Ecommerce Platform Glossary A–Z

The blended cost of accepting all your payments, expressed as a percentage of revenue. More useful than any single fee number because it accounts for your actual payment mix.

Gross Merchandise Value — the total dollar value of orders placed through your store before refunds, platform fees, or payment processing costs are subtracted.

A commerce architecture where the customer-facing frontend (the 'head') is decoupled from the backend commerce engine (inventory, checkout, orders). The frontend is built separately and communicates via API.

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) ecommerce platforms — like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Wix — host your store on their infrastructure and charge monthly fees. You don't manage servers or software updates.

A per-sale platform charge that sits on top of your payment-processor fee. Shopify charges 2% on Basic if you don't use Shopify Payments. BigCommerce charges 0% on every plan.