Shopify Payments is the default path in the markets where it operates: it is built in, it avoids the additional transaction fee, and it keeps payment data inside Shopify. In markets where it is unavailable — Turkey among them — stores use a local provider instead, and several things change at once.
None of them are blockers. All of them are worth knowing before you pick a provider rather than after.
The extra transaction fee
Shopify charges an additional fee on transactions processed through a third-party gateway. This is separate from what the gateway itself charges, so your real cost per order is the sum of two percentages.
The rate falls as the plan level rises, which changes the plan calculation. For a store doing meaningful volume through a third-party gateway, upgrading a plan can cost less than staying on a lower one — the saving on transaction fees can exceed the extra subscription cost. This is worth calculating rather than assuming.
What you lose, and what it means in practice
Some Shopify-native features depend on Shopify Payments. Accelerated checkout options that are tied to it will not be available, and certain fraud and chargeback tools inside Shopify will not have the data they need.
The practical effect is that fraud screening moves to your provider's tools rather than Shopify's, and chargeback handling happens in the provider's dashboard. Neither is worse — it is just a second system to learn.
Payouts also run on the provider's schedule rather than Shopify's, which matters for cash flow planning more than most people expect at setup time.
Choosing between local providers
Compare on four things rather than on headline rate alone.
Total cost: the provider's percentage plus fixed per-transaction fee, plus Shopify's additional fee at your plan level. A lower percentage with a higher fixed fee loses on small baskets.
Settlement period: how many days until money reaches your account. The difference between providers is often larger than the difference in rates, and it directly affects working capital.
Instalment support: in markets where instalment payment is common, whether the provider supports it and at whose cost is frequently the single biggest conversion factor.
Checkout experience: whether the customer stays on your checkout or is redirected. Redirects cost conversion, and the size of that cost usually exceeds small differences in commission.
What to verify before going live
Place a real order with a small amount and follow the money end to end: the order appears correctly in Shopify, the payment appears in the provider dashboard, and the amount reaches your account on the promised schedule.
Then test a refund. Refund handling is where the two systems most often disagree, and finding that out on a customer's refund is expensive in a way a test refund is not.
Finally, check what the customer sees on their statement. An unrecognisable descriptor is a common and avoidable cause of chargebacks.