Canadian startup Shopify – who recently acquired Jet Cooper – announced the introduction of Shopify Payments today, providing its vendors the option to skip third-party payment processors like Stripe and PayPal in exchange for an in-house payment solution.
The introduction of a payment system for its online storefront platform brings major changes to the fast-growing company’s business model, as the company considers how to grow its 60,000 stores internationally.
Shopify Payments will now make it much easier for new stores to come online, as they no longer need to set up a separate payment processor. Furthermore, Shopify Payments will provide new analytic information for retailers, as inventory and sales can be directly tied to revenue and payment information. This will also allow retailers to see financial data in real time from a single source.
Shopify Payments also brings with it instant approval for merchant payment accounts, allowing the entire payment infrastructure to be securely in place when opening a store.
Unlike third-party payment processors, the new payment system from Shopify will tie the rate of transactions to the Shopify plan the merchant already has, which could potential save the merchant money.
All plans charge $0.30 pre transaction, with Basic plans costing users an additional rate of 2.9 per cent, Pro users paying 2.5 per cent, and for Unlimited users it’s 2.25 pre cent. Users can upgrade or downgrade their plan at any time to adjust their rate. There will also be no additional fees for processing American Express or international credit cards, unlike other payment solutions providers.
The system will also generate full reports on chargebacks and charges contested by customers, allowing retailers to respond to disputes from a single location, with a single click.
Shopify Payments is currently only available to Shopify’s 35,000 stories in the United States.
