On April 6, 2026, Shopify quietly changed how currency conversion fees are calculated on every international order processed through Shopify Payments. If you sell in multiple currencies, your next payout report will look slightly different — and most merchants won't understand why until they start digging.
The fee rates didn't change. The math behind them did. And if you're selling internationally on a Basic plan where currency conversion costs you 1.5% per order, even a small shift in how that percentage is applied adds up across hundreds of transactions per month.
What Actually Changed on April 6
Before April 6, Shopify calculated your currency conversion fee on the net order amount — the order total minus Shopify Payments processing fees. The formula looked like this:
(Gross order − Shopify Payments fees) × conversion fee rate ÷ (1 + conversion fee rate)
After April 6, the conversion fee is calculated directly on the gross order amount. No deductions first. The fee is simply: gross order × conversion fee rate.
The practical difference? Your currency conversion fee on each order is slightly higher than before, because it's now applied to a larger base amount. On a single $50 order, the difference is fractions of a cent. On $10,000/month in international sales, it starts to show.
A Real Fee Calculation: Before vs. After
Say a customer in the UK pays £80 for a product. Your store currency is USD, and you're on the Basic plan (1.5% currency conversion fee). Shopify Payments charges 2.9% + $0.30 in processing fees.
Before April 6:
- Gross order: $100 (after exchange rate)
- Shopify Payments fee: $3.20 (2.9% + $0.30)
- Net amount: $96.80
- Conversion fee: $96.80 × 1.5% ÷ 1.015 = ~$1.43
After April 6:
- Gross order: $100
- Conversion fee: $100 × 1.5% = $1.50
That's $0.07 more per order. Small on one transaction. Across 500 international orders/month, that's $35 extra. On a Grow plan at 1.0%, the gap is smaller — roughly $0.05 per order, or $25/month at the same volume.
Why Shopify Made This Change
The old formula was confusing. The conversion fee depended on the processing fee, which depended on your plan. Two merchants selling the same product at the same price in the same currency could have different conversion fees. Reconciling payouts against orders required reverse-engineering nested fee calculations.
The new method is straightforward: take the order total, multiply by your conversion rate. Done. You can verify it in your head. Your bookkeeper can verify it in a spreadsheet without calling Shopify support.
Shopify's changelog describes it as making fees "easier to understand and reconcile with your payouts and reports." That's accurate. The trade-off is that the fee is marginally higher per order.
What Are Shopify's Currency Conversion Fee Rates in 2026?
Shopify charges a currency conversion fee on every order paid in a non-domestic currency. The rate depends on your plan:
- Basic: 1.5%
- Grow: 1.0%
- Advanced: 1.0%
- Plus: 1.0%
These rates apply whenever a customer pays in a currency different from your store's payout currency. If you're a US-based store and someone pays in EUR, GBP, or AUD — you're paying this fee on every one of those orders.
To find your exact rate, go to Settings → Payments → Shopify Payments → View payouts in your Shopify admin. You can also check your Terms of Service, which lists the specific fee percentages for your plan and region.
Multi-Currency Payout Fees Are Affected Too
This same calculation change applies to Multi-Currency Payout fees — the 1.5% fee charged when you receive payouts in a currency that isn't your domestic one. If you're a Canadian store receiving USD payouts, for example, that 1.5% is now calculated on the gross amount instead of the net.
If you're using multi-currency payouts to avoid conversion losses on both ends (customer payment and your payout), recalculate whether the math still works in your favor. In most cases it will — but the margin is thinner now.
What This Means for Your Pricing Strategy
If you're using Shopify's automatic currency conversion (where Shopify converts your base prices to local currencies at the current exchange rate), your customers already see prices that include the conversion markup. The fee change doesn't affect what customers pay — it affects what you keep.
For merchants on Basic plans doing significant international volume, the 0.5% difference between Basic (1.5%) and Grow (1.0%) is worth recalculating. If you're processing more than $3,000/month in international orders, upgrading to Grow might save you more on conversion fees alone than the plan price difference.
Three things worth reviewing now:
- Check your international sales percentage. In Shopify Analytics, look at orders by country. If more than 30% of your revenue comes from currencies other than your payout currency, this fee is a meaningful line item.
- Compare your plan's conversion rate against the upgrade cost. The jump from 1.5% to 1.0% saves $5 per $1,000 in international sales. At $5,000/month in cross-border orders, that's $25/month — enough to offset part of a plan upgrade.
- Review your payout reports for April. Compare your April payouts against March. The fee line items should now be slightly higher but much easier to verify. If the numbers don't match gross × rate, contact Shopify support.
Do Fixed Prices or Automatic Conversion Cost Less After the Change?
Shopify gives you two ways to price products in foreign currencies. Automatic conversion uses the live exchange rate plus your conversion fee. Fixed pricing lets you set specific prices per market (e.g., €45 for France, £38 for UK) — but you still pay the conversion fee when that payment is converted to your payout currency.
With the new gross-based calculation, fixed pricing doesn't save you on conversion fees. But it does give you control over the customer-facing price, which means you can build the fee into your margin instead of absorbing it as a surprise cost.
If you sell in 3+ currencies and your margins are tight, fixed pricing with built-in conversion cost buffers is the safer approach. Set your foreign prices 2-3% above the straight exchange rate to cover the fee and normal rate fluctuations.
If you're selling across multiple currencies and want your order form to display local pricing automatically, EasySell's order form supports multi-currency display so customers see prices in their local currency at checkout.
One Change, Five Minutes of Work
This isn't a fee increase that requires overhauling your international strategy. It's a calculation method change that costs most merchants a few extra dollars per month. But it's the kind of quiet change that compounds — especially if you're scaling international sales and not tracking fees at the order level.
Pull up your April payout report, verify the new Shopify currency conversion fees match gross × your plan's rate, and decide whether your plan tier still makes sense for your international volume. That's a five-minute exercise that could save you hundreds over the next year.
For more on setting up multi-currency selling, see our guides on the best Shopify currency converter apps and how to set up Shopify Markets for global selling.