How much does it cost to sell POD products on Shopify?

Starting a POD store on Shopify looks simple, but many sellers underestimate the real cost. You may see low entry fees, but hidden costs can reduce profit fast.

This guide helps you understand every expense before you launch. You will learn how much you need, what affects your cost, and how to manage it.

Upfront Costs to Start Selling POD on Shopify: A Quick Overview

#	Item	Estimated Cost (Basic plan)
1	Shopify subscription	$39 per month
2	Transaction fees	$0 (if you use Shopify Payments)
3	Credit card fees	2.9% + $0.30
4	Shopify apps	$10-$30
5	Shopify themes	$150-$400 (paid theme)
6	Custom domain	$16 (yearly)
Total		$200 – 500

Please note that these figures are for the initial setup cost only. Actual costs may vary depending on your specific Shopify subscription plan and additional expenses such as marketing budgets, currency conversion fees, potential chargebacks or dispute fees, etc.

1. Monthly Shopify subscription cost

The first cost you need to pay when using Shopify is the monthly subscription. This is a fixed cost that gives you access to the platform, including hosting, store builder, checkout system, and basic analytics.

Shopify currently offers four main plans. Each plan is designed for a different stage of business, from beginners to large-scale brands.

Plan	Basic	Grow	Advanced	Plus
Price	$39	$105	$399	$2,300
Advantages	Low entry cost, full store features, easy setup, suitable for beginners	Lower transaction fees, better analytics, more staff accounts, improved reporting	Lowest transaction fees among standard plans, advanced reporting, and better shipping rate calculation	Enterprise-level features, custom checkout, automation, priority support, scalable infrastructure
Disadvantages	Higher transaction fees, limited reporting, and fewer automation tools	Higher monthly cost, still limited advanced features	High monthly costs may be unnecessary for small stores	Very high cost, complex setup, overkill for most POD sellers
Best Use For	Beginners testing POD products, stores with under 50 orders per day	Growing stores with stable sales, scaling phase	High volume POD stores, strong daily sales, and focus on profit optimization	Large brands, high-revenue stores, enterprise operations

2. Transaction Fees and Payment Fees

Transaction fees are applied to every order you process. Shopify provides two payment processors, including Shopify Payments and Third-party Payment Gateways.

Shopify Payment

Shopify Payments is the default payment gateway built into Shopify. It is the most cost-efficient option for most sellers.

Its advantages:

• Support multiple currencies and popular local payment methods, enhancing a seamless checkout experience.
• No additional transaction fee from Shopify
• Instant payout: Funds are deposited directly into your bank account, often within days, ensuring better cash flow management.
• PCI compliance: Shopify Payments is fully PCI DSS compliant, ensuring customers’ sensitive financial data is protected at all times.
• Fast setup time

Its drawbacks: Limited flexibility if your business requires features not offered by Shopify Payments

For beginners, this is the simplest and most cost-effective setup

Note: Shopify Payments is not available in all countries. If you are selling from Vietnam, you will likely need a third-party gateway and should factor in the extra 0.6% – 2% transaction fee.

Third-party Payment Gateways

If Shopify Payments is not available in your country or if you choose to offer additional options like PayPal, Stripe, or 2Checkout, Shopify adds an extra transaction fee on top of the payment processing fee. These fees can range from 0.6% to 2%, depending on your Shopify plan.

• Basic plan: 2% per transaction
• Grow plan: 1% per transaction
• Advanced plan: 0.6% per transaction
• Plus plan: the most competitive rates

However, it also offers several advantages, including:

• Support a wide range of payment methods, enhancing the checkout experience for customers who prefer using familiar payment systems.
• Customizable checkouts to match your brand’s identity
• Be able to handle large and complex transactions, making them suitable for growing businesses or enterprises.

Its drawbacks: unlike the integrated Shopify Payments, third-party providers may have different payout schedules or may “hold” funds for longer periods to prevent fraud.

If you run a business that requires specialized tools or localized payment methods, you can consider using third-party payment gateways.

3. Credit card fees

Shopify Payments allows your store to accept all major credit cards as soon as you go live. For each sale, Shopify charges a processing fee. The exact fee depends on the type of card used, with different rates for standard cards and premium cards.

The payment processing fees depend on the Shopify plan you use for your store:

• Basic: 2.9% + $0.30 for standard cards, 3.5% + $0.30 for premium cards
• Shopify: 2.7% + $0.30 for standard cards, 3.3% + $0.30 for premium cards
• Advanced: 2.5% + $0.30 for standard cards, 3.1% + $0.30 for premium cards
• Plus: the most competitive rates
• Starter: 5%

4. Domain and Hosting Costs

Your Shopify store needs two basic elements to go live. A domain name and a hosting system. Shopify simplifies this process by including hosting in all plans, but your domain is still a separate cost you need to consider.

