Shopify with UPI, cash on delivery and GST: what works and what to set up

Does Shopify work in India?

Yes. Shopify works for stores based in India, and its India pricing page lists the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans. The main difference is payments. India isn't on Shopify's list of countries where Shopify Payments is supported, so you use a third-party payment provider instead. We checked the platform facts below against each provider's own documentation on 25 Oct 2026.

We're a Shopify Partner and build stores on Shopify. In our Shopify store development work, a new store setup covers structure, theme, products, collections, payments, shipping and taxes. We can only set up what you've decided, so this guide is about those decisions.

What changes without Shopify Payments

Without Shopify Payments, two things change: who processes each payment, and what Shopify charges. A third-party payment provider, a company other than Shopify, processes the payments, and you activate or change it from the Payments page of your admin.

Shopify says third-party transaction fees apply to all transactions processed through third-party gateways. That fee is Shopify's, separate from anything your provider charges, and its rate for each plan is on Shopify's pricing page. Ask each provider for its written rate card too, and compare the cost per order with both charges included.

How to take UPI and card payments on Shopify

UPI and card payments reach your Shopify checkout through a payment provider's Shopify app. Three Indian providers that document their apps publicly, alphabetically and as examples only:

• Cashfree Payments. Its Shopify documentation describes two apps. 1Cashfree takes UPI, cards, net banking and wallets. The Cards app takes only credit and debit cards, inside Shopify's own checkout. Cashfree notes that UPI is offered only when the order currency is Indian rupees.
• PayU. Its Shopify guide says the customer is taken to PayU to pay, then sent back to Shopify. Refunds for PayU payments can be started from the Shopify dashboard.
• Razorpay. Its app is the All-in-one Razorpay Payment Gateway, for UPI, cards, wallets and netbanking. Its prerequisites ask for your website to be reviewed before you connect, and only Razorpay account owners can connect it. Stores connected before 28 April 2022 are asked to upgrade to this app.

KYC (know your customer) is the set of identity and business checks a provider runs before you can take payments; Cashfree, for example, requires it. So open the provider account well before the store is finished, then ask each provider the same questions in writing:

• What does it charge for UPI, for cards and for refunds?
• Does the customer stay in Shopify's checkout, or go to the provider's page and come back?
• Can you refund from the Shopify admin, or only from the provider's dashboard?
• Is there a test mode, so you can place a test order before launch?
• Do payments from abroad need a separate activation?

Cash on delivery on Shopify is a manual payment method

Cash on delivery works on Shopify as a manual payment method, activated under Settings > Payments rather than through your provider. Each order shows as unpaid until you receive the money and mark it paid on the order details page. Shopify says you aren't charged third-party transaction fees for manual payments.

So someone on your team matches the cash your courier passes on to each order and marks it paid. Decide who, and what happens when a customer refuses a parcel at the door.

Limiting cash on delivery, say above a set order value, needs a payment customisation app on at least the Basic plan. The same kind of app hides, renames or reorders payment methods at checkout.

Order updates on WhatsApp

The sample checkout on our e-commerce development page shows the flow: UPI or cash on delivery, then a WhatsApp update. Meta sets two rules here. Businesses must get opt-in before messaging people on WhatsApp. And order updates fall under Meta's utility templates, which must be non-promotional, so an order update with a promo counts as marketing.

GST on Shopify: what Shopify sets and what your accountant decides

Shopify's GST in India FAQ says its initial GST settings are only a starting point, not meant for use until reviewed and updated. The same page notes that GST was updated on 22 Sep 2025, so treat older guides with care. The settings live under Settings > Taxes and duties (set-up steps). What Shopify does, and what it leaves to you:

• Sales within your state and outside it. Within your state, GST is split into central and state parts (CGST and SGST); sales to other states carry a single IGST. Shopify can't set several tax lines, so it suggests one combined rate for sales within your state.
• Products at different rates. You create a hidden collection for each tax category, add its products, and override the tax rate for that collection.
• HSN codes. Shopify says you can store a product's HSN code in its HS tariff code field, which needs at least six digits. Your accountant confirms which code each product takes.
• Invoices. Shopify doesn't create a GST-compliant bill. It points you to a local third-party GST invoicing service or an app from the Shopify App Store.
• Filing. Shopify helps automate your taxes, but it doesn't remit or file them for you.

Your accountant decides the rates, the registration and what an invoice must show. The store setup then follows their answers.

Shipping in India: a courier app makes the labels

For a store based in India, shipping labels come from your courier or an aggregator, not from Shopify Shipping. Shopify lists the countries whose locations can buy Shopify Shipping labels, and India isn't one of them.

Inside Shopify, you still set where you ship and what you charge, in shipping profiles that hold zones and rates. A courier's own app then fetches orders for that one courier, while an aggregator connects one account to several couriers. As examples, Delhivery documents its own Shopify connection, and Shiprocket's Shopify app is an aggregator.

Check what syncs back to Shopify before you choose. Delhivery's page, last updated 1 Dec 2023, says its connection marks orders completed in Shopify but doesn't detect returns and refunds. So ask every courier app which order changes reach Shopify, and which pin codes it serves for cash on delivery.

Selling abroad from a store based in India

You can sell abroad, but with most payment providers, customers there pay in your store's default currency. Shopify's Markets requirements say that to accept payments in several currencies, you need Shopify Payments or Adyen as your processor. With any other processor, customers in all markets pay in your store's default currency.

In Shopify Markets, a market can be activated only for countries that have shipping rates, so the courier decision comes first. Your provider has its own step too: Razorpay, for example, has existing users activate international payments separately.

Duties and customs codes are covered in our guide to what to settle before you launch your first online store. Start with one country abroad, and add others once it works.

What to decide before you build

Each setting below needs your decision before it can be set up.

Two more decisions sit outside the table: who runs the store each day, and whose name the Shopify account is in. If a developer needs access, see our note on collaborator and staff accounts. Most growing brands don't need Shopify Plus. If you're still choosing a platform, compare Shopify and WooCommerce first.

When you don't need a Shopify store yet

Next step: fill in the "What you decide" column, mark anything open as "Not decided", and tell us about the store. We'll reply within 24 hours with questions or a time for a call, and a written quote follows.

Reviewed and edited by Online Scope before publishing. Something out of date? Tell us at info@onlinescope.in. How we write the Blog.