On $2,000 of monthly sales, the platform you choose can cost you anywhere from $21 to over $200. Most of that gap comes down to two things the pricing pages don’t make obvious.

Every ecommerce platform charges a combination of a monthly subscription, a platform transaction fee and a payment processing fee. In New Zealand, there’s a fourth variable most sellers overlook: whether your customers can pay by bank transfer at checkout instead of by card. That single option can cut your processing costs by more than 90% on every order where a customer chooses it, and most platforms don’t offer it at all.

Key takeaways

• Two costs are in your control: the monthly subscription and the platform’s per-sale fee. Card processing (~2.65% + 30¢ on Stripe NZ) is separate and roughly similar everywhere.
• Most e-commerce platforms are architecturally card-only. They don’t offer bank transfer as a standard checkout option, so you pay a percentage on every sale by default.
• Sendd is payment-agnostic in NZ and supports bank-to-bank transfer at checkout with a flat 30¢ processing fee, no percentage. On a $1,000 sale, that’s 30¢ in processing versus ~$27 on card rails.
• Fees aren’t the only cost. Most platforms control your payment processor. Sendd lets you connect your own Stripe account, so your funds, your data and your payout schedule stay yours.
• Percentage-based platform fees punish growth: Gumroad’s flat 10% costs $200 on $2,000 of sales. This is 10x a 1% platform fee.
• Subscriptions add up silently: a $39/month plan costs $468/year whether you make a sale or not.
• Always check the fine print: third-party gateway surcharges, app costs and hosting are where “cheap” plans get expensive.

Contents: What makes up an ecommerce fee · How NZ sellers pay differently · What each platform charges in 2026 · A worked example on $2,000/month · Who controls your payment processor · The hidden costs · How to choose · FAQ

What actually makes up an “e-commerce fee”?

An ecommerce fee is the total of everything a platform takes to let you sell online. It’s usually never a single number. There are four components.

First, you have the monthly subscription: a fixed charge you pay whether you sell anything or not.

Second, the platform transaction fee: a percentage the platform adds to each sale on top of card processing.

Third, payment processing: the fee charged by Stripe, PayPal or another provider to move money from your customer’s card to your bank account. On Stripe NZ, that’s around 2.65% + 30¢ per transaction (reduced from 2.9% in December 2025).

Fourth, hidden extras like paid apps, premium themes, plugins or self-hosted infrastructure.

When people say a platform is “expensive,” they usually mean components one, two and four. The third component (card processing) is roughly constant across platforms. But in New Zealand, even component three isn’t fixed. This brings us to the part most comparison guides miss.

How do NZ sellers pay differently from everywhere else?

Most ecommerce platforms are built on card rails. Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Gumroad; their checkout assumes a credit or debit card, or a card-funded wallet like Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal. Bank transfer as a built-in, first-class checkout option is not offered as a standard feature on any of them.

This is a capability gap, not just a pricing difference. It means NZ sellers on those platforms pay a percentage-based processing fee on every single sale, regardless of whether their customer would happily pay by bank transfer instead.

Sendd supports bank-to-bank transfer in New Zealand as a real checkout option, instead of a manual “email me your bank details” workaround. When a customer pays by bank transfer, the processing fee is a flat 30¢ per transaction with no percentage on top. It doesn’t scale with order value.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

The flat fee gets cheaper as a share of the sale the larger the order. On a $1,000 bank-transfer sale, processing is 0.03%. On card rails, it’s still ~2.65%.

The honesty angle: bank transfer is a customer choice at checkout. Some NZ buyers will still pay by card, and when they do you’ll pay standard Stripe NZ card rates. The comparison tables below show both scenarios so you can see the realistic range, not just the best case.

What each platform charges in 2026 (NZ sellers)

Here’s how the major options compare on the costs you can control: the monthly subscription and the platform’s own per-sale fee. Card processing is listed separately because it depends on your payment method and provider.

Figures checked against each platform’s live pricing page, July 2026. All subscription prices are in USD (as billed by the platform) unless marked NZD. Card processing is approximate and varies by plan tier and provider.

Checkout on a Sendd store showing bank transfer option alongside card payment.

