Billing clarification for standalone SaaS with a free Shopify connector app

Shopify App Store
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1

Hello,

I would like to confirm the billing requirements for our specific setup before submitting our public app to the Shopify App Store.

We are building a standalone SaaS for small ecommerce brands. The SaaS provides an AI sales and customer support agent that can interact with shoppers through chat and voice.

Our platform is not Shopify-specific. We support multiple ecommerce platforms, including Shopify and WooCommerce, and merchants manage their AI agents, conversations, analytics, knowledge base, etc. directly from our SaaS.

The Shopify app itself is only a connector between Shopify and our SaaS. Its purpose is to:

  • authenticate/connect the Shopify store to the SaaS;
  • synchronize products, store information and relevant order data;
  • enable the AI widget on the Shopify storefront;
  • keep Shopify data synchronized with the merchant’s SaaS account.

The connector itself would not have a separate price.

Our SaaS subscription is currently intended to be billed through Stripe.

We are currently pre-launch and do not have existing customers yet, so I would like to confirm how Shopify considers the following scenarios.

Scenario 1 — Merchant becomes a SaaS customer first

The merchant:

  1. discovers our SaaS through our own website, Google, advertising, referral, etc.;
  2. creates an account on our website;
  3. subscribes to a paid SaaS plan and pays through Stripe;
  4. afterwards chooses Shopify as one of their ecommerce integrations;
  5. installs our public Shopify app only to connect their Shopify store.

In this case, at the time they install the Shopify app, they are already a paying customer of our standalone SaaS.

Can this merchant continue paying their SaaS subscription through Stripe, or would installing the Shopify connector require us to move their subscription to Shopify Billing?

Importantly, these customers may sign up after our Shopify app has already been published. We would therefore also like to confirm that “existing customer” means a customer who already has a paid SaaS subscription before installing the Shopify app, rather than only customers who existed before the app was published.

Scenario 2 — Merchant discovers us through the Shopify App Store

The merchant:

  1. finds our app on the Shopify App Store;
  2. installs the app;
  3. creates a new SaaS account;
  4. wants to subscribe to a paid plan.

Our understanding is that this customer should be billed through Shopify App Pricing / Shopify Billing, rather than being redirected to Stripe. However, since our app is just a connector (no additional features), could you confirm the billing process?

We want to make sure this architecture fully complies with Shopify App Store requirement 1.2 regarding off-platform billing before implementing the billing flow.

Thank you very much for clarifying this.

2

Hi @Momentum_Dev, your understanding of both billing scenarios is correct, and this is a common setup we see with connector apps.

When your app is public and listed on the App Store, there has to be a path for merchants to discover, install, and pay for it through Shopify. The fact that your app is a connector rather than a full feature set doesn’t change this. The requirement applies to the full service the merchant accesses through the app, not just the connector layer.

For merchants who are already paying SaaS customers through Stripe before installing your Shopify app, they can stay on Stripe. Installing the connector doesn’t require migrating them to Shopify Billing. “Existing customer” means someone who had a paid subscription before installing the Shopify app, not just customers who existed before your app was published. So even if your app is live on the App Store first, a merchant who signs up on your site and pays through Stripe before installing the connector counts as existing.