Shopify Partner earnings

As a Shopify Partner, you earn money based on your contribution to the Shopify ecosystem (your activities). Your earnings might vary based on your location and the location of the merchants you work with. Your earnings might be subject to taxes depending on your location and applicable tax regulations.

The tables below break down the payout conditions and terms based on your activities.

Note

Partner Program referral earnings are sometimes referred to as "revenue share" or "commission".

All referral earnings are calculated on the fees paid by the merchant to Shopify, net of any discounts or credits. This means that stores without an associated subscription fee, such as Plus Expansion stores, do not contribute to your referral earnings.

To be eligible to continue receiving referral earnings, you need to be an active Shopify Partner. Refer to the information on this page for additional eligibility details.

Learn more >

Development store referrals

To perform a development store referral, you must create a development store in the Partner Dashboard and then transfer it to a client.

	Store plan	Earnings	Terms
1.1	Basic Shopify Shopify Advanced Shopify	A recurring commission equal to 20% of the merchant's monthly subscription fee.	Recurs monthly as long as the merchant remains a paying Shopify customer and you remain an active Shopify Partner.
1.2	Shopify Plus	A recurring commission equal to 20% of the Plus merchant's monthly base platform fee on the billing store, for each net new merchant referred by Partner that signs a Shopify Plus deal.	You can build a development store for a merchant as part of a Shopify Plus deal. Refer to Shopify Plus referrals for detailed terms.
1.3	Shopify Starter Plan Shopify Lite	Not eligible for commission.	You aren't eligible for recurring commission on the merchant's monthly subscription fee.

Shopify Plus referrals

	Store plan	Earnings	Terms
1.4	Shopify Plus	A recurring commission equal to 20% of the Plus merchant's monthly base platform fee on the billing store. Only applicable to all new Plus deals closed after February 23, 2023.	Partners are eligible for commission for each net new Shopify Plus referral which results in a fully executed Shopify Plus agreement. Referrals can be done in one of two ways: By filling out the Shopify Plus lead referral form. All Shopify Plus lead referral forms must be recorded by filling out and submitting the Shopify Plus lead referral form in the Partner Dashboard. The Shopify Plus lead referral form must meet the following requirements: Be submitted by the Partner Have accurate data for both the Plus merchant and Partner The Plus merchant must not have been in contact with the Shopify Sales team at the time of submission. The Shopify Plus lead referral form must be qualified to be eligible for commission, and the Partner must also contribute to the sale of the Shopify product and solution. By performing a Partner assisted Plus auto-upgrade. Shopify Plus referral commission terms Commission payments recur monthly as long as the Plus merchant remains a Shopify Plus merchant in good standing and the Partner remains an active Shopify Partner. The final decision to grant Shopify Plus referral commissions is at Shopify’s discretion. All referral earnings are calculated on the base platform fee paid by the Plus merchant to Shopify, net of any discounts or credits. This means that stores without an associated base platform fee, such as expansion stores, do not contribute to your referral earnings. For Plus merchants on annual plans, the Partner commission will be paid on an annual basis following the end of the calendar year. Partners will be eligible for payout after the Plus merchant pays their first platform fee invoice. Partner lead referral forms will expire if the lead is not qualified within 90 days. After the 90 days, the lead referral form can be resubmitted for eligibility.

Shopify apps

	Earnings	Terms
2.1	100% of the total revenue from the one-time sale price or recurring subscription fees and all app purchases or upgrades made through the Shopify App Store on the first 1,000,000 USD. On revenue over 1,000,000 USD, you earn 85% of total revenue.	All apps must comply with the Shopify Partner Program Agreement. Only the Partner who manages the App is eligible for earnings from App sales. If you want to enroll in the revenue plan, then you must register to sell in the app store and report all Associated Developer Accounts.

Shopify themes

	Earnings	Terms
3.1	100% of the total revenue from themes sold through the Shopify Theme Store on the first 1,000,000 USD. On revenue over 1,000,000 USD, you earn 85% of total revenue.	All themes must comply with the Shopify Partner Program Agreement. Only the Partner who manages the theme is eligible for earnings from theme sales.

