Payments & checkout

The checkout is the one page on your store where every visitor who reaches it already wants to buy. On Shopify it is hosted by Shopify itself, which is why it is fast and secure out of the box, and also why changing it works differently from changing the rest of your theme.

Shopify Payments or a separate provider

Shopify Payments is Shopify's own payment processing. It handles cards, wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, and local methods like Bancontact and iDEAL, and settles everything in one payout to your bank account. You can also connect a third-party provider instead, such as Mollie or Adyen. That makes sense when you already have contracts in place, but on most plans Shopify then charges its own transaction fee on top of the provider's fees, so compare the total cost, not just the provider's rate.

Which payment methods to offer

In Belgium, a checkout without Bancontact loses buyers; in the Netherlands, the same goes for iDEAL. Beyond the local favourite, most stores need cards, one or two wallets and, depending on the audience, a pay-later option. More is not better: every extra button is something a buyer has to scan past.

Customising the checkout

Shopify's checkout is customised with checkout extensions: blocks and functions that add fields, messages, upsells or custom rules for delivery and payment, without touching the code underneath. What you can change depends on your plan, with Shopify Plus allowing the most. A checkout change is worth testing like any other, because it sits on the page with the most money behind it. See how we approach that on our CRO page.

Payouts, refunds and disputes

Once orders come in, the work moves to payouts, refunds and chargebacks. Shopify Payments shows disputes in the admin and lets you submit evidence there, which is one more reason many stores keep payments and orders in the same system.