Shift4Shop Review

Written by

Darren DeMatas

Updated

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Written by

Darren DeMatas

Updated

Reviewed By Our team of writers and content creators are experts in ecommerce and we fact-check every claim in our work to ensure it’s accurate and up-to-date. (Learn about our editorial guidelines.).

In addition to receiving commissions generated through affiliate marketing, we are able to fund our independent research and reviews at no extra cost to our readers. Learn more.

In trying to find the best possible ecommerce solution for my friend’s business, I discovered that many options are out there – and they all claim to be the best. I found many lacked the necessary SEO features to ensure your store ranks as well as possible. Without it, you risk your customers going straight to your competition.

Product
Summary
Ratings
Better Blog Feature Than Shopify
Tons Of Integrations
Great Business Management Tools
Templates Feel Dated
Negative Reviews On Support
Potential Issues Upgrading
Value 4
Features 3.8
Performance 3.0
Ease of Use 4.3
Design & Themes 4.3
Integrations 4.1
3.9
Overall Score
User Rating
2.2
3 reviews

Sure, you’re never going to find one platform that’s perfect for everyone – but you can at least find one that’s perfect for you. I hope this Shift4Shop review will make your decision making a bit easier.

How Shift4Shop Compares To The Rest…

Shift4Shop Website

You’ll see in my overall rating, Shift4Shop (formerly 3dcart) ties with Shopify, and falls just one point shy of the leader, BigCommerce.

I based this rating on the fact that with Shift4Shop, you get

  • a fast load time
  • no transaction fees
  • more features than Shopify
  • unlimited product listings,
  • a wide selection of payment gateways
  • and a good mobile store speed

Shopify is killing them on design and mobile UX. You’ll also find way more people to help build and market your Shopify site than Shift4Shop.

Overall
User Ratings
Best For
Pricing
Pricing Based On
Payment Gateways
Additional Transaction Fees
Value
Features
Performance
Ease of Use
Design & Themes
Integrations
Shift4Shop
Overall : 3.9
User Ratings :
2.0 (3 votes)
Best For : B2B Ecommerce
Pricing : $19 - $229
Pricing Based On : Users & Features
Payment Gateways : 100+
Additional Transaction Fees : None
Value : 4
Features : 3.8
Performance : 3.0
Ease of Use : 4.3
Design & Themes : 4.3
Integrations : 4.1
BigCommerce
Overall : 4.3
User Ratings :
4.0 (27 votes)
Best For : Private label B2C businesses, larger inventories.
Pricing : $29 - $299
Pricing Based On : Features & Sales
Payment Gateways : 55+
Additional Transaction Fees : None
Value : 4.0
Features : 3.9
Performance : 4.5
Ease of Use : 4.8
Design & Themes : 3.8
Integrations : 4.2
Shopify
Overall : 4.2
User Ratings :
4.0 (28 votes)
Best For : Drop shipping, print on demand, small stores, boutiques, brick and mortar.
Pricing : $29 - $299
Pricing Based On : Features, User Accounts, Transaction Fees
Payment Gateways : 100+
Additional Transaction Fees : 0 - 2%
Value : 4.0
Features : 3.8
Performance : 3.9
Ease of Use : 4.9
Design & Themes : 4.0
Integrations : 4.6
Wix
Overall : 4.1
User Ratings :
3.0 (6 votes)
Best For : Print on demand, small stores, boutiques, brick and mortar.
Pricing : $23 - $49
Pricing Based On : Support, Storage & Features
Payment Gateways : 35+
Additional Transaction Fees : 0 - 3%
Value : 5
Features : 3.7
Performance : 3.9
Ease of Use : 4.2
Design & Themes : 4.7
Integrations : 3.5

Payment Gateways & Transaction Fees

Shift4Shop works with more than 100 payment gateways, giving you and your customers the flexibility you need to choose the ones you need. Some of the most popular payment processing options include PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Authorize.net.

It’s important to note that even though you won’t see any transaction fees from Shift4Shop, your payment gateway will likely charge 2% to 3% of each transaction in fees paid to them for use of their service. This is much simpler than trying to get your own merchant account – especially if you’re just getting started with ecommerce or running your business as a one-person show.

Great Self Support Options

There’s an extensive knowledge base, webinars, video tutorials, a support forum, and an e-university available to help you learn everything you need to know to use the platform.

