See whether a bank transfer still beats the Shopify card fee.
Manual payment, bank deposit, and Mark as paid skip Shopify Payments
and the extra third-party transaction fee. The usual pitch is
“save 2.9%.” The missing piece is collection. The table keeps the
same SKU, then compares taking the card, holding the order until
the transfer clears, and shipping first at your unpaid rate.
Order, fees and collection
Card vs bank transfer
$—
fee you skip if the invoice pays
Card leftover
Leftover if they pay
Collection rate that wipes the save
Ship-first collection floor
Monthly save if they all pay
Same SKU, three ways the cash arrives
Path
Fees
Cash at risk
Leftover
Vs card
Hold-until-paid assumes you do not spend COGS or postage on invoices that never clear. Ship-first still spends that cash on the unpaid slice. Transparent arithmetic from your rates — not Shopify’s current fee schedule or a collection forecast.
What this checks
Wholesale and high-ticket Shopify merchants search “Shopify bank
transfer fees” and “Mark as paid Shopify fees” because a manual
payment method looks free. On the defaults — $48 item, $6 shipping,
Basic 2.9% + $0.30, $20.39 cash in the order, 95% collected — the
card keeps $31.74. Bank transfer, if they pay, keeps $33.61
($1.87 more, $186.60 / month). Hold until paid still keeps $31.93.
Ship first and the 5% that ghost leaves $30.91. The fee save
survives down to about 94.4% collected if you wait, and about
96.5% if you already shipped.
Does Shopify charge fees on bank transfer or Mark as paid?
A Shopify manual payment method (bank deposit, money order, or Mark as paid) does not take a Shopify Payments percentage or the extra Shopify third-party transaction fee. You skip those processor fees. You still have the monthly plan, cost of goods, and postage. This page compares that zero-fee path with taking a card on the same order. It is arithmetic on your rates, not Shopify's live schedule.
When does a Shopify bank transfer still beat Shopify Payments?
It beats the card when enough invoices actually pay. On a $54 ticket the 2.9% + $0.30 card fee is $1.87. Hold the order until the transfer clears and a 95% collection rate still keeps a few cents more than the card. Ship first and the same 5% unpaid slice loses, because you already spent cash. The calculator shows the collection floor for both paths.