Using Shopify’s Payment Gateway

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Why you should be using Shopify Payments as your primary gateway

A payment gateway is the service that holds your money in-between a purchase from a customer and a deposit into your account. There are quite a few gateway services out there, and Shopify has launched its very own, fully-integrated one called Shopify Payments. 85% of Shopify store owners in countries with Shopify Payments already use the integrated gateway.

The Shopify Payments Gateway is Good For Your Business

Shopify Payments is cheaper, more convenient, and faster than pretty much any third party gateway. When you use the Shopify gateway instead of a third party, you’ll see some of the following features:

You’ll eliminate transaction fees

When your customer makes a purchase using a credit card, you need to pay a few fees.

  • You pay the credit card company both a percentage of the sale, plus a flat rate for the transaction
  • You pay the payment gateway a transaction fee that is a percentage of the sale
The rates adjust depending on what Shopify plan you use. The more you pay Shopify up front for a plan, the lower your rate per transaction for both credit card and gateway fees (see plans below). 


What’s most appealing about Shopify Payments is that they waive the gateway transaction fees each and every time, because they don’t have to pay an extra third party. Plus, there is no extra charge for AMEX or international credit cards.

No fees = more money you get to keep.

Your payments and orders are automatically synced

By having Shopify take stock of both the orders and the payments, you’ll see everything in one simple dashboard. You can stay in control of your finances more easily because you won’t need to keep track of money being stored in multiple places. This lets you streamline your money management, track your money in real time, and spend less time consolidating your books.

Save time on chargeback recovery

Chargeback recovery is when a customer purchases something from your store, and then tells their credit card company they didn’t, whether it was fraudulent or simply they are trying to get out of paying for it. It happens to every business, and it’s never what you’d choose to be dealing with. One of the great features of Shopify Payments is their chargeback recovery dashboard. Because it’s integrated, Shopify generates custom responses that describe the customer, order and payment, giving you a better chance of winning a dispute over chargebacks.

Get started instantly

All new stores are defaulted to using Shopify Payments, and you’ll be instantly approved when you sign up, unlike the traditional process which can take days or weeks. This is especially great for new businesses just starting up who have no other means of accepting payment, you can start in just minutes.

You’ll be paid faster

Shopify Payments has payout times of as little as two or three days; far faster than other gateways which can take weeks. Definitely a plus for your business’ cashflow.

And of course, it’s secure as ever

Shopify Payments is powered by a company called Stripe, which is known for being securely encrypted and easy to use. Shopify is also Level 1 PCI compliant and uses 256-bit SSL certificates to keep order details secure.

New in 2018: Fraud Protect for Shopify Payments

Shopify Payments' forthcoming Fraud Protect feature means you no longer have to worry about manually reviewing orders. Once you've activated Fraud Protect, Shopify will analyse each eligible order for fraud, in turn providing a protect decision. You can read more about Fraud Protect on our blog.

Want to be the first to know when the new feature is available? Click here.

How to use Shopify Payments

It’s easy as one, tw--

Yeah, it’s just one step. When you accept payments with Shopify Payments, you’ll have all transactions automatically synced onto your dashboard. Done.

Should I Keep My Other Gateways?

If Shopify is your primary e-commerce platform, Shopify Payments offers one of the most competitive gateways around for credit card transactions, plus is extremely convenient and user-friendly.

That being said, it’s always a good idea to give your customer choice in how they pay. Some customers could be lost because they simply prefer gateways they are familiar with -- and if you’re not offering it, someone else will. If you can afford to add business plans for Apple Pay or PayPal gateways, go for it.

Another reason to keep using a third party gateway is if your business wants to accept non-major credit cards or if you want to accept alternative currencies such as Bitcoin. Those can be easily integrated into Shopify as well, but do require third party gateways (at this stage).

Here is a side-by-side comparison on PayPal and Shopify Payments.

Source: Websitebuilderexpert.com

Learn More

Still wrapping your head around how e-commerce payments work, and what the best decision is for your business? Talk to Elkfox today, and we’ll help you sort it out. In the meantime, check out the Shopify glossary on payment terminology.