Zest uses a simple, transparent pricing model with two components: a fixed monthly subscription and a usage-based transaction fee that only applies to specific order types. This article explains how fees are structured, what triggers them, how they're billed, and what you and your customers will see at checkout.
Overview: Zest's Pricing Model
Zest pricing has two parts:
Monthly subscription fee — a flat fee that covers your Zest plan, including all features. This is billed on a recurring basis through your Shopify account.
Transaction fee — a percentage-based fee applied only to orders processed through Zest-powered experiences, such as the Multiship Checkout flow.
There are no setup, onboarding, or integration fees. All features are included in your plan with no add-on charges.
Gift Notes only: If you use the Gift Notes app on its own (without Multiship Checkout), your pricing is a flat monthly subscription with no per-order transaction fee.
Transaction Fee: What It Is and How It's Calculated
The transaction fee is a percentage of the order subtotal — defined as the total cost of products plus shipping, after any discounts have been applied, but before sales tax.
Example: On an order with $145 in products and $75 in shipping ($220 total), the transaction fee would be calculated on $220. If a discount reduces that amount, the fee is calculated on the discounted total — not the original price.
The fee rate is configured for your account as part of your Zest contract. Contact Zest support for questions about your specific rate.
Note: The fee is always calculated on the post-discount, pre-tax subtotal plus shipping. If you believe fees are being calculated on pre-discount amounts, contact Zest support to verify your configuration.
Who Pays the Fee: Configuration Options
For consumer multiship orders, the transaction fee is typically absorbed by the brand. Because consumers are more price-sensitive, passing the fee through to shoppers can negatively impact conversion rates.
Your options include:
Brand absorbs the fee: The fee is recorded on the backend and collected through your Shopify billing. Customers see no additional charge at checkout.
Pass-through to customer: The fee appears as a line item in the customer's checkout summary. Contact Zest support to configure this.
Split between brand and customer: A portion of the fee is passed to the customer and the remainder is absorbed by the brand.
Alcohol and wine brands: Regulatory restrictions in some jurisdictions may prevent passing transaction fees to customers at checkout. If you sell alcohol or wine, consult local regulations before enabling fee pass-through and contact Zest support to discuss your options.
California brands: California law requires fees to be disclosed upfront rather than added at checkout. If you have customers in California, speak with your legal counsel and contact Zest support. Zest is evaluating compliance approaches for future releases.
How Fees Appear at Checkout (Customer-Facing Display)
At checkout, the multiship checkout summary displays your order broken down into three lines:
Products: Total cost of items ordered, after discounts.
Shipping: Total shipping cost, after any shipping discounts.
Tax: Sales tax calculated for the order.
When a transaction fee is passed through to the customer, it appears as a separate line item in the checkout summary after the customer enters recipient information.
If you've enabled fee pass-through and customers ask about the fee line, you can add a custom tooltip in your checkout to explain what the charge is.
Note: If no tax applies to an order but a fee does, the fee still appears as its own line item — the amount shown is entirely the platform fee, not tax.
How Fees Appear in Shopify (Backend Reconciliation)
The transaction fee does not automatically appear as a line item in your individual Shopify orders. The fee is recorded through Shopify's usage billing system and appears on your Shopify bill as a usage charge at the end of each billing period — separate from individual order records.
This means your Shopify order total may appear lower than the amount actually collected. To reconcile:
Use your Zest dashboard alongside your Shopify orders to review full order details.
Contact Zest support if you'd like a Fees line item added to your Shopify order records for easier reconciliation.
Multiship vs. Gift Note Fee Differences
| Gift Notes (Single Recipient) | Multiship Checkout (Multi-Recipient) |
Monthly fee | Flat monthly subscription | Flat monthly subscription |
Per-order transaction fee | None | Percentage of subtotal + shipping |
Fee billed to | Brand (subscription only) | Brand (via Shopify billing) |
Customer sees fee at checkout | No | Only if pass-through is configured |
When the Fee Is Triggered
The transaction fee is triggered when a Multiship Checkout Parent Order is completed and paid.
Multiship orders (multi-recipient checkout): The fee is triggered when the customer completes checkout through the Multiship flow, regardless of how many recipients are included.
Single-recipient gift note orders: No transaction fee. These are covered by the monthly subscription.
Standard D2C orders on your Shopify store: No Zest transaction fee.
FAQ and Edge Cases
Q: What does the Zest transaction fee cover?
The transaction fee is a usage-based charge for orders processed through Zest-powered experiences. It covers the platform infrastructure, checkout experience, and order routing for multiship orders.
Q: Does the fee apply to test orders?
The fee is triggered when a Multiship Parent Order is paid. If you're running test orders, coordinate with Zest support to ensure test transactions are handled correctly and no accidental charges are recorded.
Q: Can I negotiate my fee rate?
Yes. Zest offers flexible pricing with two adjustable components: the monthly subscription fee and the transaction percentage. Contact Zest support or your account manager to discuss your options at contract renewal or when your business needs change.
Q: Is the fee calculated on pre-discount or post-discount amounts?
The fee is calculated on the post-discount subtotal — after discounts are applied to both products and shipping — and before sales tax. If you believe a test order calculated the fee on the pre-discount amount, contact Zest support to verify your configuration.
Q: My finance team thinks we're being charged tax at checkout — what should I tell them?
The checkout displays tax as its own line item, separate from any platform fees. If a pass-through fee is enabled, it may appear in the same checkout section as tax, which can cause confusion. You can add a custom tooltip to the checkout to clarify what each charge includes.
Q: We manage multiple brands on one platform. Can each brand have its own fee SKU?
Yes, but this requires configuration by the Zest team on a case-by-case basis. Contact Zest support to discuss your multi-brand setup.
Q: Is the Gift Notes subscription included in a corporate gifting plan?
For brands on a corporate gifting plan, Gift Notes may be included at no additional cost or bundled at a discount. Contact your Zest account manager to confirm what's included in your plan.
Source material states: Brands can pass the full fee to customers, absorb it entirely, or split it in any combination — configured by the Zest team.
Codebase finding: No pass-through, split, or absorb logic was found in the application code. The only fee-related configuration is a multishipUsageFee (percentage or flat amount) charged to the merchant through Shopify usage records. There is no customer-facing fee split mechanism in the code reviewed.
Recommendation: If pass-through/split is a real, live feature, it may be handled in a different codebase, a Shopify Flow, or a manual process by the Zest team. Confirm with engineering before publishing Section 3.
4. Fee calculation base — confirmed pre-tax, post-discount
Confirmed: The usage fee is calculated on subtotal + shipping (post-discount, pre-tax) in usageChargeHandler.ts. This matches the source material's description of "products + shipping, after discounts, before taxes." The contradictory data points mentioned in the source material are resolved: the standard is definitively pre-tax.
5. Single gift order fee exemption — confirmed
Confirmed: Single-recipient gift note orders do not trigger the usage fee. The code explicitly excludes them from the fee-triggering event path. This matches the source material.
6. Single-address orders through Multiship flow — confirmed as fee-triggering
Confirmed: The fee fires per Parent Order ID when a Multiship Parent Order is paid. There is no logic in the codebase to check the number of recipients before triggering the fee — a single-address order placed through the Multiship flow does trigger the fee. This matches the edge case described in the source material.
7. Tax in fee calculation base — resolved
Resolved: Tax is NOT included in the fee calculation base. The code calculates the fee on subtotal + shipping only. The taxes field is tracked separately and is not passed to the fee calculation function. The source material's contradictory data points about whether tax is included are resolved — the answer is definitively no.