International Selling
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Common Questions
Is Managed Markets worth it for a brand doing under $5M in international sales, or is that too small to justify the fee?
Managed Markets costs 3.25% per transaction on Shopify Plus and 3.5% on Basic, Grow or Advanced, plus a 1.5% currency conversion fee (Shopify, September 2026). Under $5M international that fee is smaller than one compliance hire. The real disqualifier is category: more than 30 product classes carry restrictions, and duties are never refunded after fulfillment.
What's the honest, non-vendor-spin answer to 'should a $30M-GMV Shopify brand use Managed Markets', not Shopify's own pitch?
Managed Markets charges a $30M-GMV Shopify Plus brand 3.25% per transaction plus 1.5% currency conversion, on top of Shopify Payments processing (Shopify, September 2026). Shopify's own 40% uplift claim comes from an EY study with no control group. The honest test is whether international is large enough to staff, not whether the fee looks high.
What's Flow Commerce, and is it a real alternative to Shopify Managed Markets/Global-e?
Flow Commerce is not an alternative to Managed Markets. Global-e acquired Flow in a deal valued at up to approximately $500 million and runs it as its SMB division (Global-e investor release, closing announced January 2022). Global-e is also the merchant of record behind Managed Markets, so both routes end at the same company.
Does Managed Markets support B2B/wholesale international orders, or is it DTC-only?
Managed Markets does not support B2B orders. Shopify states plainly: "B2B orders aren't supported by Managed Markets. You need to act as your own merchant of record for B2B orders" (Shopify Help Center, September 2026). International wholesale runs through Shopify B2B with markets and your own tax registrations.
Is Managed Markets exclusive to Shopify Plus, or can Advanced-plan merchants use it too?
Managed Markets is not Plus-exclusive. Shopify requires the Basic plan or higher, an online store, and Shopify Payments, and prices the fee at 3.5% for Basic, Grow and Advanced stores versus 3.25% on Plus (Shopify, September 2026). The real gate is geography: the business must be based in the continental United States, Canada or the United Kingdom.
Is there a Managed Markets case study showing real before/after conversion-rate numbers for a mid-market brand?
No published Managed Markets case study reports a controlled before-and-after conversion rate. The EY study Shopify commissioned covers 567 organizations over 24 months, 12 months pre-adoption and up to 12 post, with no control group, and EY notes about 60% of companies have only six months of post-adoption data (EY, September 2026).