Shift4 Payments offers a complete line of products and services for almost any retail or eCommerce business. But will it work for your small business?
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Expert Contributor
Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Expert Contributor
| Total Rating | 2.9 |
|---|---|
| Fees & Rates2.0 | |
| Products & Services3.5 | |
| Contract4.0 | |
| Sales & Advertising Transparency1.8 | |
| Customer Service4.6 | |
| User Reviews3.1 | |
Table of Contents
Shift4 Payments is a merchant services provider that is best known as the parent company behind Harbortouch POS and eCommerce platform 3dCart (now Shift4Shop). Shift4’s pricing plans and contracts tend to be a poor bargain for most small business owners. Although interchange-plus pricing is available, Shift4 Payments’ sales practices are heavily geared toward pushing more expensive tiered pricing plans with long-term contracts.
| Products & Services3.5 |
|---|
| Software & Services 4.3 |
| Hardware & Equipment 2.6 |
Shift4 Processing offers a complete line of products and services for almost any retail or online business. These products integrate seamlessly with each other and most major third-party services, allowing you to build a complete payments processing system with ease.
We give Shift4 a pretty solid score in the area of Products & Services thanks to its comprehensive offerings, though we had to dock some points since its “free” POS systems may saddle you with a long-term service contract.
| Fees & Rates2.0 |
|---|
| Pricing 2.0 |
| Affordability 2.0 |
Like most traditional processors, Shift4 Payments does not disclose any specific pricing information on its website. Because the company uses such a wide variety of back-end processors, pricing is highly variable and will differ from one business to the next. While you can glean some pricing information from Shift4’s sample contract documents, you’ll have to obtain a customized quote for your business from Shift4’s sales department. As always, we encourage you to negotiate a better deal rather than blindly accepting the company’s first offer.
Feedback from merchants indicates that Shift4 offers a choice between either interchange-plus or tiered pricing.
While interchange-plus rates are subject to negotiation, the company’s tiered rates have been reported as follows:
It’s very important to note that these rates are for qualified transactions only – and likely only apply to debit card sales. Rates for mid-qualified and non-qualified debit/credit card transactions will be as much as two to three times higher. Unfortunately, very few of your transactions will be processed using the lower qualified rates. For example, rewards cards that offer cash back or frequent flier miles now represent the majority of credit card transactions, and these will almost always fall into the non-qualified tier.
Like processing rates, recurring account fees are highly variable and do not follow a published schedule. One fee that you won’t be paying is a monthly payment gateway fee, as Shift4 includes its gateway as a standard feature on all accounts. Shift4 merchant accounts also include the Shift4Shop eCommerce platform as a standard feature and at no additional cost. Note that you will have to pay to access this feature from a third-party merchant account, with pricing varying depending on the size of your business and the features you want to include with your subscription.
We’ve also seen reports from merchants about being charged $17 per month for access to the Lighthouse Transaction Manager online reporting system. However, it’s not clear if this is a standard charge or was added for that particular merchant as part of a customized service plan. As always, we strongly encourage you to carefully read your merchant agreement before signing up with Shift4 or any other merchant services provider.
Though we like to see interchange-plus pricing, the company’s lack of transparency, added fees, and emphasis on tiered pricing result in an unimpressive Fees & Rates score for this provider.
| Sales & Advertising Transparency1.8 |
|---|
| Sales Practices 1.6 |
| Web Presence 2.0 |
Shift4’s website is one of the slickest and most polished that we’ve seen to date, with video backgrounds, extensive product descriptions, and a comprehensive knowledgebase for fixing technical issues on your own. The one thing it’s missing is pricing information of any kind. For that, you’ll have to submit a contact form, which is generously duplicated on nearly every page of the site.
Unfortunately, it’s once you submit that contact form that your problems are likely to begin. Information from these forms is submitted to a network of independent sales agents, one of whom will reach out to sell you a Shift4 merchant account.
