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Shopify Moves to Dismiss Sezzle’s Antitrust Lawsuit

By  |  September 22, 2025
Shopify Moves to Dismiss Sezzle’s Antitrust Lawsuit

Shopify has asked a U.S. federal judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by buy now, pay later provider Sezzle, which alleges that the eCommerce software giant’s in-house installment payment service unlawfully stifles competition. The request for dismissal was filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota.

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    According to a statement from Shopify’s attorneys, the lawsuit is built on “nothing but Sezzle’s dissatisfaction with its own lost business” rather than a legitimate antitrust violation. The company argued that it has no obligation to design products in ways that benefit competitors, even if that limits compatibility with or affects the quality of rival services.

    Sezzle’s lawsuit, filed in June, accused Shopify of leveraging its market power to make its own buy now, pay later service — Shop Pay Installments, launched in 2021 — the default option for merchants and customers. The complaint alleged that Shopify “rigged” its checkout system to make it “extraordinarily difficult” to choose another BNPL provider. Additionally, Sezzle claimed Shopify imposed contractual penalties on merchants who tried to use non-Shopify installment providers.

    The suit contends that these actions violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act and Minnesota laws on antitrust and deceptive trade practices. Sezzle’s complaint argued that Shopify’s approach cut off meaningful access to its platform, harming competition in the installment financing market.

    Related: Sezzle Sues Shopify for Alleged Antitrust Violations in BNPL Market

    Per a statement in Shopify’s motion to dismiss, the claims fail because the market described by Sezzle is too narrow. Shopify noted that Sezzle’s argument focuses only on Shopify merchants, just one side of payment processing, and only one type of transaction—ignoring what the company described as “hundreds of billions in online transactions” where other providers still compete.

    Shopify also emphasized that Sezzle’s claims center on harm to its own business rather than to the market as a whole, asserting that antitrust law protects competition broadly, not individual companies. The filing stated that Sezzle’s complaints over checkout flow, order IDs and inventory systems amount to little more than frustration over not receiving the assistance it prefers.

    A hearing in the case has been set for December 8, according to court documents. A spokesperson for Minneapolis-based Sezzle declined to comment on the lawsuit when asked Friday.

    Shopify, based in Ottawa and active in more than 175 countries, is one of the largest providers of eCommerce software, powering about 10% of U.S. online sales. Meanwhile, Sezzle’s CEO Charlie Youakim said in a June press release that the lawsuit aims to ensure “merchants and consumers have access to diverse and innovative payment solutions of their choice.”

    Source: Payments Dive