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Card class: Non-HeroCategory: Payment Gateway

At a glance

Total amount that successfully flowed through Afterpay as Pay-in-4 BNPL in the period, gross of refunds and Afterpay’s merchant fee. Afterpay (Square/Block-owned since 2022) pays the merchant the full amount upfront and assumes consumer credit risk on the four interest-free instalments.
What it countsAll Afterpay orders with status = APPROVED and captured, summed by totalAmount. Pay in 4 only (Afterpay’s signature product); no instalment-financing variants.
API endpoint/v2/payments on the Afterpay Online API.
VAT / sales-tax treatmentInclusive. Customer-paid amount including tax.
CurrencyMulti-currency native AUD, USD, GBP, CAD, NZD. Each order in its own currency, no FX.
Fees / processing costGross. Afterpay merchant fee (typically 4-6% + flat per-transaction fee) NOT deducted. Higher than card processing; AOV uplift compensates.
RefundsNOT deducted. Tracked in aft_refund_volume.
Disputes / chargebacksNOT deducted.
Failed / declined Afterpay ordersExcluded (Afterpay’s underwriting decision happens upfront).
Pay in 4 onlyAfterpay’s only product structurally; 25% upfront, three biweekly instalments, interest-free. No long-instalment variants (unlike Klarna).
No consumer credit checkAfterpay does NOT pull customer’s credit at point of purchase; relies on Afterpay’s own internal risk model based on prior on-time payment history.
Square/Block ownershipAcquired by Block (Square parent) in early 2022 for ~USD 29B. Operations continue under Afterpay brand.
Payout timingPer merchant payout schedule (typically 1-3 business days after capture).
Time window30D vsP.
Alert triggerdrop >15% vsP.
Rolesowner, finance

Calculation

Calculated automatically from your Afterpay data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

Worked example

An Australian DTC homewares brand (“Banksia Living”, Sydney-based, ships AU/NZ/US) on Shopify with Afterpay enabled. 30 days ending 02 May 26.
RegionOrdersVolumeCurrencyAOV
AU3,420AUD 612,400AUDAUD 179
NZ480NZD 78,200NZDNZD 163
US1,840USD 384,200USDUSD 209
Total5,740
What the merchant should notice:
  1. Afterpay pays Banksia Living the full amount upfront (less ~5% merchant fee). Afterpay assumes credit risk on the 4 instalments.
  2. AU/NZ AOV ~25% above Banksia’s card AOV (typical Afterpay lift).
  3. No instalment-financing variants. Afterpay is Pay-in-4-only; if Banksia wants longer terms, Klarna integration would be needed.
  4. Afterpay’s 5% merchant fee is meaningfully higher than 2-3% card processing. The AOV lift (25-30%) and conversion lift (10-15%) typically more than compensates.
  5. Square/Block ownership. Operationally unchanged for merchants; Afterpay continues under its own brand and APIs.

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

CardWhy pair it
aft_volume_trendDaily trend.
aft_total_transactionsOrder count.
aft_avg_transactionAOV (typically 25% higher than card).
aft_refund_volumeSubtract for net.
Klarna kla_total_volume / Stripe stripe_total_revenueCross-PSP comparison; multi-BNPL merchants run both.

Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look: portal.afterpay.comOrders with date filter and status “Captured”, or Reports → Sales for aggregate. Why our number may differ:
ReasonDirectionWhy
Time zoneBoundary days offAfterpay Portal renders in merchant’s timezone; we use UTC. AU merchants face 10-11 hour offset.
Authorised vs capturedTheirs may show authorisedPre-capture orders awaiting shipment included in some Portal views.
Multi-currencyPer-currency vs convertedPortal can convert; we preserve native.
Cross-connector reconciliation:
ComparisonExpectedWhy
aft_total_volume ↔ commerce-platform Afterpay-paid revenueApproximately equalBoth count Afterpay orders.
aft_total_volumeklarna.kla_total_volumeDifferent productsAfterpay = Pay in 4 only; Klarna = multiple products. Compare carefully.

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Does Afterpay pay me upfront? Yes. Afterpay pays full amount (less merchant fee) on standard payout schedule (1-3 business days). Afterpay assumes consumer credit risk; if customer never pays the 4 instalments, that’s Afterpay’s loss. No credit check, how does Afterpay underwrite? Internal risk model based on customer’s payment history with Afterpay. New customers start with low limits (typically AUD 600 / USD 600); limits grow with on-time payment. This is the structural difference from Klarna’s Slice it (which does a credit check). Pay in 4 only, why no longer terms? Afterpay’s product philosophy: simplicity. Pay in 4 interest-free is universal. Klarna offers Pay in 4, Pay in 30, Slice it; Afterpay deliberately offers only Pay in 4. Block/Square ownership, operational change? None for merchants. Afterpay continues under its own brand. Block-side integrations (Cash App, Square POS) gradually expanding but Afterpay-as-checkout-method unchanged. Late fees on customer, do they affect me? No. Customer late fees go to Afterpay; merchant is unaffected. Customer returned items, refund flow? Merchant initiates refund via Afterpay API. Afterpay refunds paid instalments and cancels remaining. Standard 7-30 day refund window. Afterpay merchant fee vs Klarna? Afterpay: 4-6% plus per-transaction flat. Klarna: 2-7% depending on product. Afterpay is generally on the higher end of card-processing-plus.

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Total Volume is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Afterpay and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.