Accepting payments and understanding pay periods with Shopify Payments for the United States

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.

Note

You can receive payouts in a different currency than the currency that you sell in when using Shopify Payments. Learn more about multi-currency payouts.

This article outlines the process of accepting payments with Shopify Payments in the United States. Shopify Payments is a payment solution that allows businesses based in the United States to accept a range of payment methods including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club debit cards and Diners Club credit cards. Accepting Discover allows you to accept Elo credit and debit cards, Japanese Credit Bureau (JCB) credit and JCB debit cards that are issued in the United States, UnionPay credit cards and UnionPay debit cards.

You can also offer your customers the convenience of the following payment methods:

• Apple Pay
• Shop Pay
• Google Pay
• Meta pay
• Amazon Pay
• PayPal Wallet

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

Businesses in the United States 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:

• a Shopify-supported card reader with Shopify Payments
• an external card terminal with a third-party payment processor

Fees for Shopify Payments in the United States

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 States. This page provides a breakdown of the rates and fees associated with Shopify Payments based on your selected plan.

Note

The plans and pricing page is accessible only in the language and currency specific to that country. If you need to translate the plans and pricing page, then you can use a browser extension, such as the Google Chrome extension.

View payment rates in your Shopify admin

If you're 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.

Pay periods

Your pay period is the time between when a customer's payment is received (transaction date) and when those funds are transferred to your bank account (payout date), and is presented in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Payments received on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are bundled and sent as one payment.

Shopify Payments in the United States uses multiple payment processing partners to ensure your payments and payouts are processed seamlessly. For this reason, if you set a payout schedule, then you might receive some payouts sooner than the scheduled payout date, and more than one payout per day.

If you set a payout schedule, then it's normal for some payouts to process faster than others. You can view your upcoming payout dates in the payouts section of your Shopify Payments page.

The timing for when the funds display in your account depends on your bank's processing times. In most cases, banks require 24-72 hours to process and deposit the funds into your account.

In the United States, pay periods range from the same day to 5 business days, depending on your store's activity, and the way you choose to verify your bank account. To help ensure that you receive your payouts quickly, you must complete the following steps:

• Activate two-step authentication for your Shopify account.
• Verify your bank account with Plaid for your Shopify Payments account.
• Make sure your customer billing statement is compliant with United States regulations.

Learn more about getting paid with Shopify Payments.