Card fees compared: Shopify, Stripe and PayPal

A UK store's card cost is three numbers, not one: the processing rate, the plan fee, and the third-party transaction fee Shopify adds when you use another provider. On the published rates as of 9 August 2026, Shopify Payments runs 2% + 25p on Basic, 1.7% + 25p on Grow and 1.5% + 25p on Advanced. Stripe lists 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards. PayPal lists 2.9% + 30p domestic.

This guide is for a UK merchant who wants to know what they actually pay, worked from the three published rate cards rather than from an affiliate table. If you want the whole cost picture rather than just the card line, our guide to the total cost of running a Shopify store in the UK sets processing next to plan fees, apps and shipping.

What does each provider charge a UK store?

Every figure below is from the provider's own rate card, checked on 9 August 2026. All three change without notice and independently of each other, so treat this as a method rather than a permanent answer.

Two things in that table matter more than the headline percentages.

Stripe quotes by card type, Shopify quotes by plan. Stripe's 1.5% applies to standard UK cards; a premium UK card is 2.8% + 20p, nearly double. If a meaningful share of your customers pay on rewards or business cards, Stripe's headline rate is not your rate. Shopify publishes one online rate per plan.

PayPal's cross-border surcharges are additive. A sale to an EEA customer is 2.9% + 30p plus 1.29%; elsewhere it is plus 1.99%. For a store with international customers that is a different business case from the domestic headline.

What is the third-party transaction fee, and when does it apply?

This is the line that catches merchants who switch gateway without reading the plan terms. If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges a fee on top of whatever that provider charges you.

Shopify's documentation states the fee is calculated as [(cost of products - discounts) + tax + shipping charges] x rate, that it does not apply to orders paid through Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, Shop Pay Installments, PayPal Express Checkout or manual methods such as cash and bank transfer, and that refunds do not return the fee. Stores on Plus using Shopify Payments as their sole provider have it waived.

The practical consequence: on Basic, running Stripe as your provider costs Stripe's 1.5% plus Shopify's 2%, which is why a cheaper-looking gateway can be the more expensive choice.

What does this cost on a real month?

Take £20,000 of monthly card turnover across 400 orders — an average basket of £50. The per-transaction pence matter at that basket size, so they are included.

The two PayPal rows are the point: Shopify's documentation lists PayPal Express Checkout among the methods that do not attract the third-party transaction fee, so which PayPal integration you run changes the monthly figure by £400 on this volume. Check which one your store actually uses before costing it.

These are arithmetic on the published rates and the stated assumptions, not a quote. Your figure moves with card mix, international share, refunds and disputes.

When does a plan upgrade pay for itself?

Compare the extra plan fee against the processing saving, both monthly.

Basic to Grow costs £40 more a month (£25 to £65) and saves 0.3% on the online card rate. £40 ÷ 0.003 = £13,333 of monthly card turnover as the crossover. Below that, Basic is cheaper; above it, Grow is.

Grow to Advanced costs £279 more a month (£65 to £344) and saves 0.2%. £279 ÷ 0.002 = £139,500 a month. That is a much higher bar than most stores expect, and it is the number worth checking before upgrading for the rate alone. Annual billing changes both figures: on annual pricing the plans are £19, £49 and £259, so the Basic-to-Grow crossover falls to about £10,000 a month.

What should you actually do?

1. Take last month's settlement report and calculate your effective rate — total fees divided by total card turnover. That is your real number, not the headline.
2. Check whether you are paying a third-party transaction fee at all. Shopify's documentation exempts orders paid through Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, Shop Pay Installments, PayPal Express Checkout and manual methods, so the fee bites on the orders that fall outside that list — which is why the two PayPal rows above differ by £400 a month.
3. Count your disputes over the last quarter and price them at the rates above.
4. Run your own turnover through the crossover arithmetic before upgrading a plan for the rate.
5. Re-check all three rate cards before you decide. They change without notice.

If the conclusion is that your setup needs rebuilding rather than re-costing, that is e-commerce store work; if it is your checkout losing the orders in the first place, that is conversion work.

What we could not verify

We could not confirm any scheduled future change to PayPal's UK business fees on its published fees page, which showed a last-updated date of 15 July 2026. If you are making a decision that depends on a forthcoming change, check PayPal's policy updates page directly rather than relying on this guide.

True Noise is a UK digital agency in Peterborough working with small businesses across the UK. We have no reseller or affiliate relationship with any of the three providers above, and every figure here comes from their own published rate card on the date stated.