Best for
Restaurants and hospitality businesses looking for convenient POS solutions.
Specializes in
Shift4 is an industry leader that provides integrated payment processing and security solutions, delivering a complete multi-channel network that goes beyond payments to include a massive range of value-added services.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: $0
Monthly Fee: $25
Swipe Rate: Interchange-Plus or 1.39% + $0.10
Keyed-in Rate: Interchange-Plus or 1.79% + $0.10
Early Termination Fee : None
Contract Terms:
Shift4 is a registered service provider of Westamerica Bank.
Shift4 is one of the major names in merchant services today. Based in Pennsylvania, the payments technology provider processes more than one billion transactions per annum for nearly 200,000 clients. That is over $100 billion in payments annually. Moreover, Shift4 Payments own several POS brands and integrates with more than 300 additional POS and property management solutions. The firm also has an armada of over 7,000 sales agents reselling their services.
In a nutshell, Shift4's is one of the most omnipresent merchant services providers in the U.S. Hence, there is a good chance you will encounter their products or one of their many resellers as you navigate through the market of merchant services.
Don Isaacman and Jared Isaacman is the President and CEO of Shift4 Payments, respectively.
Head Quarters
Las Vegas, NV
Year Founded
1994
CEO
Jared Isaacman
Employees
500
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
Zero setup fee.
No early termination fee.
One year contract.
Best for restaurants and hospitality businesses.
Restaurant management software is available.
Charges a monthly fee.
Not all terms are disclosed.
Public pricing is not available.
Charges a batch fee.
Equipment must be returned fifteen days before the contract ends or a late fee will be assessed.
Shift4 has the following offerings:
Payment Gateway
Shift4 Payments offers one of the most extensively used payment gateways. It is popular since it connects brick-and-mortar and e-commerce merchants with a wide array of back-end processors like Elavon, First Data, Heartland Payment Systems, and Worldpay.
The payment gateway also has a selection of security features like payment data tokenization, point-to-point encryption, and EMV certification. The device accepts all major cards, including digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Moreover, other features of these devices include transaction archives, settlement auditing, multi-location management, fraud prevention services, and offline usability.
POS Software
Shift4 Payments owns four POS brands: POSitouch, Harbortouch, Restaurant, and Future Manager. Said brands serve some of the world's biggest food businesses, like KFC, Denny's, Dairy Queen, Arby's, Outback Steakhouse, Houlihan's, Little Caesars, and more.
Shift4 Payments also integrates with many property management systems across multiple industries like food and beverage, lodging, e-commerce, retail, golf, gaming, spa, etc
POS Hardware
Shift4's services also integrate with many other POS hardware devices and brands. Merchants can choose from a wide range of devices to meet their respective business needs. Among the devices offered by Shift4 Payments are handheld, mobile, countertop POS terminals, and countertop and mobile card readers. Products sold by the firm can support chip card, magstripe, and contactless payments. Verifone, Ingenico, PAX, ID TECH, and Innowi are among the POS hardware brands compatible with Shift4 Payments.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
No
Merchants have to follow either tiered rates or an interchange-plus model of 1.39% & $0.10 per swipe transactions and 1.79% & $0.10 per keyed-in transactions.
Harbortouch offers merchants the option of 2 POS systems: Elite POS ($39 monthly fee) and Echo POS ($29 monthly fee).
However, The cost of its payment gateway services and virtual terminals are pricy. Shift4 Payments has a batch fee of $0.35 and 1.79% & $0.10 per transaction.
Finally, Shift4 requires merchants to return any equipment 15 days before the contract ends, or else it enforces late equipment fees. Merchants who fail to return card terminals, contactless terminals, and POS systems within that time have to pay a fine of $200, $300, and $500, respectively.
Pricing Model
Interchange PlusTiered Pricing
Swiped Rate
Interchange-Plus or 1.39% + $0.10
Keyed-in Rate
Interchange-Plus or 1.79% + $0.10
Mobile Payment Rate
Virtual Terminal Rate
Interchange-Plus or 1.79% + $0.10
Monthly Fee
$25
Payment Gateway Fee
None
Batch Fee
$0.35
Early Termination Fee
None
PCI Compliance Fee
None
Equipment Lease Terms
12 Month (locked)
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Application Fee
Account Setup Fee
$0
Gateway Setup Fee
Variable
Annual Fee
Monthly Minimum
$25
Statement Fee
Previously, Shift4's operational terms consisted of a three-year contract with an expensive early termination fee (ETF). Merchants were highly dissatisfied and lodged complaints on various platforms. However, since then, the company has duly revised its contract and terms in a bid to satisfy existing merchants.
Shift4 has a one-year contract term with a tiered pricing plan. The company does not enforce an early termination fee anymore, the most costly aspect of its old contract agreement.
The absence of an early termination fee gives merchants much more flexible terms while its transaction rates are reasonably priced. It is commendable that the firm has heard merchant feedback and revised their contracts accordingly.
Contract Length
1 Year
Early Termination Fee
None
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has altered Harbortouch to Shift4 and currently uses the same profile. Consequently, Shift4 has been accredited by the BBB since 2013. At present, the company boasts an 'A+' rating with the Better Business Bureau and has 104 complaints lodged against it since the last year and a half. The breakdown of complaints is as follows:
The firm successfully resolved 24 out of the 104 complaints. The status of the remaining complaints isn't precisely known.
Shift4 Payments has also gotten 35 informal reviews to its Better Business Bureau page. Only 3 of said reviews were positive, while most of them were negative.
BBB
A+ (109 complaints)
N/A
1.7 Stars / Based on the opinion of 31 people
Yelp
N/A
Total Online Reviews
100+
Total Online Complaints
10+
Lawsuits
None
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