer is redirected, you risk cart abandonment.

When you use a native Shopify integration, the customer stays on your URL. They use the same cart they used for their physical goods. This leads to higher conversion rates and lower customer support friction. If a customer buys a physical product and a digital course in the same transaction, Shopify processes it as a single sale. This means you only pay that $0.30 fixed fee once, rather than twice.

We have seen this work effectively for various niches. For a merchant selling coffee beans, creating a 'Barista Basics' video course is a high-margin upsell that requires no shipping boxes. By selling these together through a native interface, the merchant maximizes the value of every single visitor. You can see how merchants are earning six figures by adopting this hybrid model of physical and digital commerce.

Comparing Shopify Fees with Course Platforms

If you were to look outside of Shopify for selling digital products, you would encounter a different set of fees. Many dedicated learning management systems (LMS) charge what they call "success fees." This might be 5% to 10% of every sale on their lower plans.

Let's compare:

• External LMS: $99/mo + 5% transaction fee + 2.9% credit card fee. Total fee on a $100 sale: $7.90.
• Shopify + Tevello: $39/mo (Basic) + $29.99/mo (Tevello) + 2.9% credit card fee + 0% transaction fee. Total fee on a $100 sale: $3.20.

The difference is staggering. On just ten sales of a $100 course per month, you are saving $47. Over a year, that is over $500 back in your pocket. This is why we are so transparent about our pricing. We reject complicated tier structures. Our model is simple: The Unlimited Plan at $29.99 per month. We charge 0% transaction fees, meaning you keep 100% of what you earn after the standard Shopify credit card processing. If unifying your stack is a priority, start by a simple, all-in-one price for unlimited courses.

Tevello: The Zero-Transaction Fee Learning Powerhouse

At Tevello, we built our app specifically to avoid the "percentage trap." We believe that as you grow, your software provider shouldn't take a bigger cut of your hard work. Our Unlimited plan includes:

• Unlimited courses and students.
• Unlimited video hosting and bandwidth.
• Community features (profiles, member directories, social feeds).
• Drip content scheduling and quizzes.
• A 14-day free trial.

By securing a fixed cost structure for digital products, you can focus on what actually moves the needle: creating great content and marketing it to your audience. Whether you have 10 students or 10,000, your Tevello bill remains the same. This predictability is essential for long-term business planning and increasing your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

Case Study: The Impact of Transaction Fees on Digital Growth

Consider the story of Crochetmilie, a brand that successfully navigated the transition from physical products to a digital-first model. They didn't just sell yarn; they sold the mastery of the craft. By integrating their educational content directly into their Shopify store, they were able to leverage their existing customer base without paying double fees.

In fact, you can read about how one brand sold $112K+ by bundling courses while keeping their overhead remarkably low. Their strategy involved generating revenue from both physical and digital goods simultaneously. Because they were using a native integration, they didn't have to manage two different customer databases or deal with the "syncing" issues that plague non-native apps. This streamlined approach allowed them to focus on scaling their community rather than troubleshooting their tech stack.

Digital vs. Physical: The Margin Difference

When asking how much does shopify charge per sale, it is also important to look at what is left after the fee.

With physical products, your margin is: Sale Price - (COGS + Shipping + Packaging + Shopify Fees) = Profit

With digital products (courses/memberships), your margin is: Sale Price - (Shopify Fees) = Profit (Assuming content creation is a sunk cost).

Because digital products have no shipping or inventory costs, the "Shopify Fee" becomes the primary variable expense. This is why digital products are the ultimate tool for diversifying revenue streams and building recurring revenue stability. When you utilize examples of successful content monetization on Shopify, you start to see that the "per sale" fee is much easier to swallow when your cost of goods sold is zero.

Action Checklist: Reducing Your Selling Fees

To ensure you are keeping as much of your revenue as possible, follow this checklist to optimize your Shopify costs:

1. Activate Shopify Payments: This is the fastest way to eliminate the 0.5%–2% transaction fee.
2. Audit Your Apps: Are you paying for multiple apps that Tevello could replace? If you are paying for a separate community tool and a course tool, you are likely overpaying.
3. Choose the Right Plan: If your monthly volume exceeds $20,000, move to the Shopify or Advanced plan immediately to take advantage of the lower 2.6% or 2.4% rates.
4. Sell in Local Currencies: Use Shopify Markets to allow customers to pay in their own currency, which can increase conversion rates and often offset the currency conversion fees through higher volume.
5. Encourage Annual Billing: For your own memberships or courses, offering an annual discount can give you a large cash injection upfront, helping you cover your fixed Shopify costs for the entire year.
6. Use Native Checkout: Avoid "Buy Now" buttons that redirect to external sites. Keep the customer on your domain to maximize trust and conversion. You can see this in action by seeing how the app natively integrates with Shopify.