We’ve long criticized the common practice in the payments industry of relying on independent agents to market their accounts. Most of these agents are independent contractors that get paid on a commission-only basis. They also frequently receive little training or supervision from the companies they work for, leading to intense pressure to make a sale — and a high turnover rate. Although there are many honest and professional independent agents working in the industry, you’re more likely to encounter an agent that just wants to sign you up as quickly as possible.
Like many other providers that rely on independent agents, Shift4 has racked up a high number of complaints related to this practice. Merchants accuse the company’s agents of either failing to disclose important contract terms (such as its length or the existence of an early termination fee) or outright lying about them. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to prove that your sales agent lied to you, and Shift4 doesn’t seem inclined to take your word for it when you’re trying to get out of your contract. Your best defense against this practice is to review your contract very thoroughly before you sign up.
Overall, Shift4 earns a low score from us in the area of Sales & Advertising Transparency, due largely to the lack of concrete pricing information on its website, and the company’s reliance on poorly trained independent sales agents.
| Contract4.0 |
|---|
| Commitment 4.4 |
| ETF & Other Fees 3.6 |
Two reviled practices in the payments industry have been long-term contracts (with expensive cancellation penalties) and outrageously overpriced equipment leases for credit card machines to sell the processing hardware merchants need to accept credit and debit cards. Faced with increased competition from low-cost providers (such as Square), traditional merchant services providers have come up with a new trick: the “free” terminal placement offer.
Here’s how it works: When the merchant signs up for a new account, they’re told that they won’t have a long-term contract and can close their account at any time without penalty. However, they’ll also be offered a “free” credit card terminal or POS system that comes with no monthly leasing fee, no insurance premiums, and no fees for software updates. Equipment upgrades might also be thrown in for free. Sounds like a great deal, right? Well, there are several problems with this offer that you should be aware of, including the following:
Shift4’s “free” terminal offer, which is heavily promoted by its sales agents, is actually a little worse than most. While you’ll still have to accept the usual three-year contract in exchange for a free terminal, buying your equipment outright does not fully waive the long-term contract. Instead, you’ll still have to accept a one-year contract that automatically renews for one-year periods. However, this contract does not include an early termination fee, making it much easier to close your account if you need to.
Overall, we believe your best option is to buy your equipment outright, allowing you the flexibility to change providers if things don’t work out later. However, the “free” terminal offer is still a better option than a traditional equipment lease for small businesses that can’t afford the upfront costs of buying a terminal or POS system.
Though we don’t like to see the incentivization of long-term contracts, Shift4 earned a decent score from us in this area since they do offer the option of a one-year contract without an ETF.
| Customer Service4.6 |
|---|
| Personal Support 4.5 |
| Self-Service 4.6 |
Because Shift4 offers an in-house payment gateway and POS systems, it includes an extensive online knowledgebase on its website. Here you’ll find all the documentation and resources you’ll need to analyze and (hopefully) solve any technical glitches that arise. Overall, it’s one of the best and most thorough knowledgebases we’ve seen from any provider. However, like any knowledgebase, it’s inherently limited to diagnosing hardware and software issues. It won’t be of any help if you experience an account hold, freeze, or termination or need help closing your account.
For these types of issues, you’ll have to work with a human customer service representative. As befitting a large company, Shift4 offers true 24/7 telephone support 365 days a year. There’s also a live chat feature that can be accessed from the company’s website.
| Shift4 Payments Customer Service | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
Unfortunately, Shift4 has received a relatively high number of complaints involving customer support. This isn’t all that unusual, especially for such a large company. Merchants report long wait times on hold and being shuffled from one department to another without any resolution of their problem. However, we didn’t find complaints alleging rude or condescending behavior from Shift4’s customer service representatives. It’s simply that, like many other large merchant services providers, the company hasn’t hired enough people to answer the phone or given them sufficient training or authority to solve a customer’s problems on their own.