A worked example: what $2,000/month in sales actually costs you

Assume you’re an NZ seller doing $2,000 per month across roughly 40 orders averaging $50 each. Here’s what each platform costs in total platform fees (subscription + platform transaction fee), before card processing.

Now add card processing. On Stripe NZ card rails (~2.65% + 30¢ × 40 orders), processing on $2,000 is roughly $65. Every platform above except Sendd charges that on every sale, because they’re card-only.

On Sendd, if half your NZ customers pay by bank transfer, your processing drops to roughly $33 in card fees + $6 in bank-transfer fees = ~$39. If most pay by bank transfer, it drops further. The difference compounds as your average order value grows, because the flat 30¢ stays flat while percentage-based fees scale with every dollar.

Total monthly cost on $2,000 in sales (platform + processing):

Sendd is the cheapest option on card-only sales and significantly cheaper once bank transfer enters the picture. Gumroad’s 10% flat fee makes it by far the most expensive for any seller doing more than a few hundred dollars a month.

Fees aren’t the only cost. Who controls your payments matters too

Beyond what you pay, there’s a question most fee comparisons skip entirely: who actually controls your payment processor? On some platforms you own your Stripe account. On others, the platform holds your funds and decides when you get paid. On others still, a third party becomes the legal seller on your behalf. Each model has different trade-offs around fund holds, portability, rate negotiation and what happens if things go wrong.

We’ve written a full breakdown of how every major platform handles this: Who Controls Your Payments? Payment Processor Ownership Across Every Ecommerce Platform (2026) .

The costs that don’t show up on the pricing page

The subscription and transaction fee are the headline numbers, but four other costs quietly inflate the real price of selling online in NZ.

Third-party gateway surcharges. If you want to use your own Stripe account instead of Shopify Payments on Shopify, you’ll pay an extra 2% (Basic) to 0.6% (Advanced)  per transaction on top of your gateway’s own fees. At $1 million in annual sales on Shopify Basic, that’s roughly $20,000 per year purely as a penalty for wanting to own your payment processor. BigCommerce introduced a similar “Open Payment Provider Fee” in June 2026 : 0.6–2% of gross merchandise volume for using your own processor unless it’s on their approved list. These surcharges don’t appear on headline pricing pages, but they’re the single largest hidden cost for growing sellers.

Paid apps and plugins. Shopify’s app ecosystem is powerful, but the average Shopify store uses multiple paid apps. A review app, an email marketing tool and a shipping calculator can easily add $50–$100/month. Wix and Squarespace have smaller marketplaces, but the pattern is similar: core features sometimes require add-ons. Sendd and Gumroad bundle more into the base product but have smaller feature sets overall.

Themes and design. Shopify’s free themes cover the basics, but premium themes range from $150 to $380. Squarespace includes all templates in every plan. Wix is similar. Sendd provides a storefront with no separate theme purchase needed.

Currency conversion on your subscription. Most platforms bill in USD. At current exchange rates (~1 USD ≈ 1.65 NZD as of July 2026), a $39 USD/month plan costs roughly $64 NZD/month before you sell anything. Sendd’s 1% is charged in NZD on NZD sales, so there’s no conversion overhead.

How to choose the right platform for your NZ store

The cheapest option depends on three things: your monthly sales volume, your average order value and how your customers prefer to pay.

If you’re just starting out or sell under $1,000/month: Sendd’s $0 subscription and 1% fee means you pay almost nothing in slow months. Gumroad’s 10% is manageable at very low volumes but gets expensive fast. Subscription platforms cost $23–$39/month whether you sell anything or not.

If you sell $1,000–$5,000/month and your customers are NZ-based: the bank-transfer option on Sendd is the single biggest lever available to you. At $3,000/month with 60% bank-transfer adoption, you’d save roughly $50/month in processing alone versus an all-card platform, on top of the $0 subscription.

If you sell $10,000+/month and need advanced features: If you run the numbers, Sendd’s 1% ($100 on $10K) plus the bank-transfer savings may still beat Shopify Basic’s $39 subscription plus higher card processing, depending on your customer mix.

