Shopify Sales Channels: Selling Beyond Your Online Store in 2026

A Shopify store isn't limited to its own website. Sales channels connect your Shopify catalog to other places people shop (Google, Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and Temu, AI assistants like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, your own retail counter, or a buy button on another website) while products, inventory and orders stay managed in one admin.

Most channels are free to install. The costs show up elsewhere: ad spend billed by the platform, marketplace seller fees, Shopify's own fee on synced marketplace orders above a free allowance, POS Pro if you need advanced retail features, and the time it takes to keep each channel's product data in good shape. Each channel also has its own requirements and limits, from country eligibility to which checkout the customer uses.

This guide covers the main channels as of October 2026: what each one does, what it requires, and what it costs. It's part of our Shopify hub.

How sales channels work

Shopify's sales channels documentation groups channels into social commerce (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), Google and online marketplaces (such as Amazon and Temu), Shop, agentic storefronts for AI channels, and Shopify Collective, plus the Buy Button and selling on WordPress. You add channels from the App Store and choose which products to publish to each. Orders from connected channels arrive in your Shopify admin, and inventory updates across them.

You can also customize product availability, pricing and currency per channel through Markets. Our guide to Shopify Markets explains how channel markets fit in.

Google, Meta and TikTok

Google & YouTube

The Google & YouTube app (published by Google) connects your store to Google Merchant Center so products can appear across Google surfaces, and lets you run Google Ads campaigns from Shopify. The App Store listing says it's free to install and that ad spend is billed directly to your Google Ads account at the daily budget you set.

Google matters for AI shopping too. Shopify says selling through Google AI Mode and Gemini needs a Google Merchant Center account (through the Google & YouTube channel or a feed), and that store must be based in and selling to the US. As of 1 October 2026, Shopify describes that channel as still rolling out.

Facebook & Instagram

The Facebook & Instagram app, published by Meta, syncs your catalog to Meta for shops and ads. It's free to install; you set ad budgets and Meta bills ad spend to your ad account. The channel and its product sync are also required for Meta's direct checkout through Shopify's agentic storefronts, which Shopify says customers in the US, Canada and Mexico can use, including on Meta's Muse assistant where available.

TikTok

TikTok's app connects Shopify to TikTok Ads and TikTok Shop. It's free to install, with ad spend billed to your TikTok ad account. TikTok Shop has its own seller requirements, regional availability and fees set by TikTok, so check those in TikTok's seller center before you plan margins. Our TikTok Shop guide covers the channel in more depth.

Marketplaces: Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Target Plus and Temu

Shopify Marketplace Connect

Shopify's older Amazon channel app is no longer available. Selling on Amazon and other marketplaces now goes through Shopify Marketplace Connect (formerly Codisto), which connects your catalog to:

• Amazon
• eBay
• Walmart (US only)
• Target Plus (US only)

New Etsy connections can't be made through Marketplace Connect at present, though existing Etsy users can keep using it. Listings, orders and inventory are managed in Shopify, and the app handles currency conversion for each marketplace region.

Shopify's fee, per the App Store listing and pricing page: the first 50 marketplace-synced orders each month are free, then 1% per additional synced order, capped at $99 a month. That's on top of each marketplace's own seller fees, which you pay to the marketplace.

Temu

Shopify's help center now includes a Temu sales channel. After you connect a Temu Seller Center account, you sync products from Shopify, Temu orders appear in your admin, and fulfillment and tracking sync automatically. You can also handle shipping labels, returns and refunds from the channel.

Marketplace fulfillment

If you want Amazon to fulfill orders from other channels, the separate "Amazon MCF and Buy with Prime" app covers Multi-Channel Fulfillment and, in the US, Buy with Prime on your own site. That's fulfillment, not a marketplace listing.

AI channels: agentic storefronts

Shopify's agentic storefronts let customers discover and buy your products in AI channels. As of 1 October 2026, Shopify lists ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta. It's active by default for eligible stores and managed under Sales channels > Agentic, after you accept the supplemental terms. Each channel works a little differently:

• ChatGPT acts as a discovery-focused referrer: customers complete purchases on your store's checkout, in ChatGPT's in-app browser or a new tab. The store must sell to US customers but can be based elsewhere.
• Google AI Mode and Gemini is rolling out to eligible US-based stores selling to the US; direct checkout is also rolling out.
• Microsoft Copilot offers a Shopify-powered direct checkout inside the conversation, shown to US customers.
• Meta offers direct checkout on Meta surfaces for customers in the US, Canada and Mexico, and requires the Facebook & Instagram channel.

Shopify says there are no fees for selling in these channels beyond standard payment processing. Brands that only want to sell through AI channels can use the $0 Agentic plan, which has no monthly subscription; payment fees apply to direct-checkout orders. Our guide to Shopify agentic commerce goes deeper.

Shop, Collective, POS and other channels

• Shop: when eligible, activating Shop Pay also turns on selling in the Shop app. Shop Campaigns, Shopify's pay-per-conversion ads program, charges only when a customer converts. See our guide to Shop Pay and the Shop app.
• Shopify Collective: free for stores in supported countries and currencies; lets Shopify brands sell each other's products.
• Roblox: a free channel for selling physical products to visitors in a Roblox experience.

Point of sale

Every paid Shopify plan includes casual in-person selling with Shopify POS. Shopify POS Pro, a subscription add-on for stores that need more advanced retail features, costs $89 USD per month per location, billed yearly; Plus includes 20 POS Pro locations, and up to 200 with Shopify Payments. In-person card rates in the US start at 2.6% + 10¢ on Basic. See our Shopify POS guide for hardware and plan details.

Buy Button and selling on other websites

The Buy Button channel lets you embed products, collections or a cart on a non-Shopify website or blog by copying HTML code, and create checkout links for email, social posts or direct messages. Product updates in Shopify carry through to the embedded buttons. Shopify's Buy Button documentation notes that:

• the channel is included in all Shopify plans;
• you need a supported payment gateway;
• Shopify doesn't recommend Buy Buttons on your Shopify online store itself, because they can cause checkout problems; use cart permalinks instead;
• Buy Buttons created before 10 October 2016 are no longer supported.

Shopify also has a dedicated guide for selling on WordPress. Buy Button checkouts are one of only two channels (with the Online Store) covered by abandoned checkout recovery.

What each channel requires and costs

What doesn't carry across channels

Before you add channels, know where Shopify features stop:

• Discount combinations work on the Online Store, Storefront API and POS, but not on external checkouts such as Facebook, Instagram or Google.
• Abandoned checkout recovery covers the Online Store and Buy Button, not POS, Shop or third-party channels.
• Store credit can be used on the online store, POS and Shop only.
• Customer experience such as returns, policies and support may follow each marketplace's rules rather than yours.

Choosing channels

1. Start where your customers already shop. Google is relevant to almost every product store; social and marketplace channels depend on your audience and category.
2. Get product data right first. Titles, descriptions, GTINs, variants and images feed every channel, including AI channels. Our guide to AI-friendly product pages helps.
3. Model margins per channel. Include marketplace fees, Shopify's synced-order fee, ads and returns.
4. Add one channel at a time and watch inventory sync and order flow before adding the next.

Conclusion

Shopify can sell almost anywhere from one admin: Google, Meta, TikTok, major marketplaces through Marketplace Connect, Temu, AI assistants through agentic storefronts, your own retail counter and other websites. Installing is usually free; the costs are ads, marketplace and synced-order fees, POS Pro and the work of keeping product data clean. If you'd like help preparing your catalog and store for new channels, eSEOspace's Shopify development services can help.

Frequently asked questions