Promotions

The following promotions are available to Partners:

• Point of Sale Pro Referral Bounty
• Markets Pro Referral Bonus
• Commerce Components Referral Promotion
• Shopify Plus Repeat Referral Promotion

4.2: Point of Sale Pro Referral Bounty

Partner location	All
Merchant location	Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, UK, USA
Earnings	A commission of 500 to 3,000 USD for every new Point of Sale Pro (POS Pro) Merchant referred by a Partner, where the lead meets the Terms outlined in this activity. The commission amount is based on the number of POS Pro subscriptions activated by the referred Merchant. One (1) Pro subscription represents one (1) Pro location. Commission amounts are as follows: 500 USD if 1 POS Pro subscription is activated 1,000 USD if 2 POS Pro subscriptions are activated 1,500 USD if 3 POS Pro subscriptions are activated 2,000 USD if 4 POS Pro subscriptions are activated 2,500 USD if 5 POS Pro subscriptions are activated 3,000 USD if 6 POS Pro subscriptions are activated
Terms	Shopify reserves the right to conclude this offer at any time. Commission is payable for every new Shopify POS Pro Merchant that you refer by filling out and submitting the Shopify POS lead form in your Partner Dashboard, where the Merchant: Pays the full, undiscounted fees associated with a POS Pro subscription for at least two consecutive months or pays for an annual POS Pro subscription. Is new to Shopify POS Pro (has no existing POS Pro locations activated). Has ten (10) or more days of transacting through Shopify POS Pro per month, for at least two months. Operates a brick and mortar location. Was introduced to Shopify by you actively promoting Shopify POS Pro. Was not introduced or referred to Shopify by any other party, including Shopify itself. Was activated up to thirty (30) days before lead submission, or is activated within six (6) months of lead submission. In addition to the commission requirements described above, you might also be required to: Introduce the Merchant to our sales team (assuming sales support is requested), provide services related to the Merchant’s move to Shopify POS Pro, and/or participate in any other activities that support Shopify’s sales teams and/or the Referred Merchant launching on Shopify POS Pro. If you refer a qualifying Merchant that is also new to Shopify, then you are eligible to receive any applicable new Merchant referral payouts in addition to this POS Pro Referral Bounty.

4.3: Markets Pro Referral Bonus

Shopify Partners who refer eligible merchants to Shopify Markets Pro receive a commission of 1% of their referrals’ Markets Pro GMV for 24 months, up to $50,000 per referral. All referrals must be submitted through the Markets Pro Lead Form available within a Partner’s Partner Dashboard, and meet the terms outlined below.

Partner location	All
Merchant location	USA
Earnings	Referring Partners receive 1% of each Referred Markets Pro Merchant’s Markets Pro GMV, up to US$50,000 per Referred Markets Pro Merchant (the “Markets Pro Commission”). “Markets Pro GMV” is the total dollar value of cross-border orders (inclusive of shipping fees, duties and taxes, but minus any refunds) processed on the Referred Markets Pro Merchant’s Shopify store through the Markets Pro “Services” (as outlined in the Service Terms) during the Referred Markets Pro Merchant’s first twenty-four (24) months of using the Services.
Terms	This promotion will run from August 17, 2023 until December 31, 2024. A referring Partner is able to submit referrals through the Markets Pro Lead Form until that date. However, Shopify reserves the right to modify, suspend or terminate this promotion, including its terms, at any time and in our sole discretion. A “Referred Markets Pro Merchant” means a Shopify merchant who: (A) is referred by a Partner through submission of a Markets Pro Lead Form within their Partner Dashboard; and (B) meets the following requirements: Is in compliance with Shopify’s Terms of Service. Is an active user of Shopify Payments and in compliance with the Shopify Payments Terms of Service. Is new to Markets Pro (has not activated Markets Pro previously) and was introduced to Markets Pro through your active promotion of Markets Pro. Is not currently using Shopify Shipping. Is determined by Shopify to not have been introduced or referred to Markets Pro by any other party, including Shopify itself, and is not already talking to our sales team. Is activated on Markets Pro, begins processing orders through Markets Pro within 45 days of your Markets Pro Lead Form submission and is in compliance with the Service Terms. If multiple Partners refer the same Referred Markets Pro Merchant, Shopify will determine (in our discretion) which single Partner qualifies for Markets Pro Commission. Partners will receive payment on a monthly basis for the Markets Pro Commission amount earned during the previous calendar month. Payments will be made through the Partners Dashboard, available within the Partners’ ‘Payouts’ section. Partners who receive any Markets Pro Commission payout for this promotion are responsible for remitting any applicable taxes required in their jurisdiction. For information about how payouts are made, refer to Getting paid. If you refer a Referred Markets Pro Merchant that is also new to Shopify, then you will be eligible to receive any applicable new Merchant referral payouts in addition to this Markets Pro Referral Bonus in accordance with Shopify’s Partner Program Agreement.

4.4: Commerce Components Referral Promotion

Partner location	All
Merchant location	All
Earnings	20% of Year 1 contract value of Commerce Components by Shopify products, capped at $200K USD.
Terms	Promotion start date: February 26, 2023 Promotion end date: December 31, 2023 Deal eligibility will be reviewed and paid out manually after the end of each quarter (April, July, November). Shopify reserves the right to modify, suspend or end this promotion, at any time and in our sole discretion.