If you sell digital products: Gumroad’s 10% is only worth it if you need its Merchant of Record tax handling and don’t want to manage anything yourself. For any digital seller doing more than a few hundred dollars a month, a 1% platform fee saves dramatically. That’s $200 vs $20 on $2,000 in sales.

FAQ

What is the cheapest ecommerce platform in NZ in 2026? For most NZ sellers, Sendd is the cheapest option: $0 monthly subscription, a 1% platform fee and the ability to accept bank-transfer payments at a flat 30¢ instead of ~2.65% card processing. At $2,000/month with a mix of bank-transfer and card sales, total costs start around $59, compared to $88–$200 on other platforms.

Does Shopify charge transaction fees in NZ? Shopify charges 0% additional transaction fees if you use Shopify Payments , which is available in New Zealand. If you use a third-party gateway instead, Shopify adds a surcharge of 0.6%–2%  depending on your plan, on top of the gateway’s own processing fees. Card processing through Shopify Payments is ~2.7% + 30¢ NZD on the Basic plan.

Can I accept bank transfer payments on Shopify or Wix? Neither Shopify nor Wix offers bank-to-bank transfer as a standard built-in checkout option. Some platforms support manual payment methods (where you email bank details after the order), but that’s not a real-time, integrated checkout flow. Sendd is one of the few NZ ecommerce platforms that supports bank transfer as a first-class payment option at checkout.

Is Squarespace Payments available in New Zealand? No. Squarespace Payments is currently available in the US, UK and select EU countries. NZ sellers on Squarespace must connect Stripe or PayPal for payment processing, at standard Stripe NZ rates (~2.65% + 30¢ per transaction).

What does Gumroad charge in 2026? Gumroad charges a flat 10% on direct sales with no monthly subscription.

Is 1% really cheaper than a “free” platform? Often, yes. “Free” platforms like WooCommerce charge nothing for the software but require paid hosting, a domain and usually premium plugins which ends up being $20–$50+/month combined. A 1% platform fee with no subscription costs nothing during slow months and only $10 on $1,000 in sales.

How does bank transfer actually work at checkout on Sendd? When a customer reaches checkout, they see bank transfer alongside card payment as an option. If they choose bank transfer, the payment is processed bank-to-bank with a flat 30¢ fee to the merchant. There’s no card network involved, so there’s no percentage-based processing charge. The customer doesn’t need to email bank details or do anything manual, its simply integrated into the checkout flow.

Can Sendd freeze my funds or hold my payouts? No. Sendd never holds your funds. Money goes from your customer directly to your own Stripe account (or your bank account on bank-transfer orders). Sendd charges the 1% platform fee separately. This is structurally different from platforms like Shopify, Etsy or Square, where the platform controls your funds and can place holds triggered by sales spikes, chargebacks or automated risk flags. Your own Stripe account can still be subject to Stripe’s standard risk management, but the key difference is removing the second, platform-controlled layer of withholding.

What happens to my payment processor if I leave Sendd? Nothing. Your Stripe account is yours. Your transaction history, saved customer cards, active subscriptions and processor relationship come with you. Compare this to Shopify Payments, where your payment history is tied to Shopify’s system, or Etsy and Gumroad, where you have no independent processor to take with you at all. Stripe also supports migrating card data between Stripe accounts if you need to move to a different commerce platform.

Should I factor in currency conversion when comparing platform costs? Yes. Most platforms bill subscriptions in USD. At current exchange rates (approximately 1 USD ≈ 1.65 NZD as of July 2026), a $39 USD/month Shopify plan costs roughly $64 NZD/month. Sendd’s 1% fee is charged in NZD on NZD sales, so there’s no conversion.

The bottom line

The platform you choose determines how much of every sale you actually keep, and who controls your money while you wait. For NZ sellers, two variables matter more than any headline price: whether your customers can pay by bank transfer (cutting processing from ~2.65% to a flat 30¢) and whether you own your payment processor or the platform does. On Sendd, both answers are in your favour.

Start a free Sendd store in 60 seconds and pay just 1%, no subscription.

By Maria Moreno, Growth at Sendd.

Competitor pricing checked against live pricing pages, July 2026. All claims link to their primary source where available. Figures are illustrative and should be re-verified before acting on them. Exchange rate used: 1 USD ≈ 1.65 NZD.