Payments · Guide9 min readUpdated November 3, 2026

Shopify Payments Fees for High-Risk Businesses

Shopify Payments has no high-risk rate. What risk adds: premium cards, $15 disputes, reserves, slow payouts, and third-party fees by plan.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 15 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

Shopify Payments has no high-risk rate. US online cards cost 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, down to 2.25% + 30¢ on Plus, more for premium and international cards. Risk adds $15 per chargeback, dispute program fees, reserves and slower payouts. If Shopify Payments refuses you, Shopify adds 0.2% to 2% per order.

Shopify's US online card rates are 2.9%, 2.7%, 2.5% and 2.25% + 30¢ on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus.
Premium cards, which include business cards and "all domestic American Express cards", cost 3.5% down to 2.95% + 30¢.
A chargeback costs $15 in the US, "returned" if you win.
In a dispute program, each dispute resolved automatically costs $15 in the US and can't be contested.
A third-party card provider adds a Shopify fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus.

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On this page

This page covers Shopify's own price list and what changes when your business is high risk. For interchange, pricing models and high-risk quotes at any processor, see high-risk processing fees. All our Shopify guides: Shopify high-risk guide.

Does Shopify charge high-risk businesses more?

Not through a published surcharge. Shopify's pricing page shows the same card rates for every store on a plan, with nothing labeled high risk1.

The difference shows up elsewhere. Shopify says it evaluates stores "against a higher standard" than card networks, and higher-risk accounts get payout holds, reserves or a custom payout schedule10. And if your category is on Shopify Payments' prohibited list, there's no price at all13: see what you cannot sell on Shopify.

Shopify Payments rates in the US, by plan

These are the US rates on Shopify's pricing page, as captured on November 2, 20261.

Item	Basic	Grow	Advanced	Plus
Plan, billed monthly	$39	$105	$399	From $2,300
Online standard cards	2.9% + 30¢	2.7% + 30¢	2.5% + 30¢	2.25% + 30¢
Online premium cards	3.5% + 30¢	3.3% + 30¢	3.1% + 30¢	2.95% + 30¢
Online international cards	+1%	+1%	+1%	+1%
In-person cards	2.6% + 10¢	2.5% + 10¢	2.4% + 10¢	2.3% + 10¢
PayPal wallet	From 3.49% + 49¢	From 3.49% + 49¢	From 3.49% + 49¢	From 3.49% + 49¢
Third-party provider fee	2%	1%	0.6%	0.2%

"Standard" means domestic consumer cards from Visa, Mastercard, Discover and Diners Club. "Premium" means "domestic commercial, corporate, or business-tier cards, such as Visa Business, and all domestic American Express cards"2. Currency conversion adds 1.5% for US stores when you accept a currency other than your payout currency3.

Fig. 1Fees on one $100 online order, Basic plan

Standard card3.2$
Premium card3.8$
International card4.2$

Source: Shopify US pricing, November 2, 2026

the card your customer uses changes the price

Computed from Shopify's US pricing page, archive.org capture of November 2, 2026.

The costs that rise with risk

These are priced per event, so they grow with your disputes, not with your volume. High-risk categories simply produce more events.

Cost	Price on Shopify Payments, US	When you pay it
Chargeback fee	$15	When a chargeback is filed, with the disputed amount; "If you win the chargeback, then the fee is returned to you"4
Dispute program fee (NDRP)	$15 per dispute resolved automatically	Once enrolled; the customer is refunded and you can't submit evidence5
Mediation fee	Not priced	Shopify reserves the right to charge one "upon notice to you"8
Network fines	Set by Visa and Mastercard	Above network thresholds you "might be placed in a monitoring program and incur monthly fines or additional fees"7

Fig. 2Four ways risk shows up on the bill

Chargebacks
$15 each in the US, plus the disputed amount, back only if you win.
Dispute program
$15 per dispute, refunded to the customer automatically, no defense.
Reserve
A share, or all, of each sale held for a set period.
Slower payouts
5 to 20 business days on a custom schedule.

the last two don't look like fees

Shopify Help Center and Shopify Payments Terms of Service, read November 3, 2026.

Two rules make disputes cost more than they seem. Your chargeback rate "is based on all disputes that customers open, not just for disputes that you lose"6.

And a 90-day rate of 1.5% or more can enroll you in the dispute program automatically, with a 10% reserve on payouts5. More on the thresholds: Shopify Payments chargeback thresholds. Tagada follows Visa and Mastercard rules and the laws that apply to payments.

The cost you don't see on the invoice: cash held

A reserve isn't a fee, but money you can't spend on stock or ads costs you all the same. On Shopify Payments it takes three forms.

A reserve. A fixed amount or a percentage of each sale held for a period. Shopify's own example: "a 10% reserve for 120 days"9. The terms allow it to cover "the full amount" of a transaction, with no interest paid to you8.
A custom payout schedule. For higher-risk businesses, "Payouts might take from 5 to 20 business days"10.
Holds during reviews. Payouts can stop until a review or a document request is resolved10.

For comparison, the standard US settlement minimum is 3 business days, and payouts for new merchants "can take up to 5 business days"11.

Example

A store selling $50,000 a month gets a 10% reserve for 120 days. That's $5,000 held each month. If the reserve holds each month's share for 120 days, about $20,000 sits in reserve by month four before releases start. Illustrative case.

How reserves are set and released: Shopify Payments reserve.