4.5: Shopify Plus Repeat Referral Promotion

Partner location	All
Merchant location	All
Earnings	Payment is based on the total number of Shopify Plus referrals resulting in signed Plus deals. Tier 1: At 5 Shopify Plus deals: $5,000 USD Tier 2: At 10 Shopify Plus deals: $10,000 USD ($15,000 USD rolling total) Tier 3: At 15 Shopify Plus deals: $15,000 USD ($30,000 USD rolling total) Eligible deals will be calculated and paid out manually after the end of 2023 (Approximately January 2024)
Terms	Promotion start date: February 26, 2023 Promotion end date: December 31, 2023 Repeatedly referring Shopify Plus Partners will be able to submit lead forms. The final decision to grant Shopify Plus referral commissions is at Shopify’s discretion. Shopify reserves the right to modify, suspend or end this promotion, at any time and in our sole discretion.

Experts Marketplace

Note

As of October 2023, the Experts Marketplace is being replaced by a unified Shopify Partner Directory. Jobs originating through the Shopify Partner Directory are handled outside of the Shopify platform, and are not subject to Shopify fees. Learn more.

	Earnings	Terms
5.1	90% of the total revenue collected by the Expert in respect of each job originating through the Experts Marketplace.	The Expert is entitled to all amounts collected from merchants through the Experts Marketplace, less the 10% Shopify will retain together with any applicable taxes on Shopify's fees.

Taxes on earnings

In some cases, Shopify charges you taxes on its fees or pays out taxes on your referral commissions. These taxes vary based on your location, the type of Partner activity, and the tax information you provide in your Partner account settings.

All taxes charged or paid to you by Shopify are recorded in an invoice. To learn how to view your fee and commission invoices, refer to Getting paid.

Note

Your tax obligations are different depending on the type of services that you offer and where your business is registered. Discuss any tax issues that are related to your business with a local tax professional.

Taxes charged on Shopify fees

In some cases, Shopify charges taxes on its commission fee and other applicable fees for app, theme, or service sales on the Shopify platform. Any applicable taxes are deducted from your payout and reflected on your Shopify fees invoice.

Taxes are charged on Shopify fees in the following cases:

Canada

If your Partner Account contact information lists an address in Canada, then Shopify charges you taxes on Shopify fees. Shopify charges the applicable sales tax for your province or territory.

The United States

If your Partner Account contact information lists an address in the United States, and your address is in a state that charges sales tax on services performed by billing agents, then Shopify charges you taxes on Shopify fees. Shopify charges the applicable sales tax for your state.

Taxes paid out on referral commissions

If you provide a Canadian business account number (BN) in your Partner account tax information, then Shopify adds an additional 13% Ontario HST to your referral commission payout. This tax is added to your payout and reflected on your referral commission invoice. You're responsible for remitting these taxes to the appropriate government authority.

Note

For any questions related to your Partner Program earnings, contact Partner Support.

Regulatory Operating Fee

In some countries or regions, a Digital Services Tax (DST) is applied to products and services that are sold digitally. The DST is calculated as a percentage of the gross revenue from the sale of a digital service. The DST rate varies depending on the country or region where a merchant is based.

Starting January 5, 2022, Shopify will charge a Regulatory Operating Fee on public app and theme sales in the affected countries or regions to accommodate the DST. The following Regulatory Operating Fees apply when the merchant’s business address is located in one of the listed countries or regions:

DST rates by country or region

Country or region	DST rates
United Kingdom	2%
Italy	3%
Turkey	5%
India	2%
Spain	3%

You can view the Regulatory Operating Fees applied to your app and theme sales in your Partner Dashboard or in the Partner payout CSV. Learn how to view payouts, or how to export payouts to a CSV file, refer to Tracking Partner earnings.

Glossary

To learn more about the different types of Shopify Partners, refer to the following resources:

• Shopify Partners
• Developers
• Shopify Plus Partners

Refer to the following table to learn about terms you might need to understand as a Shopify Partner.

