Enable a local payment method in Shopify
A local payment method is the way customers in one country expect to pay: iDEAL in the Netherlands, Bancontact in Belgium. Shopify shows the eligible methods on a payments card in your market settings, and you activate or deactivate each one from that card. Only some stores can process in the customer's local currency, so check that first.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 5 minutes read
The worked example
| Market | Europe, Netherlands only |
| Method | iDEAL |
| Order | €85.00 of products, €6.50 shipping |
| Order total | €91.50 |
| Local currency processing | Shopify Payments or Adyen as primary gateway |
| Setting | Markets > market > payments card |
Download the record: local-payment-methods.csv (120 bytes).
A market sheet for the methods in this tutorial, with the country, the method, and the example order total for each. Both markets use the same €91.50 example order.
1Open Markets
From your Shopify admin, go to Markets. Your market settings include a payments card that displays eligible local payment methods, as well as a link to your payment settings where you can activate and customize a variety of payment methods.
2Open the market
Open the market that contains the country you want to serve. When a market contains a country that is eligible for one or more local payment methods, then a payments card is displayed in your market settings with the available local payment methods. For example, if you have a market for Europe that only contains Belgium, then Bancontact is available on the payments card.
3Check the currency rule
Only stores with Shopify Payments or Adyen as the primary gateway can process payments in a customer's local currency. If you use a different payment provider, then the local currency feature will only affect how prices are displayed to customers in your store, and the payment itself is processed in your store currency.
4Activate the method
From the payments card, you can activate or deactivate an eligible local payment method. Activate iDEAL for the Netherlands market, and Bancontact for the market that contains Belgium. If you have a market for Europe that contains both Belgium and Netherlands, then both Bancontact and iDEAL are available on the payments card.
5Place a test order
Check out in that market and confirm the local method appears at checkout. In this tutorial an €85.00 order with €6.50 shipping totals €91.50, and the customer pays it with iDEAL in euros.
The arithmetic
The order total is the same in both markets, so the check is that the method, not the money, changes:
| Market | Products + shipping | Method | Customer pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | €85.00 + €6.50 | iDEAL | €91.50 |
| Belgium | €85.00 + €6.50 | Bancontact | €91.50 |
| Netherlands + Belgium | €85.00 + €6.50 | Both | €91.50 |
€85.00 plus €6.50 is €91.50 in every row. The local method changes how the customer pays; it does not change the total. If the market's currency differs from your store currency, the amount the customer sees is converted, so check the converted total before you rely on it.
Held at the counter
A market with two countries shows two methods. If you have a market for Europe that contains both Belgium and Netherlands, then both Bancontact and iDEAL are available on the payments card. Do not split a market into single-country markets just to see one method: the card shows every eligible method for the countries in the market.
Display is not processing. If you use a different payment provider from Shopify Payments or Adyen, then the local currency feature will only affect how prices are displayed to customers in your store. The customer sees euros but pays in your store currency, which is a different experience from paying in euros.
The method follows the market, not the customer. A local payment method is eligible because the market contains its country. A customer shopping from a country outside your markets does not see that country's method, even if they would prefer it.
Sources
- Payments — Shopify's help pages: the market payments card, the Bancontact and iDEAL examples, and the local currency processing rule.