Hi everyone,
We’re in a somewhat unique situation, so let me explain our model clearly and then ask the community three specific billing questions.
What the app does. We operate as a middleman in the manufacturing sector. Merchants use the app to have physical products manufactured on demand and shipped to their customers through a network of production partners. The app is essentially a supplier/fulfillment connector, merchants send production orders to manufacturers and pay for the physical goods. Shopify is one of several channels through which merchants reach us (alongside other storefronts and our own platform), not the product itself.
We’re working through requirement 1.2.1 (all app charges must flow through Shopify Billing once the app is installed via Shopify’s surface), and we want to get the billing split right. To make our situation concrete, here are our three money flows, and for each one we genuinely don’t know where the line falls:
1. Subscription + Shopify add-on (free and paid tiers).
We have a main platform subscription (free and paid tiers) that exists independently of Shopify. On top of that we have a paid add-on specifically for the Shopify integration. Our question: does Shopify Billing need to cover only the Shopify-specific add-on, or the entire subscription the user is on, including parts that have nothing to do with Shopify?
2. Manufacturing + shipping cost, paid from a prepaid Wallet.
Users can top up a Wallet to cover production and shipping costs. They do this from the moment they register and place their first order, not necessarily connected to Shopify at all. These are payments for real-world physical goods and fulfillment, currently handled via Stripe or manual top-ups. Our question: do these Wallet top-ups / fulfillment payments need to go through Shopify Billing, or do they sit outside it as payments for physical goods (a product purchase rather than an app charge)?
3. Commission on the sale price.
As the manufacturing middleman, our revenue comes from the price of the physical goods. The merchant sees a single production-and-shipping price per order and pays it from the Wallet; our margin is embedded in that price. Our question: does this commission need to be reported to Shopify Billing as an appUsageRecord (treated as a usage-based app charge), or does it stay outside Shopify Billing because it’s part of the price of the physical product, not a fee for using the app?
Thanks in advance for the help!