Strategic Advantages of Recurring Revenue

One of the best ways to manage the impact of Shopify fees is to move toward a membership model. Instead of a one-time sale where the $0.30 fixed fee takes a chunk of a small transaction, a monthly recurring membership provides stability.

If you have 100 members paying $30 a month, that is $3,000 in revenue. The fixed $0.30 fee only accounts for $30 total. However, if you sold 300 individual $10 products, that fixed fee would jump to $90. By focusing on higher-value digital products or recurring memberships, you reduce the relative impact of Shopify's fixed costs. This is a key part of avoiding per-user fees as the community scales.

Furthermore, recurring revenue builds brand loyalty. When a customer is part of your community, they are much more likely to return to your store for physical products. This ecosystem approach is what we specialize in at Tevello, keeping customers at home on the brand website and ensuring they never have to leave your environment to learn or interact.

Maximizing Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

The true cost of a sale isn't just the Shopify fee; it is the cost of acquiring the customer in the first place. If you pay $10 in ads to get one sale, and Shopify takes $3, your acquisition cost is $13. If that customer never buys again, your profit is slim.

However, if that same customer buys a physical product and then joins your digital community, their LTV skyrockets. Because Tevello allows for predictable pricing without hidden transaction fees, you can accurately forecast your margins as you scale. This allows you to be more aggressive with your marketing, knowing that your back-end digital products have nearly 100% margins after the initial processing fee.

Conclusion

Understanding how much does shopify charge per sale is the first step in taking control of your e-commerce destiny. While the fees might seem complex at first glance—ranging from the 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee on the Basic plan to the variable transaction fees for third-party gateways—the path to optimization is clear. By using Shopify Payments, selecting the right subscription tier for your volume, and integrating high-margin digital products, you can build a highly profitable business that scales effortlessly.

At Tevello, we are committed to providing you with the tools to make this happen. We offer an all-in-one ecosystem for courses, communities, and memberships with a flat-rate plan of just $29.99 per month and 0% transaction fees. We believe that by keeping your customers on your own URL and providing a seamless checkout experience, you can turn your store into a digital learning powerhouse.

Don't let hidden fees or platform redirects slow your growth. Take the first step toward a more profitable, unified brand experience. You can build your entire curriculum, set up your community, and see the native integration in action before ever paying a cent.

To build your community without leaving Shopify, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from. You can install Tevello from the Shopify App Store today and start your 14-day free trial.

FAQs

Does Shopify take a percentage of my digital course sales?

Shopify charges standard credit card processing fees (starting at 2.9% + $0.30) for every sale, including digital products. However, if you use Shopify Payments, there are no additional platform transaction fees. Tevello also charges 0% transaction fees, meaning you only pay the standard Shopify credit card rates.

How can I avoid the extra 2% transaction fee on Shopify?

The most effective way to avoid the additional transaction fee (which ranges from 0.5% to 2% depending on your plan) is to enable Shopify Payments. This allows you to use Shopify's native gateway and eliminates the penalty for using third-party processors like PayPal or Stripe as your primary gateway.

Is it cheaper to sell courses on Shopify than on other platforms?

In many cases, yes. While some dedicated course platforms charge "success fees" or a percentage of your total revenue (often 5-10%), the combination of Shopify and Tevello provides a fixed cost structure. With Tevello's $29.99/mo Unlimited plan and 0% transaction fees, your costs remain predictable regardless of how many students you enroll.

Can I sell physical products and digital courses in the same Shopify cart?

Yes! One of the biggest advantages of using a native integration like Tevello is that it allows for a unified cart. Customers can add a physical item (like a yoga mat) and a digital item (like a yoga video course) to their cart and checkout once. This saves you money on fixed transaction fees and provides a much better experience for the customer.