FAQ

Shopify Payments FAQ

How are funds transferred?

Shopify Payments transfers funds to your bank account depending on your pay period.

Note

You will not receive funds if your payout is below $1, £1, or €1, depending on which currency you use in your store.

Can I get my money faster?

In the United States, we managed to speed up our standard schedule to transfer funds on a 2 business day payout schedule for most users. In Canada, Australia and New Zealand, we transfer funds on a 3 business day payout schedule for most users. In Singapore, the United Kingdom and Ireland, we transfer funds on a 4 business day payout schedule for most users. At the same time, we're actively working to improve transfer speeds for all accounts. You can see all transfers Shopify Payments attempts to your bank account on your payout schedule in your stores admin.

What counts as a business day?

Business days are Monday to Friday, except federal holidays for merchants in the United States, and Statutory holidays for merchants in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

Payout shows “Paid” but no funds have been deposited.

We transfer funds every day, but most banks will only process the transfer on business days. This means that if funds were sent to you on a holiday or a weekend, you will probably see the money in your bank the next day your bank is open. For transfers sent on business days, you should be seeing the funds by the next day.

If the transfer was submitted on a business day and you don’t see the money in your bank account within a couple of days, this likely means the transfer failed. Banks can take up to 3-5 business days to inform us about failed transfers, at which time we send out a failed payout notification (if enabled in the Shopify Payments account settings) and update your admin banner with the reason for the failed payout.

What currency can I use?

The currency that you can use depends on the country your business is located in. Shopify Payments supports the following country/currency pairings:

Australia - AUD
Ireland - EUR
New Zealand - NZD
Singapore - SGD
United Kingdom - GBP
United States - USD
Canada - CDN or USD

My transfer “Failed” what do I do?

When transfers fail, typically this means there was an issue with the bank account that you have on file. This also places a hold on all pending transfers to your account until the issue with your bank account is resolved. If you update your bank account to a valid checking account, the failed transfers will be automatically retried inside the next 72 hours.

If your current account is valid and you are unsure why the transfer failed, you should reach out to your bank to investigate the issue.

Why are all my payouts 30 days apart?

In certain cases your orders might be subject to a 30 calendar day payout period due to the products you sell. This is required by our payment partner for certain businesses. You will be directly notified if your account requires a 30 day payout period instead of a normal payout period.

How long does it take for my customer to get refunded?

We submit any refund you make to your customer's bank immediately. They will then receive the funds from a refund in their account approximately 5–10 business days after the original refund. (This is an aspect of how the banking system works.)

Tip

Refunds might appear in the form of a reversal. In the case of a reversal, the original payment will drop off your customer's bank statement, and a separate credit is not issued.

When a charge is refunded inside the authorization period of a charge (partial or full) the customer might not see a line item on their statement for a refund as we simply adjust the capture amount for the charge when it settles. They might still see the charge as “Pending” on their statement until the period expires.

If you would like assistance in determining the status of a refund you have processed, you are welcome to contact us for a refund reference number.

Can a refund be canceled?

No, refunds cannot be canceled.

If the card that you have refunded is expired or canceled, the customer's new card will be credited with the refund. In the rare case that the customer doesn't have a new card, the bank will usually send the refund to the customer's bank account.

Within how many days can I issue a refund?

You can issue a refund within 60 days of an order. More information about this limit can be found in the Terms of Service for Shopify Payments.

Processing limits and fund reserves

There is no limit to the amount you can accept each month/per transaction through Shopify Payments, and your funds will be transferred to your bank account on the same schedule regardless of volume.

In rare cases we might request an additional reserve; if this is something that we feel might be necessary for your business, our Underwriting team will be in touch right away to discuss this.

Can I refund a chargeback?

A dispute happens when the credit card networks refund a charge at your expense. Because of this, it's not possible to refund a disputed charge. If you did, you'd be giving your customer their money back twice.

Why am I charged a fee for each chargeback?

When a chargeback is filed, Shopify Payments is debited the full amount of the charge fee to help cover the cost of processing the dispute. You can submit evidence to have a dispute resolved in your favor – if you end up winning the dispute, we return the full amount (charge plus the chargeback fee) back to you.

My customer said the dispute was a mistake. Can it be reversed?

If you've talked to your customer and they've agreed to drop the dispute, then you should tell them to contact their bank and say that they want to drop the chargeback. You should also submit evidence to the customer's bank, including the statement where the customer said they would drop the charge. You could include evidence such as:

the date and time that you fulfilled the order
the billing information that the customer used
the IP address and country used for the order
shipping and tracking information for the order.

Can I submit additional information after my initial chargeback response?

You can add additional evidence to your response at any time before the chargeback due date. The due date varies from 7 to 21 days after the chargeback or inquiry is filed. For information on viewing and adding evidence to a chargeback, see Managing chargebacks and inquiries.

My customer’s purchase was declined.

Declines happen for a variety of reasons. When we submit a charge to your customer’s bank, they have automated systems that determine whether or not to accept the charge. These systems take various signals into account, such as your customer’s spending habits, account balance, and card information like the expiration date and CVV.

Since these signals are constantly changing, a previously successful card might be declined in the future. Even if all of the card information is correct, and your customer previously had a successful payment, a future charge can still be declined by a bank’s overzealous fraud systems.

Can I find out more about the decline?

We show as much information as we receive from your customer’s bank about a decline in the order history. Most declines are generic, so we don’t have much information as to why a charge was declined. If all of the card information seems correct, it is best to have your customer contact his or her bank, inquire for more information, and ask for future charges to be accepted.

How do I decrease the likelihood of a charge being declined?

The correctness of the card number, expiration date, and the CVV are the primary factors used by the customer’s bank when deciding whether or not to accept a transaction. The influence of other data that you collect, like the address or name, varies by card brand. For example, only American Express consider the customer’s name.

Tip

Collecting the CVV can significantly improve your decline rates. If you’re not collecting CVVs and you’re having issues with declines, requiring the value can be a quick fix.

Can I use a bank account with multiple signors?

Yes, the increased security that banks offer with multiple signors is used to protect changes to the account itself, not regular transactions in and out of it. If your account is setup to receive ACH transfers, Shopify will be able to transfer funds to it.

Are there certain businesses that are prohibited from using Shopify Payments?

Certain types of businesses and services are not permitted to use Shopify Payments. To see if you can use Shopify Payments, check the list of prohibited business types for the country your business operates in:

Can I accept debit cards on Shopify Payments?

Shopify Payments can accept Visa, Mastercard, and Amex debit cards in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. In the United States, you can also accept JCB, Discover, and Diners Club debit cards.

Shopify Payments cannot accept Interac cards in Canada or Maestro cards in the United Kingdom.

Do Shopify Payments fees include GST (goods and service tax) in Australia?

Yes, the current Australian GST rate of 10% is charged on all transactions processed through Shopify Payments.

Where can I find out how much GST has been collected on Shopify Payments fees?

You can export a spreadsheet of your transactions that shows how much GST you've paid.