Shopify App Pricing – Usage billing, currency conversion and billing timelines

Shopify App Store
1

Hi,

We’ve recently had our Shopify app approved and are now testing the end-to-end billing process using the newer Shopify App Pricing system rather than the legacy Billing API.

Our app uses a metered usage charge, configured as follows:

  • Pricing model: Flat rate

  • Charge as: Percentage

  • Percentage: 3%

  • Usage: Commission on orders attributed to our app

We’ve successfully submitted App Billing Events, but have a few questions around currency handling, billing timelines and subscription behaviour that we’d appreciate clarification on.

Currency conversion and billing event values

Our understanding is that Shopify App Pricing operates in USD, regardless of the Merchant’s store currency.

We therefore retrieve the value of an attributed order in the store’s native currency, convert it to USD, and submit the full converted order value as the billing event’s value.

For example, if a Merchant makes an attributed sale worth £100, and the exchange rate is £1 = $1.30, we submit a billing event with a value of 130.00.

Our usage meter is configured to charge 3%, so we expect Shopify to calculate a commission of $3.90 and subsequently convert this into the Merchant’s billing currency where applicable.

Can you confirm that this is the correct approach? Specifically:

  • Should we always submit the full order value converted to USD, rather than the calculated commission?

  • Does Shopify apply the configured 3% rate to the submitted USD value?

  • Does Shopify then handle conversion into the Merchant’s billing currency automatically?

Usage charge visibility and billing timelines

We’ve been testing with a real Shopify store and processing real transactions.

On 16 October 2026, we successfully submitted App Billing Events for attributed orders. These events appear in our Dev Dashboard with a Billing result code of SUCCESS.

However, as of 19 October, the Merchant’s billing and usage charges page still shows £0.00 for our app.

We’d like to understand the expected timelines for each stage:

  1. Usage visibility: How long after an event receives a SUCCESS result should the corresponding usage charge appear in the Merchant’s dashboard?

  2. Merchant invoicing: Are usage charges accumulated until the Merchant’s next Shopify billing cycle, or are they invoiced on a separate app billing cycle?

  3. Partner earnings: At what point should the charge appear as earnings in our Partner Dashboard? Is this when the event is processed, when the Merchant is invoiced, or when they pay?

  4. Payment timelines: Does the documented delay of up to 37 days for RecurringApplicationCharge also apply to usage-based charges through Shopify App Pricing?

We’ve reviewed the Tracking app usage and earnings documentation, but the timelines primarily reference the legacy RecurringApplicationCharge and ApplicationCharge models.

It would be helpful to understand how these timelines apply to the newer Shopify App Pricing system.

Any clarification on these points, particularly the expected delay between a successful billing event and the charge appearing in the Merchant’s dashboard, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

3

Hey @EnvolveTech let me go through your questions.

For currency and billing event values the docs mostly use per-unit examples like SMS messages, so I can see why the percentage setup is less clear.

The value you send in each billing event is the quantity of usage applied to your meter (Set up usage charges). Once events are accepted, Shopify adds up each merchant’s usage and applies the pricing you configured on the meter to work out the charge (How usage-based pricing works).

So you don’t need to calculate the charge yourself, because Shopify does that from your meter’s rate. If you sent the commission you’d already worked out, your 3% would get applied on top of it. Plan prices are also set in USD only (Shopify App Pricing), so converting to USD before you send is the right call.

If you want to double-check the result, the Partner API’s activeSubscription query returns the usage quantity and the calculated cost for the merchant’s current billing cycle. That lets you compare what Shopify charged with what you expected for your test orders.

After that, Shopify handles the merchant side. If the merchant is billed in a supported local currency, like GBP, Shopify converts the USD charge for them automatically (Shopify App Pricing). The merchant’s conversion rate includes a small exchange fee (local currency billing).

Does that help clear up the 3% side? If anything’s still unclear, let me know and I’m happy to dig in further.

As for timelines, usage builds up over your app’s own 30-day billing cycle and is then added to the merchant’s next Shopify bill. Your app’s cycle and the merchant’s bill cycle don’t always line up, so one cycle’s usage can end up split across two bills. There’s a good walkthrough with examples in App charges on your Shopify bills.