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

Shopify Payments is a payment solution that lets businesses based in the United States to accept a range of payment methods, including credit and debit cards, accelerated checkouts, and local payment methods. This article outlines the process of accepting payments with Shopify Payments in the United States.

Key benefits and features of using Shopify Payments in the United States

Review the following key benefits and features of using Shopify Payments in the United States:

• Automatic setup: When you create your Shopify store with Shopify Payments activated, your store is automatically set up to accept major credit and debit cards such as Visa and Mastercard.
• Automatic payouts: Funds from your sales are automatically deposited into your bank account on a regular basis, making it easy to manage your cash flow.
• Flexible card rates: The card rate for your transactions is based on your store's Shopify subscription plan. You have the flexibility to change plans whenever you need, letting you choose the pricing structure that best suits your business.
• Integrated with Shopify: Shopify Payments simplifies the management of your online store by consolidating your payment processing and order management in one platform.
• Secure Transactions: Shopify Payments ensures the security of your customers' payment information through advanced encryption and fraud detection measures, such as 3D Secure authentication.

Available payment methods when using Shopify Payments in the United States

Review the following available payment methods for Shopify Payments in the United States.

Credit and debit cards

You can accept payments from the following credit and debit cards:

• American Express
• Diner's Club
• Discover
• Mastercard
• Visa

Accelerated checkouts

You can offer customers the following accelerated checkout options:

• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
• Shop Pay

Local payment methods

You can accept payments using the following local payment methods:

• Bancontact
• 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

Accepting health savings account (HSA) or flexible spending account (FSA) cards

Businesses in the United States that sell medical products might be eligible to accept health savings account (HSA) or flexible spending account (FSA) cards at checkout.

Your store needs to the meet the following requirements before being reviewed to accept HSA or FSA cards at checkout:

• The store owner must make the request.
• Your online store must be active and accessible to the public.
• At least 90% of your sales must be medical products.
• Your medical products must belong to one of the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) approved categories.
• Your products must comply with the Shopify Payments terms of service, specifically Section B.5, which outlines items prohibited for sale using Shopify Payments.

To verify whether your business can accept HSA or FSA cards at checkout, you must contact Shopify Support.

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.

Viewing payouts

You can view your payouts from the Finance page of your Shopify admin, or the Shopify app.

View payouts on desktop

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Finance > Payouts.

View payouts using the Shopify app

1. From the Shopify app, tap …, and then tap Finance.
2. In the Finance page, tap Payouts.