Shopify Fees in Australia (2026): The In-Person Surprise

By the Profitvana Editorial Team · Updated August 2026

Australian Shopify merchants get some of the lowest online card rates in the world — and one quirk that exists in almost no other market: selling in person costs more than selling online. Here are the 2026 numbers, and what that inversion means if you run both a store and a market stall.

What each plan costs in Australia

Prices in Australian dollars; the yearly column is the effective monthly price when paid annually.

Plan	Monthly	Paid yearly	Online card rate	In person	Third-party gateway fee
Basic	A$56	A$42	1.75% + 30¢	1.95%	2%
Grow	A$149	A$114	1.6% + 30¢	1.85%	1%
Advanced	A$575	A$431	1.4% + 30¢	1.75%	0.6%

In person costs more than online — in Australia only

In nearly every Shopify market, tapping a card in person is the cheapest way to be paid: the UK charges 1.7% in person against 2% online, Canada 2.6% against 2.8%. Australia runs the other way — 1.95% in person against 1.75% online on Basic.

The reason is domestic interchange: Australian online card rates benefit from least-cost routing and a competitive local debit network, while in-person acceptance carries terminal and scheme costs that the online rate escapes.

The practical consequence for a hybrid business is that the fixed 30¢ is the only thing making in-person look competitive on small tickets. Below about A$15 the fixed fee outweighs the 0.2-point gap and in-person is cheaper; above it, online wins.

Sale	Online (1.75% + 30¢)	In person (1.95%)	Cheaper
A$10	A$0.48	A$0.20	In person
A$15	A$0.56	A$0.29	In person
A$50	A$1.18	A$0.98	In person
A$150	A$2.93	A$2.93	Identical
A$500	A$9.05	A$9.75	Online

Upgrade break-evens

Basic to Grow costs A$93 more a month and saves 0.15% online, so it breaks even at about A$62,000 in monthly card sales. Grow to Advanced costs A$426 more for a further 0.2%, needing roughly A$213,000 a month.

Australian online rates are already low, which is exactly why the upgrades are hard to justify on price: there is little left to save. Treat the higher plans as feature purchases.

The third-party gateway penalty is the biggest number here

Using a payment provider other than Shopify Payments costs 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, or 0.6% on Advanced, on top of that provider's own fees.

In Australia that 2% is larger than the entire online card rate of 1.75%. Switching away from Shopify Payments more than doubles your cost of acceptance — a starker penalty than in any other market on this list.

Compare across platforms in the Shopify fee calculator, or see how the same plans price elsewhere in Shopify fees in the UK and Canada.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Shopify cost per month in Australia?

A$56 for Basic, A$149 for Grow, and A$575 for Advanced. Paid annually those become an effective A$42, A$114, and A$431 a month.

Why are Shopify's in-person rates higher than online in Australia?

Australian online card rates benefit from least-cost routing and a competitive domestic debit network, while in-person acceptance carries terminal and scheme costs. Australia is one of the few Shopify markets where in-person is the more expensive rate: 1.95% against 1.75% online on Basic.

Is it cheaper to sell in person or online in Australia?

Below about A$150 in person is cheaper, because online carries a fixed 30¢ that in-person does not. Above A$150 the lower online percentage wins, and the gap widens with order value.

What does using PayPal instead of Shopify Payments cost in Australia?

An extra 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, or 0.6% on Advanced, on top of PayPal's own fees. On Basic that 2% is more than the entire 1.75% online card rate it replaces.

Shopify fees in other countries

Shopify prices every market differently — the same sale can cost twice as much depending on where your business is registered. We verify each of these against Shopify’s own published fee page for that country:

Sources

Shopify Australia pricing (official)