Executive summary
- What: Shopify Payments now supports multi-currency payouts for eligible merchants in Australia, with 13 payout currencies, and France, with 18.
- Why: Settling in the currency the customer paid in removes a conversion step on cross-border revenue and the fee attached to it.
- Who: Stores on the Advanced or Shopify Plus plan, running Shopify Payments under an Australian or French entity.
What changed
Australian merchants can now receive payouts in AUD, NZD, USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, NOK, SEK, DKK, CHF, JPY, SGD and HKD. All 13 can be paid into an Australian bank account, or you can attach an account in the United States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada or the eurozone for those respective currencies.
French merchants get 18 currencies: EUR, AUD, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, GBP, HKD, HUF, JPY, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, SEK, SGD, USD and ZAR. EUR stays the default and the rest settle into additional bank accounts you add. The mechanics are unchanged from other regions: one bank account per payout currency, the store owner activates it, and a fee applies to any non-domestic payout.
Why it matters
For a Plus merchant selling into several markets, this is a treasury change more than a storefront one. Revenue booked in NZD or USD stops being converted on the way to the bank, so you can hold balances in the currencies you actually spend in: supplier invoices, regional media buys, local fulfilment. Refunds and chargebacks follow the same routing, which avoids paying a spread twice on a returned order.
Reconciliation also gets simpler, because payout currency now matches order currency line for line. If you are still mapping out your market structure, our Shopify internationalization guide covers how payout setup fits alongside Markets, pricing and tax configuration.
Role-specific impact
- Marketers: regional margin becomes easier to read, because reported net revenue is no longer distorted by a conversion applied after the sale. Blended ROAS on Australian and French stores gets closer to the truth.
- Developers: payouts now arrive across multiple accounts and currencies. Any finance export, ERP or OMS reconciliation job that assumes a single payout currency per store needs updating, and refund and chargeback paths should be retested against the new routing.
- Store admins: only the store owner can activate this. Note the operational catch: adding a payout account more than 24 hours after Shopify Payments setup pauses all payouts, not just the new one, for 3 to 5 business days.
Use-case example
Real-world scenario
A Melbourne apparel brand on Plus does AUD 9 million a year, with roughly 22 percent of orders placed in NZD and USD. Today that AUD 1.98 million is converted into AUD before it lands, and a currency conversion fee applies to the whole of it. Adding NZD and USD payout accounts removes that conversion.
The number worth modelling is the difference, not the gross. A non-domestic payout still carries a multi-currency payout fee that varies by plan and region, so the saving is your current conversion fee minus that payout fee, applied to AUD 1.98 million. On a one point spread that is close to AUD 20,000 a year, before counting the benefit of paying NZ suppliers from an NZD balance. Run it on your own rates first.
Implementation checklist
- Confirm eligibility: Advanced or Shopify Plus plan, a business entity in Australia or France, and store owner access.
- Rank the last 12 months of orders by presentment currency and settled volume. Only the top two or three usually justify an account.
- Compare your current currency conversion fee against the multi-currency payout fee for your plan and region. Open accounts only where the delta is positive.
- Check bank account location rules before opening anything. In Australia, AUD, CHF, DKK, HKD, JPY, NOK, SEK and SGD payouts require an Australia-based account.
- Schedule the change during a low-risk window, since adding an account pauses all payouts for 3 to 5 business days.
- Set the default payout account deliberately. Orders in currencies without a matching account route there and convert.
- Update ERP and finance reconciliation mappings for multiple payout currencies, then test a refund and a disputed order.
FAQ
Q: Does this change the currency customers see at checkout?
A: No. Presentment currency is controlled by Markets and is unaffected. This changes only which bank account and currency Shopify settles into after the sale.
Q: What happens to a refund in a currency we later stop supporting?
A: Refunds are processed in the original order currency and deducted from that currency's account. If you have deleted the account, the deduction comes out of your default account and a conversion fee can apply.
Resources
Shopify help centre: Managing Multi-Currency Payouts with Shopify Payments
Need guidance? Talk to Makro.