How to set up Razorpay on Shopify (and get approved first time)

If you sell on Shopify in India, you need a third-party payment gateway. Shopify’s built-in Shopify Payments isn’t on its list of supported countries for India, so you’ll accept UPI, cards and netbanking through a provider like Razorpay, PhonePe PG or Cashfree.

Razorpay is a common choice, and connecting it to Shopify is mostly straightforward. The step that holds people up isn’t the app. It’s getting the Razorpay account approved. This guide covers both, in the order you should do them.

Before you start: what you’ll need

• A Shopify store you own, with you as the store owner. Razorpay’s app asks you to log in with the store owner’s credentials.
• Business KYC documents. What Razorpay asks for depends on your business type (individual, proprietorship, partnership, company). Have your PAN, bank account details and business proof ready; Razorpay’s dashboard tells you exactly what it needs for your type.
• A website that’s ready to be reviewed. This is the big one, covered next.

Step 1: Get your website ready for Razorpay’s review

Razorpay checks your website before it activates live payments. Its website details guide says your live website should have links to:

• About us
• Contact us
• Pricing details (your product prices should be visible)
• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Cancellation and refunds policy

Razorpay also asks for a sample invoice, and says it runs checks on your policy pages. So before you submit:

1. Make the store public. Remove the Shopify password page, or Razorpay can’t see it. (You can keep checkout in test mode while it reviews.)
2. Add real products with prices. A store full of “Example product” won’t pass as a working business.
3. Write the policy pages and link them in your footer. Shopify can generate policy templates under Settings → Policies, but edit them so they match how you actually handle refunds, shipping and cancellations. Generic copy-paste text is worth avoiding.
4. Put real contact details on the Contact page: a business email, phone number and address that match your KYC.
5. Make sure the business name matches. The name on your website, your KYC documents and your bank account should line up, or explain the difference (for example, a brand name vs a registered name).

If you don’t have a website yet, Razorpay notes that Payment Links and Invoices can be used without one. That can be a stopgap for Instagram sellers, but it isn’t a store checkout.

Step 2: Create your Razorpay account and complete KYC

Sign up at Razorpay, choose your business type, and fill in the activation form with your business details, bank account and website URL. Upload the documents it asks for.

How long approval takes is up to Razorpay, not you or your developer. If Razorpay asks for clarification, reply quickly. That’s the main thing you can do to speed it up.

Step 3: Install the Razorpay app on Shopify

Razorpay’s Shopify integration steps describe the current flow. In short:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Payments.
2. Choose Add payment method and search for Razorpay. The app is listed as All-in-one Razorpay Payment Gateway (it used to be called 1Razorpay).
3. Install it and log in to Razorpay using your store owner credentials, as the docs instruct.
4. Activate the payment method.

That’s the whole installation. Shopify doesn’t need code changes for this.

Step 4: Test before you go live

Razorpay’s docs recommend testing in test mode first:

1. Turn on Test mode for the Razorpay payment method in Shopify.
2. Place an order on your store and pay with Razorpay’s test UPI IDs: success@razorpay for a successful payment and failure@razorpay for a failed one.
3. Check the order in Shopify, and check the payment in your Razorpay Dashboard → Transactions. A successful payment should show as captured.

Razorpay’s docs also suggest setting Shopify’s checkout to ask for the customer’s phone number or email (Settings → Checkout), so payment details carry through properly.

Test a failed payment too. You want to see what a customer sees when UPI fails, and confirm no order is wrongly marked as paid.

Step 5: Go live

Once Razorpay has approved your account:

1. Untick test mode in the Razorpay payment method settings in Shopify.
2. Make sure your Razorpay account is in Live mode.
3. Place one small real order with your own UPI or card, then refund it, so you know both directions work.

What it costs

Two fees apply to each online payment:

• Razorpay’s fee. Razorpay’s India pricing page lists a 2% platform fee per successful domestic transaction (including UPI), plus 18% GST on that fee, with no setup or annual maintenance fee. It lists settlement as T+1 by default.
• Shopify’s third-party transaction fee. Because you’re not using Shopify Payments, Shopify charges its own third-party transaction fee: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced. Shopify says this fee isn’t refunded if you refund the order.

So on a ₹1,000 prepaid order on Shopify Basic, payment-related fees come to about ₹43.60 (₹20 to Razorpay, ₹3.60 GST on that, ₹20 to Shopify). The full breakdown is in my post on what a Shopify store costs in India.

Alternatives: PhonePe PG and Cashfree

You don’t have to use Razorpay, and some brands add a second gateway as a backup.

• PhonePe PG. PhonePe has a Shopify plugin guide: you install “PhonePe PG” from Settings → Payments in Shopify and connect it through the PhonePe Business dashboard.
• Cashfree. Cashfree’s Shopify docs cover its “1CashfreePayments” app, which also needs KYC and has a test mode.

Each gateway runs its own KYC and website review, and sets its own fees, so compare them on their official pricing pages. Shopify’s transaction fee applies to all of them.

Don’t forget cash on delivery

Many Indian shoppers like to pay on delivery, so many brands offer COD alongside online payments. In Shopify, you turn it on under Settings → Payments → manual payment methods. Shopify’s help centre confirms you aren’t charged third-party transaction fees on manual payments like COD.

COD orders are marked as payment pending until you mark them as paid, and refused COD parcels cost you shipping both ways. Many brands use an order confirmation tool (for example Shiprocket Engage on WhatsApp) to confirm COD orders before shipping.

Having COD switched on also means you can start taking orders while your gateway is still being reviewed.

If approval is slow or something’s rejected

• Read the reason carefully. If Razorpay tells you what’s missing, fix that specific thing first.
• Re-check the website list in Step 1. Missing or placeholder policy pages, hidden prices, or a password-protected store are easy to miss.
• Check that names match across your website, KYC and bank account.
• Turn on COD in the meantime, so you can still sell.
• Consider a second gateway like PhonePe PG or Cashfree if you need online payments urgently.

How I handle this for clients

At The Webcrafters, milestone 1 of every store is a live store able to take orders within 24 hours. That covers everything in my control: the store, the products you’ve sent, the policy pages Razorpay asks for, and installing and testing the payment app. Gateway approval itself follows the gateway’s own timeline. If it’s delayed, I’ll wait for approval or set up an alternative so you can still start selling.

It’s part of a ₹30,000 full delivery, paid in milestones, with later changes at ₹2,500/day. Third-party costs like your Shopify plan and gateway fees are paid by you, and I provide a GST invoice. See pricing, or if you’re not sure Shopify is the right platform yet, read Shopify vs WooCommerce in India.

Stuck on a Razorpay setup right now? Message me with what you’re seeing, and I’ll tell you what I’d fix first.