Ironically enough, the company sees a lot of their customers leave them for BigCommerce, but also sees a lot of new customers coming to them from BigCommerce. With similar as these platforms really are, it’s likely just a matter of personal preference based on dashboards and default features.

Shift4Shop Software Overview

Easy site setup, fast hosting and lots of features.

Shift4Shop, founded in 2001, is one of today’s leading hosted ecommerce platforms. It serves more than 17,000 merchants, both small and large. It has an impressive number of features right out of the box and offers flexible pricing options.

This makes it more affordable for small businesses on a limited budget while scaling their business and for business owners who aren’t familiar with the technical side of things.

The company continues to gain momentum with a growing library of themes and partnerships, so we can expect it to be around for years to come.

Even those with no design or coding experience can build a beautiful store in just a few minutes. There are plenty of templates to build a professional quality design. You can customize the details with just a few clicks to make it better match your brand.

Some brands who use Shift4Shopinclude:

  • Manhattan’s Oldest Chocolate House – Li-Lac Chocolates
  • Kitchen Restock
  • U.S. Salon Supply
  • Pete’s Tire Barn, Inc.
  • Lambert Vet Supply

Shift4Shop’s Plans & Pricing

All plans are billed on a month-to-month basis, so you never have to commit to a year’s worth of service upfront. Plans start at just $19 a month and top out at $229/month.

Shift4Shop Features and Plans

1-Click Upsells
Landing Page Builder
Abandoned Cart Email
Digital Products
Personalized Products
Product Export/Import
Product Search
Ratings & Reviews
Real Time Shipping Rates/Tracking
Reward Points
SEO Tools
Subscription/Recurring
Zoomable Product Images
Upselling & Cross Selling
Startup $19/month
1-Click Upsells :
Landing Page Builder :
Abandoned Cart Email :
Digital Products :
Personalized Products :
Product Export/Import :
Product Search :
Ratings & Reviews :
Real Time Shipping Rates/Tracking :
Reward Points :
SEO Tools :
Subscription/Recurring :
Zoomable Product Images :
Upselling & Cross Selling :
Basic $29/month
1-Click Upsells :
Landing Page Builder :
Abandoned Cart Email :
Digital Products :
Personalized Products :
Product Export/Import :
Product Search :
Ratings & Reviews :
Real Time Shipping Rates/Tracking :
Reward Points :
SEO Tools :
Subscription/Recurring :
Zoomable Product Images :
Upselling & Cross Selling :
Plus $79/month
1-Click Upsells :
Landing Page Builder :
Abandoned Cart Email :
Digital Products :
Personalized Products :
Product Export/Import :
Product Search :
Ratings & Reviews :
Real Time Shipping Rates/Tracking :
Reward Points :
SEO Tools :
Subscription/Recurring :
Zoomable Product Images :
Upselling & Cross Selling :
Pro $229/month
1-Click Upsells :
Landing Page Builder :
Abandoned Cart Email :
Digital Products :
Personalized Products :
Product Export/Import :
Product Search :
Ratings & Reviews :
Real Time Shipping Rates/Tracking :
Reward Points :
SEO Tools :
Subscription/Recurring :
Zoomable Product Images :
Upselling & Cross Selling :

All plans include:

  • Basic SEO Tools
  • Abandoned cart emails
  • Coupons
  • Subscription and recurring billing
  • Ratings and Reviews
  • FBA integration and Dropshipping
  • Real-time shipping and tracking
  • Upselling and cross-selling
  • Variable products
  • PayPal and Amazon checkout
  • Facebook sync
  • And more…

Amazon and eBay sync are only an option on the Pro plan. eBay sync isn’t an option on any of the lower tier plans, and Amazon sync is only available on those plans as a paid add-on.

Selling Online with Shift4Shop

Selling with this platform offers a lot of solutions. With variable products and unlimited listings, you can get up and running in a few minutes.

