Web design and development
Shopify Store in Pakistan: Payments, COD and Couriers
The short answer
You can open a Shopify store from Pakistan, but Shopify Payments is not offered there, so card payments need a third-party gateway and most orders will probably be cash on delivery. Decide the payment gateway, the cash on delivery process and the courier before you design anything, because they set your fees, your cash flow and your daily workload.
Can you run a Shopify store from Pakistan?
Yes, you can run a Shopify store from Pakistan, but you cannot use Shopify Payments there. Shopify's own supported-countries page lists 40 countries and territories for Shopify Payments, and Pakistan is not among them. The page says that if your country is not listed, "you need to use a third-party payment provider."
That one fact decides the order of work. Most "how to start a Shopify store" guides begin with the theme and the products. In Pakistan, begin with three questions: how will customers pay, how will you collect cash, and which courier will carry the parcels. The answers set your fees, how soon you see your money and how many hours a day someone spends on reconciliation.
The pages that rank for this question are mostly Shopify Community threads and app listings. The staff answers in the best-known thread are from March and September 2020, when Shopify named a handful of gateways and said it could not pay out in Pakistani rupees. This guide uses Shopify's current help pages, checked on November 5, 2026, and marks what we could not confirm.
What does a Shopify store cost to run in Pakistan?
The platform fee is the smaller, more predictable part. Shopify's Pakistan pricing page, checked November 5, 2026, lists these plans in US dollars:
| Plan | Billed yearly (per month) | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | US$19 | US$25 |
| Grow | US$49 | US$65 |
| Advanced | US$299 | US$399 |
| Plus | not listed | from US$2,300 |
The page shows no rupee prices. Several local guides print "Basic is US$39 a month" and convert it to PKR, but that is not what Shopify's page showed today, so convert the dollar figure at your own bank's rate on the day you pay and ask the bank what it charges for a foreign-currency card payment.
Four other costs sit on top of the plan:
- Third-party transaction fees. Shopify's help centre says they "apply to all transactions processed through third-party and alternate payment gateways." The rate depends on your plan; Shopify's pages do not print it, so read it in your admin before you pick a plan.
- The gateway's own fees. Shopify's payment gateways page says "each payment gateway sets its own pricing," and that there are no fees to connect a gateway to Shopify. The PayFast Gateway App listing, for instance, is "free to install," says additional charges may apply and describes transaction fees that "vary from merchant to merchant."
- Apps. A courier app is a monthly cost (see below).
- The build. Theme setup, product upload, payment and courier wiring, and tracking. We did not find a Pakistani firm that publishes a Shopify build price on a page that loaded cleanly today, and the self-published figures in search snippets did not survive a check. For sourced PKR ranges for online stores, see what a website costs in Pakistan. Those are general e-commerce packages, not Shopify-specific.
How do you take payments on Shopify in Pakistan?
You take payments through a third-party gateway for cards and wallets, and through a manual payment method for cash on delivery. Shopify lists over 100 providers, and its payment gateways page has a "type in your country" filter for Pakistan. Check that filter first, because the answer changes and no blog, including this one, stays current.
What we found, and how far to trust it:
| Option | What we confirmed | What we could not confirm |
|---|---|---|
| PayFast Gateway App | Listed in the Shopify App Store by Devsinc; card, account and wallet payments; free to install, other charges may apply; 5.0 from 4 reviews | The fee rate; the listing text does not state one |
| Safepay, Easypaisa, JazzCash | Only build-to-order pages from one agency vendor, which says there is no public App Store listing | An official Shopify listing or Shopify-supported integration |
| 2Checkout, Payoneer | Named in a March 2025 community reply by a merchant, not a Shopify employee | That they accept a Pakistani merchant today; in 2020 merchants in the same community reported 2Checkout asking for sales history |
Two cautions apply to every gateway. First, a gateway that "installs" is not a gateway that has approved your business: you still need an approved merchant account in your own name, usually with business documents, and approval times are the gateway's, not Shopify's. Second, Shopify's pricing page says showing local currencies and accepting local payment methods both require Shopify Payments, so a store that takes PKR through a third-party gateway has to handle currency on the gateway side. Test a real small payment, a refund and a failed payment before you launch.