Overall, Shift4 earned a strong score from us for its customer service, thanks to the company’s extensive knowledgebase, multiple avenues of support, and wide range of support hours.
| User Reviews3.1 |
|---|
| Customer Feedback 3.0 |
| Review Site Aggregate 3.2 |
Shift4 has received a mix of positive and negative user reviews, but the provider does enjoy multiple genuine testimonials with positive feedback and makes an effort to respond to its negative reviews. For these reasons, as well as its aggregate review site scores, Shift4 has earned a slightly above-average score from us in the area of user reviews.
Shift4 Payments has been accredited by the BBB since 2013 and has an A+ rating. The company has received 152 complaints within the last three years, with 52 of those complaints filed within the last twelve months. Shift4 has also received 27 reviews from customers, with an average rating of just 1.15 out of 5 stars. This is a fairly high complaint volume for a company of this size, although it’s not nearly as high as what we’ve found with any of the large direct processors.
On the positive side, Shift4 responds to every BBB complaint and, in most cases, issues a full refund if the customer has requested one. While this practice results in a high rate of satisfactorily resolving merchant complaints, it also suggests to us that the company is willing to strictly enforce the terms of its contracts in the hopes that you either won’t notice or won’t complain about it. Once a merchant goes public with a complaint, however, the company quickly retreats and refunds the money that it should never have charged in the first place.
Major issues that merchants encountered with Shift4 include the following:
Shift4 name-drops a lot of its more well-known clients on its website, including Radisson Hotels, Cold Stone Creamery, Denny’s, and many others. Unfortunately, case studies are not provided from any of them, and there are no testimonials from merchants on the site or the company’s YouTube channel.
Most of the positive Shift4 reviews we found were on G2, where 11 reviewers gave the company a 4-star average rating. Many of these reviews are quite detailed and appear to be authentic. There’s no indication that Shift4 is soliciting positive reviews from merchants as a way to boost its online reputation. As always, if you’ve had a good experience with Shift4 Payments, please consider leaving a review of the company in the Comments section below. Thanks!
Shift4 Payments offers a solid payment gateway that integrates seamlessly with its multiple POS offerings. These products are developed and supported in-house, unlike most providers who only offer third-party products. It’s also evident from the impressive list of big-name clients that Shift4 works well for some very large businesses.
For small business owners, however, we cannot recommend Shift4 at this time. The company’s heavily promoted “free” equipment offer comes with a lot of stipulations and seems mainly to be a ruse to lock you into a long, three-year contract with an expensive early cancellation penalty.
Shift4’s use of tiered pricing also weighs against it, particularly since it doesn’t disclose its rates or warn you that the majority of your transactions will probably be processed at the much more expensive non-qualified rates. The availability of interchange-plus pricing is commendable, but since we’ve seen no indication on what kind of rates merchants are actually paying, we can’t say whether they’re fair or not.
Perhaps the biggest strike against Shift4 is its reliance on independent sales agents to market its accounts. While this practice is a real money-saver for providers, it often results in a very poor experience for merchants. There’s simply no reason why a company as large as Shift4 can’t hire its own in-house sales team and provide them with the proper training and supervision necessary to provide ethical and professional service to prospective merchants.
On the whole, while it’s not the worst provider we’ve reviewed, there’s really nothing to distinguish Shift4 Payments from any of the other companies in the industry that offer merchants little more than restrictive contracts, overpriced products and services, and insufficient support after the sale.
If you want some more options, check out the best small business credit card processing companies for some better recommendations.
We evaluate and test each payment processor that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on certain key characteristics in order to generate our granular ratings for merchant accounts and credit card processors.
For payment processing reviews, we use a 24-point rubric to evaluate the provider. First, we look at pricing structure – interchange plus, subscription-based, tiered, or hybrid – giving the most points to providers that provide fair, transparent pricing and docking those that rely on tiered models. Then we examine rates, the presence and transparency of early termination fees, and any additional fees.
We also look at contract length and fairness and test out sales staff and customer service channels ourselves to ensure that the company uses reputable, above-the-board sales techniques. Finally, we take the company’s online reputation into account, reading customer reviews and comments.
Read more about how we rate payment processors.
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Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
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