Setting up a Free Account

You can try out Shopify free for 14 days without the requirement of entering credit card details.  When creating a Shopify account, you will need the following information

• Name and address
• Email (verification required)
• Shop name.  This is the name that is used in your free Shopify URL, e.g. name.myshopify.com, which is the default URL for the storefront

Shopify and Shopify Plus

When setting up a Shopify account there are two top levels of account types to choose between

• Shopify.  For small to medium enterprises.
• Shopify Plus.  For enterprise customers selling thousands of orders a day

Shopify accounts can be created online, but Shopify Plus accounts can only be created by contacting Shopify directly

Shopify Plus accounts will not be covered in this course.

Shopify Account levels

The ordinary Shopify tier has three account levels:

• Basic – $29/month
• Shopify – $79/month
• Advanced – $299/month

The levels have the same basic functionality with the following main differences

• Users. Upper tiers get additional users
• Card processing fees.  Card processing fees are lower for upper tiers
• Locations.  Upper levels can store inventory at more locations
• Shipping.  Upper tiers can use third-party apps to calculate shipping rates at checkout
• Internationalisation.  Upper tiers get more control over international pricing.  They can also have separate international domains (e.g. hellobabydirect.fr, hellobabydirect.de)

What level should I choose?

Based on just the payment processing fees, at the following approximate levels, it makes sense to upgrade as you will save money:

If using ShopPay:

• Basic – Under $20000
• Shopify – £20000 to $50000
• Advanced – Over $50000

If you are using your own payment gateway, for example, Stripe, Shopify charges a payment processing fee for each order.  This is 2% for a basic account but only 0.5% for an Advanced account.  The levels for using your own payment gateway are:

• Basic – Under $5000
• Shopify – £5000 to $50000
• Advanced – Over $50000

Remember, you can upgrade at any time, and so you can always start at a lower tier to save money.