Currency conversions and risk

This page was printed on Jun 02, 2023. For the current version, visit https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/multi-currency/conversions.

Currency conversion occurs at the time of the transaction, such as when you capture a payment, you issue a refund, or there is a chargeback. The currency rate that is used is always the rate at the time of the transaction.

You can see the breakdown of a transaction in an order's timeline.

On this page

Currency definitions and conversions

Your store has three types of currencies:

  • Store currency - The currency of your Shopify admin. This is the currency that you use to set prices for your products and product variants, and it's the currency that appears in your reports.
  • Local currency (also referred to as the customer or presentment currency) - The currency that the customer sees in your store and the currency that the customer uses when they pay for their orders at checkout.
  • Payout currency - The currency that Shopify uses when depositing money in your bank account.

Currency conversion risks

Currency rates are always fluctuating. Whenever there is a time delay in processing payments or refunds, there is a possibility that you might lose or gain money because of currency conversions.

You can lose or gain money in the following situations:

Automatic exchange rate conversions

When you sell in multiple currencies, your online store prices are converted to your customer's currency. The prices in your store change automatically with market exchange rates. You can't set prices for your products manually in different currencies.

Your prices are converted by multiplying the store price by the currency conversion rate, adding the conversion fee, and then applying the rounding rules for that currency if applicable. Your converted prices include your currency conversion costs. For example, when a $10.00 USD product is converted to Euros, the converted price of €8.90 includes the currency conversion rate and conversion fee:


(Product price x currency conversion rate) x (1 + currency conversion fee)
($10.00 USD x 0.867519) x (1 + .015) = €8.81

If you have rounding rules enabled, then the total is rounded up to €8.90.

Manual exchange rate conversions

On the Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus plans, you can set the exchange rate manually. This allows you to lock in a fixed rate for each currency you have enabled, and you won't have to worry about fluctuating exchange rates. Your prices won't change with the market rates.

When using manual conversion rates, you might gain or lose money depending on your variance against current market exchange rates.

A conversion fee applies to your currency conversion. If you want to include this fee in your manual rate, then multiply your rate by the conversion fee for your store’s country. For example, a USD to EUR exchange rate with a 1.5% conversion fee might look like this: 0.90867 x 1.015 = 0.9223.

You can enable manual rate conversions from your Shopify Payments settings.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Payments.
  1. From the Shopify app, go to Store > Settings.
  2. Under Store settings, tap Payments.
  1. From the Shopify app, go to Store > Settings.
  2. Under Store settings, tap Payments.
  1. In the Shopify Payments section, click Manage.
  2. In the Countries/regions section, click Edit next to the country or region that you want to edit.
  3. In the Exchange rate section, click Edit next to the currency that you want to edit.
  4. Select Use a manual rate.
  5. Click Save.

Rounding rules

When you sell in multiple currencies, exchange conversions might cause your product prices and shipping rates to have inconsistent price endings.

You can round your product prices and shipping rates by using Markets to avoid inconsistent price endings after the currency conversion process. Your converted prices change based on the foreign exchange rate, but applying rounding rules keeps your prices and shipping rates stable. However, rounding rules don't apply to gift cards.

You can turn on rounding rules from within the Markets section.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets.
  2. In the Other markets section, click Preferences.
  3. Select the Price rounding check box.
  4. Click Save.

When rounding rules are activated, prices are automatically rounded to the most common denominator for each currency. You can't customize your rounding rules to anything different from these defaults.

You can activate rounding rules, and then preview converted prices from your Markets page.

You can view a breakdown of how each product price is calculated for each market.

International pricing

If your store is on the Shopify, Advanced Shopify, and Shopify Plus plans, then you can control prices for different countries or regions using international pricing. This lets you to set a percentage price adjustment for a country or region, or upload specific international prices for each product in your store.

When using international pricing, you might gain or lose money depending on your variance against current market exchange rates.

A conversion fee applies to orders made in different currencies. You should account for this fee in your product prices and adjustments.