Term	Definition
Active Shopify Partner	As a Shopify Partner, you can earn recurring commission payments for referrals and Plus upgrades. To continue receiving recurring commission payments for these previous referrals and upgrades, you must complete one of the following activities at least once every 12 months: Development store referral (accounted for when the merchant pays the first month’s subscription fee) Referral of a new Merchant or an existing Merchant to Shopify Plus If you haven't completed one of these activities by the end of the 12-month period (from the date that the merchant switches to the relevant plan), then all recurring commission payments will reset to zero. You must carry out at least one of the above-listed activities during each consecutive 12-month period to continue receiving recurring commission payments. You can view the date that you need to complete another activity by on the Referrals page of the Partner Dashboard. This ongoing activity requirement has been in effect as of October 1, 2017. The Partner activity requirement does not apply to other ongoing earnings, such as earnings from App sales or Theme sales.
Base platform fee	The current method of charging Shopify Plus stores for the use of our platform. Plus merchants that are charged platform fees aren't charged subscription fees. Platform fees replace subscription fees for these merchants. The base platform fee is the agreed upon base amount that is charged monthly. It doesn't include additional variable platform fees that the merchant pays when they sell more.
Billing store	The first store opened under a Shopify Plus merchant's contract. It's considered the primary store for the merchant organization. Financial information, such as billing for the platform fee, is accessed through the billing store.
Commerce Components by Shopify	Commerce Components by Shopify is the modern, composable stack of products for enterprise retail. Shopify merchants can select components of the Shopify platform offering to integrate with their own systems.
Development store referral	As a Shopify Partner, you can create an unlimited number of development stores. A development store is a free version of a Shopify store that can be used to set up, theme, or develop a store for your client. Setting up a development store and handing it off to your client allows you to earn a recurring commission. Note: As a Shopify Partner, you can earn commissions on Shopify Plus subscription fees only for the primary store (where billing is centralized) but not for any clones of this store.
Net new	A merchant Plus lead referral that is new to Shopify's internal database of prospective Shopify customers.
Partner assisted Plus auto-upgrade	A way for Shopify Partners to send Plus auto-upgrade invitations to prospect merchants through the Partner Dashboard.
Plus expansion stores	An additional store opened to complement the Plus merchant main store. This can be for the purposes of selling in different languages or currencies. Plus expansion stores are not the main billing store, and don't have a platform base fee.
Plus lead referral form	A form for submitting Shopify Plus referral leads to Shopify. The form is available in the Partner Dashboard.
Plus referral	A merchant who the Partner believes is a perfect fit for Shopify Plus. Partners can submit a Shopify Plus lead referral form that is unqualified or in the early stages to ensure net new credit and commission for eligible leads.
Processing fee	App billing is subject to a 2.9% processing fee. As of August 1, 2021, processing fees and taxes are charged on a separate line item. All processing fees are recorded on the payouts page.
Qualified Plus lead referral	Within 90 days of a Shopify Plus lead referral form being submitted, the referral can be can be qualified and considered ready for the next stage of the Plus sales process. A qualified Plus lead referral is a referral for which Shopify receives all the qualifying information needed for the Shopify sales team to get in touch. This includes details about the the lead's headquarters, revenue, a confirmation of their budget, and their timeline.
Referral commission or "commission"	The commission Shopify pays you for referral activities, including Shopify Plus referrals and development store referrals. All referral commissions are recorded in a referral commission invoice.
Sales opportunity	Shopify deals that are in progress. Opportunity records track details about deals, including which accounts they're for, who the parties are, their stage in the sales funnel, and the amount of potential sales.
Shopify fees	Commission fees that represent Shopify's share of app, theme, or service sales. For example, if you sell a theme and are entitled to 70% of the sale price, then Shopify charges you a Shopify fee for 30% of the total theme sale and the remaining 70% is payable to you. All Shopify fees are recorded in a Shopify fees invoice.
Store upgrades	Store upgrades occur when a current Shopify merchant upgrades to a store plan with a higher subscription fee. The upgrade can be completed by the Partner that originally referred the merchant, a Partner that did not previously refer the merchant, or Shopify's sales team. Only a Partner who originally referred the merchant through a development store will receive a commission based on the upgraded plan. If the merchant is upgrading to Shopify Plus, then you must fill out the Shopify Plus lead form in your Partner Dashboard to continue receiving a recurring commission. You're granted a commission only for net new Shopify Plus leads. The original lead must have been submitted by you, and the merchant must not have yet been in contact with the Shopify Plus team at the time of submission.
Unqualified Plus lead referral	After 90 days of a Shopify Plus lead form being submitted, it will be unqualified if a Shopify Plus sales opportunity is not created from that lead form. Within 90 days of a Shopify Plus lead referral form being submitted, it can be an unqualified lead referral if it hasn't been nurtured enough to be forwarded to a sales team. These referrals are not eligible for commission. Examples of unqualified lead referrals: The merchant is not yet aware of the cost of Plus. The merchant is not yet ready to move to Plus. There is already an open opportunity. The merchant didn't respond to the Partner or Shopify. The merchant is better suited for a core Shopify plan. The merchant decides that they no longer want Plus.