Shopify Payments for the United Kingdom

Businesses based in the United Kingdom can use Shopify Payments to accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Maestro, Discover, Diners Club, UnionPay debit cards, UnionPay credit cards. You can also accept Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay.

Businesses in the United Kingdom can also accept payments using Bancontact, Klarna, and iDEAL.

Fees for Shopify Payments in the United Kingdom

Shopify Payments fees are location-dependent and can vary. To get the most accurate and detailed information regarding fees, visit the plans and pricing page for the United Kingdom. This page provides a breakdown of the rates and fees associated with Shopify Payments based on your selected plan.

View payment rates in your Shopify admin

If you're already a Shopify merchant, then you can access information about the specific rates and fees applicable to your store location and chosen plan.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings>Payments.
  2. In the Shopify Payments section, click Manage.
  3. View the rates that apply to different payment methods.

Requirements for Shopify Payments

To use Shopify Payments, ensure that you can meet the following requirements.

Prohibited businesses

Some types of businesses and services aren't permitted to use Shopify Payments. To find out if you can use Shopify Payments, review the list of prohibited business types for the United Kingdom.

More details can be found in the Shopify Payments Terms of Service (TOS).

Bank account requirements for Shopify Payments

Make sure that your bank account meets the following requirements before you connect it to Shopify Payments:

  • The bank account is a full checking account (current account) with a bank in the United Kingdom in GBP currency.
  • The bank account is eligible for FPS transfers.

Checking accounts that are set up to accept only wire transfers don't work with Shopify Payments. Savings accounts, flex-currency accounts, and money-transferring services that mimic bank accounts aren't supported by Shopify Payments. Although non-Shopify virtual accounts are supported, you might experience more payout failures with these accounts.

To confirm that your account can accept the transfer type listed for your region, contact your bank.

Personal information requirements for Shopify Payments

In response to regulations in different countries, you're required to provide information about you and your business. The information is collected to help identify stores using Shopify Payments, including the beneficial owners of a particular corporate entity. The purpose of collecting this information is to comply with regulatory requirements designed to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes.

As local rules and regulations evolve, Shopify and its partners might contact you to collect additional information about you and your business. These standard reviews can occur at any time during the lifespan of your Shopify Payments account.

The information that Shopify has to collect differs from country to country, but typically includes details about the following people and organizations that are involved:

  • the individual creating the Shopify Payments account
  • the business associated with the Shopify Payments account
  • the individuals who ultimately own or control the business, which includes the business owner or a senior executive with legal signing authority for the business

To help the verification process, when providing documents as evidence, ensure that your documentation:

  • is clear and large enough to read
  • is correct and valid
  • is up-to-date with the most recent date possible
  • is complete with all details visible
  • is free of any errors or typos
  • matches the information provided

For more information, refer to the full document requirements for identity and address verification and business verification.

With Shopify Payments in the UK, there are various types of documents you can use to verify your identity:

Identity documents:

  • Passport
  • Driver license
  • Resident permit
  • Citizen card
  • Electoral ID
  • Validate UK

Address documents:

  • Driver license
  • Utility bill
  • Bank statement
  • Government-issued letter
  • Solicitors letter
  • Council or housing association documentation
  • Benefits Agency documentation
  • Electoral Register entry
  • National Health Service (NHS) Medical card
  • GP letter of registration with the surgery

Company/entity documents:

  • VAT registration
  • Certificate of Incorporation
  • Companies House Registration Document, displaying the Company Registration Number (CRN)
  • Her Majesty's (HM) Revenue and Customs: Value Added Tax (VAT) certificate
  • HM Revenue and Customs: account statement
  • Charity Commission Document
  • Office of Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) document

Accepting payments

In most countries, when your business is a sole proprietorship you're automatically set up to accept all major payment methods as soon as you create your Shopify store with Shopify Payments activated. Your card rate is based on your store's Shopify subscription plan, and you can change plans whenever you want.

Businesses in the UK can accept card transactions with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and UnionPay debit cards and UnionPay credit cards. You can also accept payments from local payment methods such as Klarna, Bancontact, and iDEAL.

Businesses in the United Kingdom using Shopify Payments can accept payments online and in person with Shopify POS. To accept payments in person with Shopify POS, you can use either of the following options:

Accepting Payments with Klarna for Shopify Payments

In most countries, when your business is a sole proprietorship you're automatically set up to accept all major payment methods as soon as you create your Shopify store with Shopify Payments activated. Your card rate is based on your store's Shopify subscription plan, and you can change plans whenever you want.

With Shopify Payments for the UK, you can choose to offer your customers the option of paying with Klarna. Eligible customers can choose to pay for their orders immediately, by invoice, or through installments using direct debit or credit card. Klarna payment methods are deactivated by default when you set up Shopify Payments for the UK, but you can activate them from the Shopify Payments section of your admin.

Which Klarna payment options are offered to your customers at checkout is dependent on certain factors. Your customers can pay with Klarna payment options if they're based in the European Economic Area (EEA), the UK, or Switzerland. Customers can also checkout in their local currency if you have activated local currencies or a Market selling in certain currencies:

  • Swiss Franc (CHF)
  • Czech Koruna (CZK)
  • Danish Kroner (DKK)
  • Euro (EUR)
  • Great British Pound (GBP)
  • Norwegian Krone (NOK)
  • Polish złoty (PLN)
  • Swedish Krona (SEK)

Your customers can checkout using different Klarna payment options depending on the total amount of their order.

Payment options per order amount for Klarna in the UK
Payment optionCurrencyMinimum cart valueMaximum cart value
Pay nowGBP04,000
Pay laterGBP11,500
Pay in 3GBP302,000

Customer inquiries and disputes when using Klarna for Shopify Payments

If a customer disputes a transaction paid for with Klarna for Shopify Payments, then the process is handled in the Shopify admin, similar to a standard card transaction dispute.

The customer has 180 days from the date of purchase to open an inquiry. If an inquiry is opened, the following process begins:

  • Customers open the inquiry through the Klarna app.
  • Merchants are notified of the open inquiry through the Shopify admin.
  • Merchants can resolve inquiries by refunding or coming to another agreement with the customer.

If the inquiry isn't resolved after 13 days, then the inquiry becomes a dispute.

Merchants are required to respond in the Shopify admin. There's no correspondence between the merchant and Klarna. Merchants should submit all possible evidence in this submission, as it isn't possible to add more evidence later.

Klarna typically makes a decision on the dispute within a month of the evidence being submitted.

Customers can still file chargebacks with their bank instead, but these disputes aren't managed by Klarna, and follow the usual dispute process.

Pay periods

Your pay period refers to the amount of time between the moment that a customer's payment is captured and when those funds are sent to your bank account. The timestamp for capturing a customer's payment is recorded in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Payments captured on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are consolidated and sent as a single payment.

In the United Kingdom, the pay period is 3 business days. The minimum amount that can be paid out for Shopify Payments accounts in the United Kingdom is £1 GBP. If there's a payout for less than this amount, then the payout stays in a pending state until more funds are available to pay out.

Learn more about getting paid with Shopify Payments.

Tax reporting

As a merchant, you're required to abide by all applicable regulations, including tax reporting. Depending on your jurisdiction, Shopify Payments might also be required to report your sales to the local tax authorities.

Can’t find the answers you’re looking for? We’re here to help.