Shift4Shop Integrations and Plans

Amazon 2 Way Sync
Amazon Checkout
Amazon FBA Integration
Fulfillment Center Integration
Drop Shipping Integration
Ebay 2-Way Sync
Facebook Sync
Google Ecommerce Analytics
Google Product Data Feed
Review Snippet Structured Data
Email Marketing Automation
Paypal Checkout
Printing On Demand Integration
USPS Integration
WordPress Integration
User Generated Content Automation
Startup $19/month
Amazon 2 Way Sync :
Amazon Checkout :
Amazon FBA Integration :
Fulfillment Center Integration :
Drop Shipping Integration :
Ebay 2-Way Sync :
Facebook Sync :
Google Ecommerce Analytics :
Google Product Data Feed :
Review Snippet Structured Data :
Email Marketing Automation :
Paypal Checkout :
Printing On Demand Integration :
USPS Integration :
WordPress Integration :
User Generated Content Automation :
Basic $29/month
Amazon 2 Way Sync :
Amazon Checkout :
Amazon FBA Integration :
Fulfillment Center Integration :
Drop Shipping Integration :
Ebay 2-Way Sync :
Facebook Sync :
Google Ecommerce Analytics :
Google Product Data Feed :
Review Snippet Structured Data :
Email Marketing Automation :
Paypal Checkout :
Printing On Demand Integration :
USPS Integration :
WordPress Integration :
User Generated Content Automation :
Plus $79/month
Amazon 2 Way Sync :
Amazon Checkout :
Amazon FBA Integration :
Fulfillment Center Integration :
Drop Shipping Integration :
Ebay 2-Way Sync :
Facebook Sync :
Google Ecommerce Analytics :
Google Product Data Feed :
Review Snippet Structured Data :
Email Marketing Automation :
Paypal Checkout :
Printing On Demand Integration :
USPS Integration :
WordPress Integration :
User Generated Content Automation :
Pro $229/month
Amazon 2 Way Sync :
Amazon Checkout :
Amazon FBA Integration :
Fulfillment Center Integration :
Drop Shipping Integration :
Ebay 2-Way Sync :
Facebook Sync :
Google Ecommerce Analytics :
Google Product Data Feed :
Review Snippet Structured Data :
Email Marketing Automation :
Paypal Checkout :
Printing On Demand Integration :
USPS Integration :
WordPress Integration :
User Generated Content Automation :

Lacks a Customer Loyalty Program Option for All Plans

If you want your customers to have the option to earn reward points, you’ll need to be on one of the two top-tier plans. It’s not even an option with a paid add-on.

Needs More Native Multi-Channel Selling Support

However, the only multi-channel selling feature you’ll have right out of the box is the ability to sync your store to Facebook. If you want to sync your store to eBay, you’re forced to pay for the most expensive plan. If you want to sync to Amazon, you’ll have to pay for an add-on. But, if you want to use Amazon as your drop shipper, it does offer the Fulfilled by Amazon feature on all plans automatically.

You have the option to pay $49/store/month to sync your inventory from multiple Shift4Shop stores, but it doesn’t help you if you’re running the same store from your website, Amazon, Facebook, eBay, and other marketplaces.

Themes and Apps

There are more than 100 themes to choose from – with plenty of free themes to get you started. If you choose a premium theme, you’ll spend anywhere from $99.99 to $199.99 depending on the one you choose.

There are also hundreds of free and premium apps available to extend the functionality and features in your store. For example, for $15/month or a $195 one time fee, you can include a live chat feature in your store. For the same price, you could also get analytics information for your site. For $9.99/month, you can have extra fraud protections to prevent false transactions and chargebacks.

Ease Of Use

The platform doesn’t require a lot of knowledge to learn how to use. Everything’s fairly easy to understand within the online store builder. The quick design bar makes it easy for you to edit parts of your website design without having to make changes to the HTML.

PlatformEase of UsePhone Support24/7 SupportChat SupportCommunity Rating# of Apps/ Plugins
Shopify4.9YesYesYes55,000
Sellfy3.5NoYesNo44
Zyro3.7NoYesYes4.730
Nexcess StoreBuilder4.5YesYesYes3.650,000+
ShopWired4.5NoNoYes4.972
Pixpa3.7YesNoYes4.7103
Freewebstore3.4NoNoYesNone25+
Ecwid3.65.01.05.04.7100+
Square Online4.05.01.05.04.225+
BigCommerce4.8YesYesYes4.01000
Woocommerce3.3NoNoYes4.0250+
Shift4Shop4.3YesYesYes3.0~250
Volusion4.1YesYesYes2~20
Adobe Commerce2.2NoNoNo43000+
Prestashop2.9YesNoNo33000+
SquareSpace3.8NoYesYes3.010+
Wix4.2YesYesNo4.5700
Weebly3.6YesNoYes2~350

Issues with Upgrades

When Shift4Shop goes through their own server maintenance and upgrades, you will likely run into issues with your store producing errors for your customers. Customers may not be able to check out, may not be able to correctly solve the captcha, or see products int heir shopping cart. These errors will affect your own customer satisfaction.

