Recurring Application Charges (charge shop owners to use your app)

Recurring Application Charges (charge shop owners to use your app)

The Shopify billing API lets you create a recurring charge on a shop owner's account, letting them pay you for using your application. There are pros and cons to using the Shopify billing API versus a service like Stripe, BrainTree or PayPal.

I've put together a small guide called Shopify Billing 101: A Developer's Guide To Getting Paid For Your Apps, and you can get for free by joining the mailing list for Mastering Shopify Development (a training course for building Shopify apps with C# and ASP.NET).

Just head over here to get your free guide to the Shopify billing API.

Note that recurring charges are activated immediately after a user accepts them. At one time it was necessary to activate the charge after it was accepted, but Shopify has changed this behavior and it's no longer required or possible.

Create a recurring charge

var service = new RecurringChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);
var charge = new RecurringCharge()
{
    Name = "Lorem Ipsum Plan",
    Price = 12.34,
    Test = true, //Marks this charge as a test, meaning it won't charge the shop owner.
    TrialDays = 21
}

charge = await service.CreateAsync(charge);

Retrieve a recurring charge

var service = new RecurringChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);

var charge = await service.GetAsync(chargeId);

Listing recurring charges

var service = new RecurringChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);

IEnumerable<RecurringCharge> charges = await service.ListAsync();

Deleting a charge

Charges cannot be deleted unless they've been activated. Shopify automatically deletes pending charges after 48 hours pass without activation.

var service = new RecurringChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);

await service.DeleteAsync(chargeId);

One-time application charges

Just like with the above recurring charges, the Shopify billing API lets you create a one-time application charge on the shop owner's account. One-time charges cannot be deleted.

Create a one-time charge

var service = new ChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);
var charge = new Charge()
{
    Name = "Lorem Ipsum Charge",
    Price = 12.34,
    Test = true, //Marks this charge as a test, meaning it won't charge the shop owner.
}

charge = await service.CreateAsync(charge);

Retrieve a one-time charge

var service = new ChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);

var charge = await service.GetAsync(chargeId);

Listing one-time charges

var service = new ChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);

IEnumerable<Charge> charges = await service.ListAsync();

Activating a charge

Just like recurring charges, creating a one-time charge does not actually charge the shop owner. You need to send them to the charge's ConfirmationUrl, have them accept the charge, then activate it.

var service = new ChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);

await service.ActivateAsync(chargeId);

Usage charges

Shopify's Usage Charges let you set a capped amount on a recurring application charge, and only charge for usage. For example, you can create a charge that's capped at $100.00 per month, and then charge e.g. $1.00 for every 1000 emails your user sends using your app.

To create a UsageCharge, you first need to create a RecurringCharge with a CappedAmount value and a Terms string. Your customers will see the terms when activating the recurring charge, so set it to something they can read like "$1.00 per 1000 emails".

Create a usage charge

var service = new UsageChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);

string description = "Used 1000 emails";
double price = 1.00;

var usageCharge = await service.CreateAsync(recurringChargeId, description, price);

Get a usage charge

var service = new UsageChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);

var usageCharge = await service.GetAsync(recurringChargeId, usageChargeId);

List usage charges

var service = new UsageChargeService(myShopifyUrl, shopAccessToken);

var usageCharges = await service.ListAsync(recurringChargeId);