Shopify in South Africa: pricing, VAT and how you get paid

The short answer

Yes, you can use Shopify in South Africa. Basic costs $25 a month, or $19 a month billed yearly, and Shopify adds 15% VAT on top, which a VAT number doesn't remove. That puts Basic at about $28.75 a month, or $21.85 billed yearly.

Shopify Payments and Shop Pay aren't available in South Africa. You connect Payfast, Yoco, Paystack or Ozow instead, and they pay out in rand to a South African bank account. PayPal also works for South African businesses.

Shopify pricing in South Africa

There is no rand billing. Shopify shows South African prices in US dollars, with regional discounts on Basic and Grow compared with the US page. Advanced and Plus cost the same as in the US.

The current trial is 3 days free, then US$1 a month for 3 months. POS Pro adds US$89 a month. The final price at checkout can differ by billing country.

Stores located in South Africa are charged 15% VAT on eligible Shopify billing charges, and adding a VAT number doesn't exempt you. Budget for it from the start.

Payment gateways for Shopify in South Africa

All four gateways below integrate with Shopify and WooCommerce. Only Yoco and Paystack are on Wix's South African provider list.

Shopify's US pricing page lists third-party transaction fees of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced for stores without Shopify Payments. The South Africa page doesn't print that row, so check with Shopify. Those fees, if they apply, come on top of your gateway's own fees.

PayPal is available to South African business accounts. Squarespace's help centre notes that PayPal doesn't support ZAR there, so test your currency setup on any platform before relying on PayPal.

Squarespace can't take rand payments

This is the biggest platform difference for South African sellers. Squarespace has no processor that takes rand: South African merchants can't open Stripe or Squarespace Payments accounts, and Squarespace says PayPal doesn't support ZAR on its platform.

None of the four local gateways integrate with Squarespace either. Squarespace scores 8.4 in our reviews, but for a store selling in rand it's the wrong tool.

How you get paid

Your gateway pays you, not Shopify. Payfast, Yoco, Paystack and Ozow settle in rand to a South African bank account.

Payfast pays out on the frequency in your merchant agreement (daily, weekly or monthly). It also sells an Immediate Payout option that lands within minutes for banks on real-time clearing, capped at R50,000 a day.

PayPal balances can be withdrawn to FNB instantly or to other South African banks within 3 business days. FNB charges 1.5% per PayPal top-up or withdrawal.

Shipping and couriers

Several South African couriers publish their own Shopify apps, and Bob Go connects several of them in one place. Shopify also supports COD as a manual payment method if you need it.

VAT in South Africa

VAT touches a Shopify store twice. Shopify charges 15% VAT on your subscription and other eligible bills, with no exemption for VAT-registered merchants.

South Africa's standard VAT rate has been 15% since 1 April 2018 and applies to electronic services. For the VAT you charge on your own sales, follow SARS guidance for your business.

Alternatives and verdict

Shopstar is the local store builder. Shopstar Go is free to start with transaction fees only; paid plans are Starter at R220 a month (25 products), Growth at R475 (100 products) and Unlimited at R740. Its transaction fee is 1.7% on the first R50,000 of monthly sales, tiering down after that, and it integrates Yoco, Paystack, Ozow, SnapScan and Payflex. There's a 14-day trial.

Takealot is South Africa's main online marketplace, and Amazon.co.za opened on 7 May 2024 with 20 product categories, open to local independent sellers. WooCommerce (7.6) works with all four local gateways. Wix (8.6) works with Yoco and Paystack.

Shopify (9.0) is the right choice once you need more than a small catalogue, want the widest app ecosystem, and can absorb a US-dollar bill plus VAT. For a small shop with fewer than 100 products, Shopstar's rand pricing is simpler to budget. If you want marketplace traffic first, start on Takealot or Amazon.co.za.