When you create a store, Shopify automatically gives you a free subdomain in this format: yourstore.myshopify.com, and it is free.

If you want to build a real brand, you should use a custom domain. It makes your store look more professional and credible. This helps build trust with customers, improves your marketing performance, and supports SEO growth over time.

You can buy a domain directly from Shopify, which typically costs around 16 USD per year. The exact price depends on the domain extension you choose. Buying through Shopify makes setup simple since your domain is connected and managed within the same dashboard as your store.

You can also buy a domain from providers such as GoDaddy, Hover, or Namecheap. These providers often offer slightly lower prices, especially in the first year. However, you will need to connect the domain to Shopify manually.

Unlike platforms like WordPress, Shopify includes hosting in your subscription. So you do not need to pay for hosting.

5. Shopify Apps

To run a POD store on Shopify, you need a fulfillment app to connect your store with a supplier. This app handles product creation, printing, and order fulfillment automatically.

Popular POD apps include: Printful, Printify, Burgerprints. Most POD apps are free to install. Some platforms offer premium plans, usually from 10 to 30 USD per month, which give access to better base pricing, faster support, or additional features.

Moreover, you can install additional apps such as upsell tools, email marketing tools, and SEO tools to support your business growth. These tools help increase average order value, recover lost sales, and improve your store’s visibility on search engines.

6. Shopify Themes Cost

Shopify offers a Theme Store with 800+ free and paid options, making it easy to find a design that fits your needs.

Free themes already include all essential features and basic customization for branding and layout. If you want to access more advanced features and layouts, Shopify also provides paid themes. It costs around 150-400$.

If you are just starting, you can use a free theme. These themes are simple to use and built for beginners. You can customize your store using a drag-and-drop editor without any coding. They already include essential features such as product pages, collection layouts, mobile responsive design, and basic branding options.

As your store grows, you may want to upgrade to a paid theme. Shopify offers premium themes with more advanced layouts and built-in features. These can help improve user experience and support better conversion. The cost of paid themes usually ranges from 150 to 400 USD.

If you have coding skills, you can also create your own custom theme. This gives you full control over design and functionality, but it requires time and technical knowledge.

7. Other additional fees that you need to consider

• Email marketing fees: Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to drive repeat sales and recover abandoned carts in a Shopify store. Shopify offers its own built-in tool called Shopify Email. Shopify allows you to send up to 10,000 emails per month for free. Once you exceed this limit, the cost is around 1 USD for every additional 1,000 emails sent.
• Currency Conversion Fees: Currency conversion fees will be applied when the customer pays in a different currency than your store’s base currency. Shopify typically charges around 1.5% for currency conversion. This fee is applied to the total transaction amount during the conversion process.
• Shopify POS and Retail Fees: If you plan to sell both online and offline, Shopify also offers a point of sale system to manage in-store transactions. This is called Shopify POS. Shopify provides a basic POS version for free with all plans. However, for more advanced retail features, you need to upgrade to Shopify POS Pro. Shopify POS Pro costs around 89$ per month for each store location.
• Chargebacks and Dispute Fees: Shopify Payments charges a fee for each chargeback, typically 15 USD per case, which is deducted immediately from your next payout when a dispute is opened. This fee is refundable if you successfully win the dispute.
• Shopify Marketplace and Sales Channel Fees: Shopify enables multi-channel selling by connecting to marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart) and social platforms (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook), often using tools like Shopify Marketplace Connect to sync inventory and orders. While expanding reach, these marketplaces typically charge referral fees of 8% to 15% per sale.
• Shipping and Label Fees: If you work with a POD provider, they will handle shipping and label fees for you. If you choose to fulfill orders yourself, Shopify provides built-in tools to help you manage shipping. You can purchase, print, and track shipping labels directly from your Shopify admin. Shopify also offers discounted shipping rates through major carriers such as USPS, UPS, and DHL. This enables you to fulfill orders without third-party logistics (3PL) partners, with costs charged to your account via threshold billing.

Conclusion

As you can see, running a Shopify store comes at different costs, and they can add up depending on what you need.

Still, Shopify remains one of the top choices for a reason. It is flexible, easy to use, and works well whether you are just starting out or already have experience

The best approach is to take some time to try it out and estimate how much you would need to spend each month. If the cost fits your budget, it is a solid option to move forward with. If not, it makes sense to look at other alternatives.