Currency Settings

Your store's currency has three separate parts, and knowing which is which saves a lot of confusion. There is the primary currency your store keeps its books and default prices in, the currencies customers actually see by region, and the way a price is formatted on screen. This article shows where each lives and points to the article that handles it, so you change the right thing in the right place. All of it starts from the Default currency row in the General settings page, under Store defaults.

The three parts of currency

• Your primary currency is the base your prices and totals are stored in. It is shown on the Default currency row and changed from that row's menu. See Change Store Currency.
• The currencies customers see are set by region in Markets, which is why the Default currency row links there. A market can present prices in its own currency without changing your store's base. See Markets.
• The formatting, meaning the symbol, decimals, and separators, is set separately so you can control how a price reads. See Currency Formatting.

Before you begin

• You can open Settings, then General, and manage store settings.
• Your role includes General settings.
• Open Settings > General in the admin sidebar. The store currency is set from the Store defaults section.

Manage your currency settings

From the admin, open Settings, then General, and find the Store defaults section. The Default currency row sits at the top of it, showing your store's current primary currency, on this store US Dollar (USD $), with a note that regional and customer-facing currencies are configured in Markets.

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• Change your primary currency. To change the base currency your store prices in, open the menu on the Default currency row and choose Change store currency, which opens a dialog to pick the new currency. Because this is the currency every price is stored against, it is best set before you launch. The full flow is covered in Change Store Currency.
• Set customer-facing currencies in Markets. If you sell into more than one region and want each to see its own currency, set that up in Markets rather than changing your base currency. The Default currency row links straight to Markets for this. See Markets.
• Adjust how prices are formatted. To change how a price reads, such as the symbol position, decimal places, and separators, use the currency formatting settings. This changes the display only, not the currency itself. See Currency Formatting.

Verify the result

• The Default currency row shows the primary currency you expect.
• New orders and default prices are denominated in that currency.
• Customers in a market with its own currency see that currency at checkout.
• Prices render with the symbol and separators you set in formatting.

Best practices

• Set your primary currency before launch, since changing it later leaves historical orders in the old currency and makes reporting harder to read.
• Use Markets for selling in more than one currency, rather than changing the store's base currency back and forth.
• Keep formatting separate in your mind from the currency itself, so a display tweak does not get confused with a currency change.

Next steps

• Change Store Currency
• Currency Formatting
• Markets

Related articles

• Store Information Settings
• Tax Settings
• What to Get Right at Checkout Before You Launch