Custom rounding rules

Custom rounding rules give you more control over the price endings for your converted prices and shipping rates. For example, you can choose to have all of your USD prices end in $0.99 and all of your EUR prices end in €0.90. Your converted prices and shipping rates can fluctuate based on the currency exchange market, but the custom rounding rules help keep your prices stable.

You can select from a list of custom rounding rules in your Shopify Payments settings. You must have rounding rules enabled before you can apply custom rounding rules.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Payments.
  1. From the Shopify app, go to Store > Settings.
  2. Under Store settings, tap Payments.
  1. From the Shopify app, go to Store > Settings.
  2. Under Store settings, tap Payments.
  1. In the Shopify Payments section, click Manage.
  2. In the Countries/regions section, click Edit next to the country or region that you want to edit.
  3. In the Exchange rate section, click Edit next to the currency that you want to edit.
  4. Select a new price Rounding rule to give your converted prices and shipping rates a custom price ending.
  5. Click Save.

Manually captured payments

When you sell in multiple currencies, the amount that you receive as payments is based on the currency rate at the time that you charge the customer's card. If you capture payments manually, then your customer's card is charged when you process their order, and not when the customer submits the order. The currency exchange rate might change between the time of authorization and the time you capture your funds manually, and this can result in a small discrepancy.

In your Shopify admin, orders in different currencies are converted to your store currency so that it's easier for you to report your sales. Until you charge the customer for their order, the converted values are estimates.

For example, your store's currency is USD and you sell in USD and EUR. Your customer creates an order for a €90 bookshelf. When they submit their order, $1 USD is equal to €0.90 EUR.

Example order
Store currency price Customer's currency price Estimated order amount
$100 USD €90 EUR $100 USD

A few days later the currency rate changes and $1 USD is now equal to €0.85 EUR. You charge your customer's credit card for €90 EUR. Because the currency conversion rate changed and $1 USD = €0.85 EURO, the €90 converts to $98 USD. You receive $98 USD.

Example of capturing payment for an order after a currency fluctuation
Store currency price Customer's currency price Captured amount converted to store currency
$100 USD €90 EUR $98 USD

Refunds

There is often a time gap between when a customer creates an order and when they make a return. As a result, the converted amount that you receive for the order usually doesn't equal the converted amount that you give back in the refund. We recommend that you refund the full amount that the customer paid in their local currency. This means that you might lose or gain money due to currency conversions. Learn about refunding orders when selling in multiple currencies.

Chargebacks

When a cardholder initiates a chargeback, currency conversions are applied using the conversion rate at the time of the transfer of funds and not the conversion rate at the time of the order.

Shopify converts the amount being refunded, credits the disputed amount to the cardholder, and then pays the fee to the cardholder's bank on your behalf, subtracting the amount being refunded from your next payout. You are not charged a conversion fee for this currency conversion.

If you dispute the chargeback and it's resolved in your favor, then the amount disputed in the chargeback is refunded to you and you are refunded the chargeback fee based on the current conversion rate.

Learn more about how chargebacks are processed.

Shopify Payments and other payment providers

Only Shopify Payments can process payments in your customer's local currency. If your customer selects a local currency, and chooses a payment option from another payment provider, then the price your customer pays is converted into your store currency. As a result, the price that your customer pays is more than the product price in your store currency.

For example, your store currency is USD, and you sell a t-shirt for $10 USD. Your customer chooses to view your store using EUR, and the price of the t-shirt is listed at €8.90 EUR. If your customer checks out using a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, then the price of the t-shirt is converted from EUR to USD, and your customer might pay more than $10 USD for the t-shirt. There are no currency conversion fees applied when the currency is converted from USD to EUR, and the Order page doesn't indicate that the order is a multi-currency order.

If your customer checks out using Shopify Payments, then their payment is processed in their local currency. For example:
(Product price x currency conversion rate) + currency conversion fee
($10.00 USD x 0.867519) + 1.5% = €8.81
If you have rounding rules enabled, then Shopify rounds the total up and your customer pays €8.90.

Selling and settling in different currencies and selling in multiple currencies

Most currency conversions occur between your customer's local currency and the currency of your store. If your store currency is different from your payout currency, then currency conversions occur between the customer's local currency and your payout currency.

Learn more

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