If Shopify Payments won't take you: the third-party cost

If Shopify Payments refuses or closes your account, you can connect a third-party card provider13. Only one can be active at a time12. You then pay two fees: your provider's rate, and Shopify's own fee on each order1.

If Shopify Payments is still open, it can run beside that provider for Shop Pay, local methods and failed-card recovery. Those payments cost standard Shopify Payments rates "plus a 1.25% premium"15. On Shopify Plus with a contract, this is in early access15.

Plan	Shopify fee per order	On $50,000 a month
Basic	2%	$1,000
Grow	1%	$500
Advanced	0.6%	$300
Plus	0.2%	$100

The provider's rate comes on top: see high-risk processing fees for published ranges.

At some volume, a bigger plan pays for itself. The break-even is the difference in monthly plan price divided by the difference in Shopify's fee, computed from Shopify's US prices1:

Move	Extra plan cost a month	Fee saved	Worth it above
Basic to Grow	$66	1 point	$6,600 of sales a month
Grow to Advanced	$294	0.4 point	$73,500 a month
Advanced to Plus	From $1,901	0.4 point	About $475,000 a month

On Shopify Payments itself, the same logic works with card rates: moving from Basic to Grow saves 0.2 point on standard online cards, worth it above about $33,000 of card sales a month1.

One month worked out

A store on the Basic plan with Shopify Payments: 500 online orders of $100, of which 75 on international cards and 50 on premium cards, and 5 chargebacks1 4.

Line	Calculation	Cost
Standard cards	375 × (2.9% of $100 + 30¢)	$1,200
Premium cards	50 × (3.5% of $100 + 30¢)	$190
International cards	75 × (3.9% of $100 + 30¢)	$315
Chargeback fees	5 × $15	$75
Plan	Basic, billed monthly	$39
Total fees		$1,819
Effective rate	$1,819 ÷ $50,000	3.6%

$1,819

Total fees for the month, Basic plan, illustrative case

3.6%

Effective rate on $50,000 of sales

$500

Disputed sales, lost unless you win, not in the total

$15

Shopify's fee per chargeback, back only if you win

Not in the total: the $500 of disputed sales, lost unless you win, and any reserve, which holds cash without being a fee. The international line assumes Shopify's +1% applies on top of the standard rate1. Illustrative case.

How to pay less

Keep disputes down, since every opened dispute counts in your rate, won or lost6.
Answer every chargeback with evidence. The $15 fee comes back if you win4.
Stay well under 1.5% over 90 days to avoid the dispute program and its fixed fee5.
Ship on time and say so when you can't. Fulfillment is part of Shopify's risk review10.
Check your plan against your volume using the break-even table above.
Watch your card mix. Business cards and Amex cost more on every plan2.

By industry

Industry	Where the cost of risk comes from	Guide
Supplements	Subscription disputes, claims reviews	Can you sell supplements on Shopify?
Skincare	Refill subscriptions, refund disputes	Can you sell skincare on Shopify?
Fitness	Large equipment orders, delivery times	Can you sell fitness products on Shopify?
Info products	Upfront programs, refund requests	Can you sell online courses on Shopify?
Online pharmacy	Not eligible for Shopify Payments: third-party fees apply	Can you sell prescription drugs on Shopify?
Telehealth	Prescription products outside Shopify Payments	Can you sell telehealth services on Shopify?

How Tagada helps

Pricing that expects your category

Pricing: "No setup fees, no monthly minimums." "High-risk verticals and edge cases are priced case by case."14 Current plans: pricing.
Works with Shopify: "Already on Shopify, WooCommerce, ClickFunnels or BigCommerce? Drop TagadaPay in."14
Routing: "Route to the processor most likely to approve it, retry on decline. No engineering required."14
Payouts: "Daily payouts, 135+ currencies"14.
Portability: "Switch processors without re-onboarding customers. No vendor lock-in. Ever."14

Apply today · Go live in under 24 hours

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Updated on November 3, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

Does Shopify charge more for high-risk businesses?

Not on its price list: every store on a plan sees the same card rates. Risk costs show up as $15 chargeback fees, dispute program fees, reserves and slower payouts. If your category isn't eligible, you pay a third-party provider plus Shopify's fee of 0.2% to 2% per order.

What is the Shopify chargeback fee?

$15 per chargeback for US stores on Shopify Payments. It's taken with the disputed amount when the chargeback is filed, and "If you win the chargeback, then the fee is returned to you". Other countries have their own amounts, such as £10 in the UK and €15 in most of the eurozone.

How much does Shopify charge for a third-party payment gateway?

Shopify charges 2% per order on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus, on top of the provider's own fees. On $50,000 a month, that's $1,000 on Basic. Above about $6,600 a month, Grow costs less than Basic overall.

What are premium card rates on Shopify Payments?

In the US, premium cards cost 3.5% + 30¢ on Basic, 3.3% on Grow, 3.1% on Advanced and 2.95% on Plus. They cover "domestic commercial, corporate, or business-tier cards" and "all domestic American Express cards". Standard consumer cards cost 0.6 to 0.7 point less.

Does a Shopify Payments reserve cost me money?

Not as a fee, but as cash. A reserve holds a share of each sale, sometimes all of it, for a set period, and the terms say you aren't "entitled to any interest" on it. Shopify's example is 10% for 120 days. Count it as working capital you can't use.