Billing cycles and thresholds

Your billing cycle determines the frequency of your billing and the length of time between each scheduled bill that you receive from Shopify.

This page contains information about Shopify's billing cycles and billing thresholds, to help you confirm that you're charged correctly on your bills.

Billing cycles

You can change the time interval for how often you're charged for your Shopify subscription plan, but you can't choose a specific date to receive your bills. Bills are issued using the UTC time zone.

Shopify has the following billing cycles.

Considerations for different billing cycles

The following considerations apply to different subscription billing cycles:

• On a monthly subscription plan, you’ll receive a bill every 30 days, so you might get two bills in months with 31 days.
• On an annual subscription plan, you’ll still receive a monthly bill that might include different types of charges, such as recurring or one-time charges. If there are no charges, then your monthly bill will display $0 USD.

How billing cycle affects pricing

The billing cycle determines both how often Shopify bills the subscription and the total amount charged. The same plan can have different prices depending on whether monthly or annual billing is selected.

Annual billing charges the full year upfront and presents an effective monthly rate. This effective monthly rate is lower than the month-to-month rate because of the annual discount. The full annual amount is charged at the start of the annual billing cycle, not split into monthly installments.

Month-to-month billing has a higher total cost over 12 months compared to annual billing. The monthly price charged reflects the full monthly rate without the annual discount.

To confirm which billing cycle and amount apply to the store, complete the following steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Plan.

2. In the Plan details section, review the billing cycle and the amount charged.

Changing your billing cycle

You need to be the store owner or a staff member with the Manage plan permission to change the billing cycle for your store's Shopify subscription plan to be longer or shorter. You can't choose which date you receive your bills on.

Considerations for changing your billing cycle

Review the following considerations for changing your billing cycle:

• Longer billing cycle: If the option is available for your plan, then you can get a discount by changing to a longer billing cycle for your Shopify subscription. However, you can't choose which day of the month you receive your bill on.
• Shorter billing cycle: If you choose to switch from annual billing to monthly billing for your Shopify subscription, then you lose any features or benefits that are included with your annual plan. To switch from annual billing to monthly billing, contact Shopify Support.
• Subscription charges: Charges for Shopify subscription plans are generally non-refundable as stated in section 5.10 of the Shopify Terms of Service. If you believe you've been charged in error, then you can contact Shopify Support to have your case reviewed.

Change your billing cycle

You can change your billing cycle from monthly payments to annual payment in your Shopify admin.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Plan.

2. In the Plan details section, click Pay yearly and save.

3. Confirm your payment method and the subscription plan details.

4. Click Subscribe

Billing thresholds

In addition to monthly subscription plan billing, Shopify also issues bills at other intervals according to your plan-based billing threshold. Billing thresholds are monetary values that trigger a new bill whenever the cost of your account activity exceeds the threshold amount.

For example, you receive a bill before your regular subscription billing whenever the total of your third-party transaction fees, recurring app charges, and other outstanding charges or fees exceeds your account's billing threshold. Monthly subscription fees are included in your running total, but they're not included in threshold bills.

If you have any third-party transaction fees, recurring app charges, or other charges or fees that are incurred during a billing cycle, then your store's billing threshold is displayed in the Current billing cycle section of the Billing page in your Shopify admin. If you have no transaction fees or other charges, then your store's billing threshold isn't displayed.

If the total of your third-party transaction fees, recurring app charges, and other outstanding charges remains below your account's billing threshold during a monthly billing cycle, then you receive a bill only on your regular subscription billing date.

Billing thresholds and buying shipping labels

If you reach your billing threshold and you're issued with a bill, then you can continue to buy shipping labels until the total reaches 110% of your threshold amount, and then no further purchases can be made until you pay the issued bill. For example, if your billing threshold is $400 USD, and your account's activity reaches $400 USD during a billing cycle, then you receive a bill. You can still buy shipping labels until your account activity reaches $440 USD (110% of $400 USD), but you can't make any more shipping label purchases after that until you pay your bill of $400 USD.

Before you contact Shopify Support about a billing cycle or threshold issue

Before reaching out to Shopify Support about a billing cycle or threshold issue, gather the following information to help resolve your issue faster:

• Your store URL and account email address
• Your current billing cycle (monthly or annual) and the date it resets
• The invoice number and date for any bill you believe is incorrect
• The specific charges on the bill that seem unexpected
• Your current billing threshold amount (displayed in Settings > Billing if you have pending charges)
• Screenshots of any billing discrepancies that are displayed
• Steps you've already tried, such as confirming your plan and billing cycle in Settings > Plan

Having this information ready helps Shopify Support assist you more efficiently.