Shift4Shop vs Shopify - Which is the Best Ecommerce Platform?

[@wsa3637]

Couple of comments from a new Shift4shop customer (Late Nov). They are having issues with their systems which might be why they are not allowing new customers. I've had logo/Favicon upload issues, took 3 days for them to fix a credit card issue (after saying they don't see the problem), then after customer credit card failures with errors on the UI, support said their are no logs reporting the error. They "reset" the server and asked customer to try again. OUCH. Refunded an order and the screen just spins and spins. Overall, I like the features once I've learned all the idiosyncrasies, but customers not being able to place orders is unacceptable. No-one is communicating the issues, I've asked for a manager to call me and crickets.

[@EcommerceGold]

Thank for the info on Shift4Shop, definitely not good that things aren't working properly but hope they get it sorted for your sake. I have seen quite a few comments regarding the poor support.

[@byjustpeachy]

I’ve watched more than a few videos on Shift4Shop but none of them mention a very important point that I learned when calling them directly. 1. You have to make at least $500 per month in transactions for the platform to be free. 2. If you don’t meet the $500 minimum, it does cost $29.00 per month… which is helpful for brand new to online selling. 3. When you first start you have 60-days to get setup and earn sales to establish the $500 minimum threshold per month before they start charging the $29.00. 4. When you go through the sign up screens you need to be ready to start ALL the setup because the clock on that 60-days start immediately. 5. If you choose to have PayPal as a payment option, you will pay $29.00 per month no matter if you meet the $500 minimum or not, BUT it’s not a separate (meaning not in addition to the less than $500 minimum). 6. You can choose between 24-hour batches or 48-hour batches for Shift4Shop to process your payments from sales. 7. Each batch processed is charged $0.30 plus they deduct 2.9% for processing. These are things I could not find on their website or in their Terms of Service. Since my friend and I are completely new to the idea of selling online it feels like some of the “not detailed” details are helpful to know when planning and making decisions before diving in headfirst.

[@EcommerceGold]

Thank you for your comment and it is always good to get input from others, Shift4Shop has gone through quite a few changes over the past year or so since rebranding which caused a fair bit of confusion. Regrading the $500/m sales and $29 if using PayPal, they have added that to their pricing and homepage and I'm not sure if I missed it or it wasn't there previously (it can be easy to overlook things) but the other info is useful to know.

[@alishiathompson178]

THANK YOU!!!

[@RexLarrieux]

Hi. Can you do another video on Shift4Shop. They just opened it up again for signup and there has been some changes. I'd like to get your take. Thank you for all you do.

[@EcommerceGold]

No problem and hope my videos are helpful. I've just had a quick look in my demo store and nothing has changed, will have another look in the new year.

[@danw8227]

Any ideas when Shift4Shop will be open back up for new onboarding?

[@EcommerceGold]

Unfortunately not, I have asked but just got told to keep checking their social media accounts.

[@Meziosaur]

Hey, this isn't related to your video but on your website, you don't have a star rating for Squarespace. I hope you can add it, I've been doing a lot of reading on your reviews. Thanks for sharing the knowledge 🙏

[@EcommerceGold]

I need to re-review Squarespace (it is on my very long to-do list), which is why it currently doesn't have a rating.

[@lindamartinez6529]

thanks for this, it is insightful and informative, although it seems a bit biased for shopify. I could deal with a unattractive backend to save the monthly fees; shopify nickel and dimes you to death, and that shrinks your margins. what I would like to see is apples to apples, that is, what is the profit margins for shift4shop vs shopify, everything else being equal? is the differential, selling the exact same product, 10%? 20%? More? that would be the real story - the bottom line.

[@EcommerceGold]

Glad it was insightful, it isn't biased, I'm just giving my opinion based on my experiences trying out both platforms. It would be very difficult to talk about profit margins as there are many different things to consider, it isn't just things like transaction fees because you also need to factor in other things, such as time to do things, do the platforms have ways to make processes more efficient etc so that you can save time/money, do the platforms offer discounts for shipping partners etc.

[@lingo2025]

A huge negative for shift4shop is the lack of prebuilt integrations.

[@starradelowokan7843]

I think shopify is overrated & expensive

[@chockletbynow]

What’s your opinion on godaddy’s managed woocommerce. Is it worth it compared to bluehost?

[@EcommerceGold]

I haven’t tried either, so can’t comment.