How does cash on delivery work on Shopify?
Cash on delivery works as a manual payment method: the customer places the order at no charge, the courier collects cash at the door, and you mark the order paid afterwards. It matters more than most guides admit. TechCrunch reported in August 2024 that in Pakistan "95% of transactions are paid with cash on delivery," so for many stores it is not a side option but the main payment.
Shopify's help page on manual payments describes the mechanics:
- In Settings, then Payments, choose a manual payment method and add instructions that show on the order confirmation page.
- Orders paid this way are marked unpaid (Pending) on the Orders page.
- When the money arrives, you mark the order as paid and fulfil it as normal.
- Shopify does not charge third-party transaction fees on manual payments.
Three limits are worth knowing. "Cash on Delivery (COD)" is a reserved name, so a custom method has to be called something else. If Shopify manages your US sales tax you cannot accept manual payments. And taking manual payments in several currencies needs Shopify Payments, which you do not have in Pakistan. Shopify's page also tells you to confirm the payment instructions with your delivery service before you switch the method on.
The unpaid status is where the work hides. Every COD order stays Pending until someone matches it to a courier statement, so a store with 40 orders a day has 40 lines to reconcile, plus returns. Decide who does it, and how often, before you open.
Which couriers work with Shopify in Pakistan?
Several courier apps connect Shopify to Pakistani couriers; none is a substitute for a courier contract. In the Shopify App Store today:
| App | Couriers it works with | Price shown on the listing |
|---|---|---|
| Courierfy (by GrowZar) | BlueEx, Dex, Leopards, PostEx, TCS, Trax | US$9.99 a month (up to 2,000 bookings), US$19.99 (unlimited), US$99.99 (adds ERP and webhooks); 5.0 from 24 reviews |
| Karachi Courier | Karachi Courier only | Free to install; delivery charged per shipment outside Shopify; launched July 23, 2026; no reviews yet |
An app books parcels, prints labels and syncs tracking. It does not set your delivery rate, your COD fee or your payout date; those come from the courier. Ask each courier for the same five things in writing: the delivery charge by weight and city, the COD handling fee, how many days after delivery cash reaches you, what it charges for a return, and how it treats a refused parcel.
On payout timing, the only sourced figure we found is TechCrunch's: courier companies "take 10 to 15 days to settle those transactions," while PostEx offers "upfront payments against cash-on-delivery orders," but "only gives them credit if they use its logistics service." We found no official schedule for TCS or Leopards, and the product pages we could read for PostEx did not state settlement terms. Treat any single number you read in a blog as a question for the courier.
What do guides leave out about cash flow?
They leave out that cash on delivery is a working-capital loan to your customers. If you pay a supplier or run ads on day one and cash arrives 10 to 15 days after dispatch, as TechCrunch reports, you carry that gap for every order, and refused parcels cost the delivery charge on top.
Work it through for your own numbers before you scale ads. Take your daily orders, multiply by the average order value and by the days to settlement, and that is the cash you need on hand to keep selling. If you advertise on Meta, our guide to Facebook ads that get clicks but no sales explains why the purchase event has to be correct before you spend, and a COD store has one extra wrinkle: an order is not a paid order. Count delivered and paid orders when you judge an ad, not placed orders. Meta Ads versus Google Ads covers which channel suits a store that is just opening.
1920 Agency runs Meta ads for the Muzaree store, optimised for purchases, and the lesson carries over: decide what counts as a sale before the first rupee is spent.
What should you set up, in what order?
Set up the money and logistics first and the storefront second. This order avoids the usual rework:
- Choose the gateway and apply. Use Shopify's country filter, then apply for the merchant account in your business's name. Approval takes as long as it takes.
