In brief
Shopify Payments is Shopify's native payment solution, actually powered by Stripe in white label. In France, it processes cards at rates ranging from 1.5% to 1.1% + €0.25 depending on the plan, with no additional transaction fees from Shopify. This is precisely the extra cost that Shopify charges as soon as you connect a third-party provider, making the native option the cheapest in the vast majority of cases. Funds arrive in about 3 business days, and everything is managed from a single dashboard. This is why, with few exceptions, we systematically activate it for our clients.
Summary
Shopify Payments is the payment gateway integrated into Shopify. It allows you to accept bank cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) and wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay directly on your store, without installing or configuring an external service. In France, its main advantage is simple: it is the only option that incurs no additional transaction fees charged by Shopify, unlike all third-party gateways.
At Stellar, unless there's a specific reason, we systematically activate Shopify Payments for our clients. The reason is simple: it's a white-label solution powered by Stripe, so you benefit from the leading online payment technology without ever leaving the Shopify ecosystem. We observe a smoother payment funnel and better conversion on most of the stores we support, simplified accounting because everything is native, and most importantly, the lowest cost on the market since Shopify does not charge any additional fees for third-party PSPs.
What is Shopify Payments?
Shopify Payments is Shopify's in-house payment system, available in France and about thirty other countries. Technically, it relies on Stripe's infrastructure, which Shopify operates under a white label: you thus benefit from the same robustness as Stripe, but natively integrated, without a separate account to manage.
Specifically, once activated from your admin, it supports:
- international bank cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, etc.);
- digital wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay, activatable with one click;
- a growing number of local European payment methods, including iDEAL in the Netherlands, Bancontact in Belgium, and Klarna for installment payments;
- PCI DSS compliance and Shopify Protect anti-fraud protection, included without configuration.
This coverage is regularly expanded for France, which further reduces the need to stack third-party gateways. To place Shopify Payments within the overall platform, our comprehensive guide to succeeding on Shopify puts the topic in context.
Fees in France in 2026
With Shopify Payments, you only pay for card processing, never an additional Shopify commission. The rate depends on your plan: the higher the subscription, the lower the rate. Here is the reference grid for standard European cards in 2026 (indicative rates, the official grid is authoritative).
| Plan | Subscription (annual) | Online card fees | Fees if third-party provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | €27/month | 1.5% + €0.25 | 2% |
| Grow | €79/month | 1.3% + €0.25 | 1% |
| Advanced | €289/month | 1.1% + €0.25 | 0.6% |
| Plus | from €2,100/month | Negotiated rates | 0.2% |
Two important points. First, these rates apply to standard European cards: premium cards (business, corporate) and cards issued outside the Eurozone incur an additional cost. Second, the last column is the real trap to understand: it is the percentage that Shopify adds if you refuse Shopify Payments to connect an external provider. The full details of subscriptions can be found on our comparison of Shopify plans and fees page, and the always up-to-date official grid on the official Shopify pricing page.
Why the native solution is cheaper than a third-party PSP
This is the calculation many merchants overlook. On Shopify, as soon as you collect payments with an external provider (Stripe connected directly, PayPal, Mollie, PayPlug), Shopify charges a transaction fee in addition to the provider's fees. This extra cost ranges from 2% on the Basic plan to 0.6% on Advanced, and drops to 0.2% on Plus. With Shopify Payments, this extra cost is zero.
The most counter-intuitive point: since Shopify Payments is already powered by Stripe, choosing Stripe directly does not give you a technological advantage, but it adds the Shopify surcharge. So you pay more for the same infrastructure. Here's a comparison, for informational purposes, for standard European cards.
| Solution | Card fees (indicative) | Shopify surcharge if external | Actual cost on Shopify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Payments (native) | 1.5% to 1.1% + €0.25 | None | The lowest |
| Stripe (direct connection) | approx. 1.5% + €0.25 | + 0.6% to 2% | Higher than native |
| PayPal | approx. 2.9% + €0.35 | + 0.6% to 2% | Significantly higher |
| Alma (installment payments) | Merchant fees depending on installments | + 0.6% to 2% | Useful addition, not a replacement |
Competitive rates are provided for informational purposes and should be verified at the time of your decision, but the structural logic remains unchanged: on Shopify, the native option always has a cost advantage. A solution like Alma still makes sense as an addition, to offer installment payments, but it adds to Shopify Payments; it does not replace it. Beyond the price, staying native also avoids redirects and external windows from certain gateways, which disrupt the funnel and impact conversion.
Transfer times: when do you receive the money?
In France, Shopify Payments applies a payout period of 3 days: funds from a sale are transferred to your bank account approximately 3 business days after the transaction. To this delay, 24 to 72 hours of processing specific to your bank are added before the money is actually available.
- Payments from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are grouped into a single payout.
- No payouts occur on weekends or public holidays.
- In practice, allow 3 business days to a full week depending on your bank.
This is a real cash flow gain compared to third-party providers, where payouts are sometimes longer and less predictable. The payout schedule can be set and tracked directly from the Shopify admin.
Disputes and chargebacks: how they are managed
A chargeback occurs when a customer disputes a payment with their bank. With Shopify Payments, the entire procedure is managed from your store: you receive the notification, gather evidence (purchase order, proof of delivery, communications), and submit your dispute without leaving the interface.
Two protections limit the damage upstream: integrated risk analysis, which flags suspicious orders before shipment, and Shopify Protect, which covers certain eligible fraudulent orders. To learn more about upstream detection, see our dedicated guide on detecting payment fraud.
Our practical advice: never neglect a dispute, even for a small amount. A promptly submitted file, with traceable proof of delivery, radically changes the success rate. For high-value baskets, this reflex quickly translates into hundreds of euros recovered.
Our agency's opinion: should you activate it?
Yes, in almost all cases. For a French store selling in euros to European customers, Shopify Payments offers the best cost, simplicity, and conversion ratio. This is the foundation we set up by default:
- Cost: the lowest rate, with no extra fees from third-party PSPs.
- Conversion: a smooth payment experience, with no redirects or external windows that cause customers to abandon.
- Accounting: native reports and exports, without reconciliation with a separate Stripe account.
- Peace of mind: PCI DSS compliance and anti-fraud included upon activation.
Exceptions do exist: a need for very specific local payment not yet covered, a particular B2B invoicing constraint, or an ineligible country. In these cases, we add a third-party component as a complement rather than a replacement, with full awareness of the additional cost. If you want your payment configuration to be set up properly from the start, this is exactly the kind of adjustment that our e-commerce support handles. And to further accelerate the checkout process, discover the role of Shop Pay, Shopify's accelerated payment.