How To Use Shopify In South Africa

What is a Shopify?

Shopify is a user-friendly e-commerce platform that helps small businesses build an online store and sell online through one streamlined dashboard.

Shopify merchants can build a modern online store and sell on social media sites, seller marketplaces, other blogs and websites, and via email, text, and chat. In-person selling is a snap on Shopify too, with its built-in point-of-sale (POS) for retail stores, pop-up shops, market sales, and more.

How To Use Shopify In South Africa

Is Shopify Available in South Africa?

Yes, Shopify is available in South Africa. Online sellers in South Africa can now use the Shopify platform to sell their products (both physical and digital) online and offline.

Shopify has partnered with top payment providers in South Africa to facilitate payments from buyers and make it easy for sellers to sell to their target audience.

Buyers can pay in their local currency using their preferred payment gateways, making it easy for merchants to get paid or cash out their payments.

How Does Shopify Works In South Africa? 

As we mentioned earlier, Shopify is basically good for newbie entrepreneurs that are just getting started with the eCommerce business.

You really don’t have to know the specifics to get started with Shopify in South Africa.

To use Shopify in South Africa, all you have to do is sign-up for a free Shopify account, and the Shopify wizard will take you through the whole process.

To start using Shopify in South Africa, you’ll have to have a product you want to sell. Once you have that, upload your product pictures, the shipping order, and as well as the product quantity.

Your product image has to be of good quality.

The Shopify platform supports two popular ways of selling online. The first is having your product inventory yourself and the other is through dropshipping

Who Can Use Shopify in South Africa? 

Basically, any eCommerce entrepreneur in South Africa can use the Shopify store to sell their products online. 

So technically, depending on what brand or niche you focus on around physical or digital products, Shopify can be your safe haven.

below are samples of what you can use your Shopify store to sell online, (Both physical and digital products) 

  • Fashion
  • Art
  • Jewellery and Accessories
  • Electronics
  • Foods
  • Memberships
  • Home and Garden
  • Furniture
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Toys and Games
  • Service appointments
  • Craft
  • Books
  • Consultations
  • Quotes, estimates, and assessments
  • Rentals
  • Donations
  • Event tickets
  • Digital gift cards

Shopify Pricing In South Africa

Shopify pricing plan In South Africa

You should know that the cost of selling with Shopify each month varies based on how many products you sell and other tools needed to run it successfully.

However, before choosing any plan, you have a 14days free trial to test the platform. You can do this just to get familiarised with the platform and see what works and what don’t.

Shopify cost in South Africa comes in different plans.

  • Shopify Basic costs $29 monthly (and 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction)
  • The Shopify plan cost $79 monthly (and 2.6% + 30¢ per transaction)
  • Advanced Shopify cost $299 monthly (and 2.4% + 30¢ per transaction)

Another thing you should know about the plan is that – you get a 10% discount on any plan you choose if you pay straight for a year. And a 20% discount if you pay straight up for two years.

You can purchase additional pricing packages or another pricing package for your Shopify store. They include:

  • Shopify Lite lets you sell on an existing website, and costs $9/month
  • Shopify Plus is designed for enterprises, costing $2000/month

Note: while Shopify does charge credit card fees as well as transaction fees on your sales, it’s actually possible to remove the transaction fees altogether if you use Shopify Payments, Shopify’s own payment system.

But this, however, is limited to a handful of countries. 

Please also note that there is no charge to manual payment methods on your Shopify store such as cash on delivery or bank transfers.

Shopify Payment Gateway In South Africa

With Shopify, you can receive payment or process your payment in two different ways. This includes:

Shopify Payments or
External Payment Gateway. (For specific countries)

Other than this Shopify has several other different payment gateways.
If you want to sell internationally and receive payment in dollar equivalent you can either use Shopify Payment, PayPal, or Stripe.

Shopify Payment is the company’s payment processor.

The Shopify Payment processor only charges credit card fees, which is basically for collecting money for you from your customers.

The charges for Shopify payments are more similar to PayPal rates. They charge from 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction and it goes lower as your sales go up.

Secondly, if you are selling within South Africa, you are most likely to receive payment in local currency, for this, you have to use a third-party payment processor available for South African residents.

How To Sell on Shopify in South Africa

Building your website and choosing a theme is just the first step in using Shopify effectively. There are many more ways to use Shopify to its fullest advantage.

Now that you’re ready to sell with Shopify, you have to actually sell your product and service.

Selling is the process of marketing products online, and it includes everything from marketing, advertising, order management, shipping, and more.

Using social media and SEO (search engine optimization) is extremely important if you want to attract new customers to your Shopify website. They work together, so use both to your advantage.

You can maximize your SEO potential by including accurate product descriptions and other content that has relevant keywords.

It takes a bit of time to build up some momentum, but eventually, you’ll start to see a few new visitors to your site.

Marketing through Shopify is similar to doing any online advertising, however, you get a few more tools to help you through the process.

Shopify offers multiple features to help you get the word out there about your online store.

You can use different Shopify marketing apps such as Facebook channel and SEO Suite to post on social media and track your analytics and SEO.

Many apps are actually free and can be used effectively to create great marketing and advertising campaigns.

Does Shopify work in South Africa?

If you’re new to eCommerce and are just setting up your store, you’ll find that Shopify and Payflex make a great combination for accepting payments in South Africa.

Does Shopify charge VAT in South Africa?

If your store is located in South Africa, then you’re charged 15% Value-Added Tax (VAT). You can choose to either provide a VAT number or indicate that you don’t have one.

How do I pay my Shopify bill in South Africa?

You can pay for your Shopify bills (one-time or recurring) by using the following payment methods:

  1. a valid credit card from Mastercard, Visa, or American Express.
  2. a debit card that is co‑branded with Mastercard, Visa, or American Express.
  3. Shopify Balance in some regions.
  4. PayPal in some regions.