- Agree courier terms. Get delivery rates, COD fee, payout days and return rules in writing from two couriers.
- Switch on cash on delivery as a manual payment method with clear instructions, and test an order end to end.
- Pick the plan after you know the third-party fee rate in your admin.
- Connect the courier app and book a test parcel.
- Build the storefront to the policies you have just fixed: delivery times, COD rules, returns.
- Set up tracking so orders, paid status and ad events agree.
If you want the store built that way, with the payment, courier and tracking wiring included in a scope you can read line by line, see our web design and development service. 1920 Agency is based in Islamabad, with locations in Rawalpindi and Lahore, and does not publish prices; it maps the job first and then quotes.
Sources
All pages checked November 5, 2026 unless stated.
- Shopify Help Center, Supported countries for Shopify Payments
- Shopify Help Center, Manual payment methods (cash on delivery)
- Shopify Help Center, Third-party payment providers
- Shopify, Payment gateways (country filter)
- Shopify Pakistan, pricing
- Shopify Community, Shopify Payments in Pakistan (staff posts March and September 2020)
- Shopify Community, What's the best payment gateway for receiving payments in Pakistan? (March 2025)
- Shopify App Store, PayFast Gateway App
- Shopify App Store, Courierfy
- Shopify App Store, Karachi Courier
- TechCrunch, Pakistan's PostEx to enter new markets, starting with Saudi Arabia (Jagmeet Singh, August 19, 2024)
- PostEx
Frequently asked questions
Can I open a Shopify store in Pakistan?
Yes. Shopify bills its plans in US dollars (Basic is US$19 a month billed yearly on its Pakistan pricing page, checked November 5, 2026), and you pay with a card that handles dollar charges. What you cannot do is use Shopify Payments, which Shopify offers only in the countries on its supported list, and Pakistan is not on it.
Is Shopify Payments available in Pakistan?
No. Shopify's supported-countries page lists 40 countries and territories and Pakistan is not one of them. Shopify says that if your country is not listed you need a third-party payment provider. Shopify staff said the same in the Shopify Community in 2020, and nothing on the current pages changes it.
How do I accept cash on delivery on Shopify?
Turn on a manual payment method in Settings, then Payments. Shopify marks each such order as unpaid (Pending) until you mark it paid, normally after the courier hands over the cash. Shopify does not charge its third-party transaction fee on manual payments, but you have to reconcile each order against the courier's statement.
Which payment gateway works with Shopify in Pakistan?
Shopify lists over 100 providers and filters them by country on its payment gateways page, so check that list for Pakistan before you apply. One local option we found in the Shopify App Store today is the PayFast Gateway App, which is free to install, says additional charges may apply and has four reviews. We could not confirm an official Shopify listing for Safepay, Easypaisa or JazzCash.
Does Shopify charge extra when I use a third-party gateway?
Yes. Shopify's help centre says third-party transaction fees apply to all transactions processed through third-party gateways, with the rate set by your plan. The gateway also charges its own fees, and Shopify says each gateway sets its own pricing. Read your plan's rate in the admin and the gateway's rate in its contract.
How long do couriers take to pay out cash on delivery?
TechCrunch reported in August 2024 that courier companies in Pakistan take 10 to 15 days to settle cash on delivery transactions, and that PostEx offers upfront payment against COD orders if the merchant uses its logistics. We found no official settlement schedule for TCS or Leopards, so ask each courier for its terms in writing.
How do I connect Pakistani couriers to Shopify?
Use a courier app from the Shopify App Store or the courier's own integration. Courierfy lists PostEx, TCS, Leopards, BlueEx, Dex and Trax and charges US$9.99, US$19.99 or US$99.99 a month depending on the plan. Karachi Courier's free app ships only with Karachi Courier and bills delivery per shipment outside Shopify.
Does 1920 Agency publish Shopify store prices?
No. 1920 Agency is based in Islamabad and quotes after mapping the job: products, payments, couriers, tracking and who maintains the store. The quote lists what is included so you can compare it line by line.