If you created your workspace from the app inside your Shopify admin, you pay for your MemberArea plan through Shopify. Shopify adds the plan to your Shopify bill, and your MemberArea follows whatever plan Shopify reports. This article covers that one money flow: what you pay for your own workspace. What your buyers pay you in the shop is a different topic, explained in Checking what a buyer gets.
Which workspaces Shopify bills
Only a workspace that was created with "Create workspace and choose a plan" in the app is billed by Shopify. It starts without a paid plan and gets one as soon as you pick a plan in Shopify. Until then, it runs on a restricted plan.
Connecting a workspace you already have to your shop, for example with a connection code, does not change how that workspace is billed. It keeps paying MemberArea directly. Both ways of connecting are described in Starting from the Shopify App Store.
Choose your plan in Shopify
Right after you create the workspace, the app takes you to the plans in Shopify. If that did not happen, use the link "Choose your plan in Shopify" in the app.
- Pick one of the plans: Starter, Professional or Business, each monthly or yearly.
- Approve the charge in Shopify.
- Shopify sends you back to the app, which shows "Confirming your plan with MemberArea." while it checks the plan with your workspace.
- When the check succeeds, the app shows "Your plan is active:" followed by the plan name, and reloads.
The plan sets your limits like any other MemberArea plan. A plan only counts once Shopify has confirmed the subscription. If Shopify is still processing it when you come back, the app shows "Shopify has not confirmed this plan yet. It is applied as soon as the subscription is active." This is not an error, and you do not need to approve the charge again. Your workspace picks the plan up as soon as Shopify reports the subscription as active.
Prices are set in Shopify and shown on its pricing page. Your Shopify bill is the place to check what you are charged.
What the Billing page shows
Open Settings, then Billing, at /admin/settings/billing. Instead of
the usual plan order, you see what Shopify manages for you:
| On the page | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Notice "This workspace is billed by Shopify." | Your plan, your payment method and your invoices live in your Shopify admin, not here. |
| Current plan | The plan Shopify confirmed last. |
| Billed by | The address of the shop whose bill carries your plan. |
| Next billing | The date Shopify charges you next. |
| Manage plan in Shopify | Opens the pricing page of the app in your Shopify admin. |
| Bill me by MemberArea instead | Moves your billing to MemberArea. Only the account owner sees it. |
The plan cards, the payment method button and the billing address are not shown, because Shopify handles all three.
Your invoices
The Invoices section says "Shopify charges this workspace with your Shopify bill, so your invoices are in your Shopify admin." Below it, the box Your invoices are in Shopify offers Open Shopify billing, which opens the bills page of your Shopify admin. Every charge for the app is listed there, and you download the bills from there. MemberArea does not issue its own invoices for a workspace that Shopify bills.
Change your plan
Press Manage plan in Shopify on the Billing page. The pricing page of the app opens in your Shopify admin, where you move to another plan or to another billing interval. Shopify charges the new plan on your Shopify bill, and your workspace takes over the new plan once Shopify reports it.
While Shopify bills your workspace, MemberArea does not take a plan order, a card or billing details for it. A link that would otherwise open a plan order opens the Billing page without an order dialog.
If your Shopify subscription ends
The subscription ends when you cancel it in Shopify or uninstall the app from your shop. Uninstalling also disconnects the shop, so new orders stop unlocking access. That part is covered in Disconnecting Shopify and deleting shop data.
Once Shopify reports the end, the Billing page changes:
- The notice reads "Your Shopify subscription is cancelled." with "Pick a plan again in Shopify to keep your workspace. Nothing has been deleted."
- The date line reads Access until instead of Next billing.
- The button reads Choose a plan in Shopify instead of Manage plan in Shopify.
Your workspace keeps working until the end of the period Shopify already charged for. After that date, it falls back to the restricted plan and the admin area is locked: admin pages lead to Your subscription has ended, where Reactivate plan takes you to Billing. Your content and your members stay. Pick a plan again with Choose a plan in Shopify, or move to MemberArea billing as described below.
Switch to MemberArea billing
You can stop paying through Shopify at any time and pay MemberArea directly. Only the account owner can do this.
- Open Settings, then Billing.
- Press Bill me by MemberArea instead.
- The dialog Switch billing to MemberArea? says "Nothing in your workspace changes." When Shopify has charged you for a period, it names the date that period runs until and says that your first MemberArea invoice starts after that.
- Press Switch to MemberArea billing.
The Billing page then works as for every other workspace: choose a plan and add a payment method there. When you choose a plan while the period Shopify charged for is still running, your first MemberArea billing period starts only after it ends, so you do not pay twice for the same days. What happens to a plan that has no time left is explained in Billing through Shopify.
The switch does not cancel the app subscription in Shopify. Cancel it in your Shopify admin yourself, otherwise Shopify keeps charging you for the app.
Disconnecting the shop and deleting the platform
While Shopify bills your workspace, you cannot disconnect the Shopify integration under Settings, then Integrations. The attempt is refused with "Switch billing to MemberArea before disconnecting Shopify." Switch to MemberArea billing first, then disconnect.
Deleting your platform does not end the Shopify billing either. Under Settings, then General, the section Delete Platform says so when you press Show details: "Deleting this platform does not stop your Shopify billing. Uninstall the app in your Shopify admin to end it." The same warning appears in the confirmation before you delete.