Long Wait Times and Holding With Customer Service

Though there are plenty of resources for self-guidance through the Shift4Shop platform, if you run into a problem that you cannot find a solution for, you may find yourself frustrated. Speaking to a customer service agent on the phone may take a while. It could take hours to reach an agent over live chat, and are slow to respond to emails or social media inquiries. So lots of holding and waiting.

Some even so far as to say they are charged for plans they didn’t want and have received poor, uninformed answers to their questions. That said, for every complaint, there seems to be someone else cheering them on- and no company can please 100% of its customers 100% of the time.

Alternatives

If you’re looking for something similar to Shift4Shop, I’d easily recommend you go with BigCommerce or Shopify. They have a similar feature set for the price and a similar pricing structure. Plus, if you’re willing to pay annually, you can get a discount, which isn’t an option with Shift4Shop.

BigCommerce offers an improvement on the multi-channel selling, making it possible for you to manage your inventory on Amazon, Facebook, eBay, and other channels from the central BigCommerce platform.

Shopify has a much larger volume of certified partners who can help you build and market your store. And you’ll still have a wide selection of apps to use to expand your store’s features and functionality.

Is Shift4Shop for you?

As an ecommerce SaaS platform, Shift4Shop is a good choice for entrepreneurs who want to get into the market quickly. The features and functionality are versatile enough to apply to multiple ecommerce business models.

You can accept credit cards online and they integrate with many payment systems. Security is rock solid too.

If you have a specific online retail business model, like dropshipping – Shopify will better meet your needs. But if you are a littly hazy on your business model Shift4Shop and BigCommerce will more than likely have the feature you need to test different business models.

About the author

Photo of author
Darren DeMatas
Darren has an MBA in Internet Marketing and 10+ years of experience marketing retail, manufacturing and Internet marketing corporations, 7-figure brands and startups online. Follow him on TwitterLinkedIn

User Reviews:

2.2/5 (3 votes)
Jeff Stevens
March 30, 2023

Absolute nightmare with support

The setup is conviluted and not well documented. I had to go to another part of the company to tranfer my domain over and it wasn't listed or documented anywhere. Once the painful setup was complete I took the site live. No sales. None. Time went on and then I ran a card through a transaction and it failed. My processing was terminated, had to get it resubmited. The support is so illiterate the messages are incomprehensible. I spent several days replying that the message is incoherent and asked for someone fluent in engish or grammer to reply the next steps. Someone saw the messages and appologized for the issues. Days later, the site is still not working. I get closed tickets saying the issue has been resolved, but it still doesn't process cards. Not worth the hassle. Here is a copy of the incoherent message as a warning to stay away: I would be more than happy to assist you with your concerns today, i am seeing your account payment account has been terminated due to not processing within day and we can restart your account to start processing but in order to do that do you me to go ahead and see if is possible to restart your payment method for shift4 so you can re-apply/resubmit again your payment method application?
Dale Gardner
May 4, 2022

Shift4Shop Has Destroyed Our Business And I Don’t Know What To Do!

I am writing this hoping someone will read it and have suggestions. I am at wits end. I have had several issues with my website being down or very slow but my main issue is customers are receiving an error message at the checkout: Server Error 401- Unauthorized Access is denied due to invalid credentials. You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you have supplied. This has been going on for over a month now and we have dropped from the top of the first page of Google and are now at the bottom. Visits to our website have dropped by 100 to 200 visitors per day. We are losing our regular customers. Our January sales dropped by $27,000 compared to December. I have a software that records every page a customer goes to and what they click on. (no personal information is shown if they fill out the form in the checkout) For the month of January, I have over 500 recordings where a customer received the above error when attempting to complete the checkout. We have lost thousands of dollars in sales. I have sent screenshots to support with the exact time of the error, browser being used and the type of device. I have sent live recordings. I call every day and the only answer I get is they are working on it. I need resolution. We were a very prosperous and highly respected business before all of this. I just don't know what to do. If anyone reads this that has a suggestion, all suggestions are welcome. I need my business back.
Shawn Mower
January 19, 2021

Superior API and Pricing Structure

3dcart has a much better api then the other platforms we have tested and their pricing model is much more flexible and profitable for a seller and easier to get into. They offer tons of features and they are usually willing to bargain with pricing and add ons. They can also do customizations.

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