Shift4 Acquires 3DCart

[Pack Secure]

I am not sure how I feel about this acquisition. On one hand, we have stayed with 3DCart since they have not given that large company feel. I have always felt what we needed to be done was important to them. On the other hand, this may be a great opportunity to get the features that are really needed for the platform.

I would be interested in the thoughts of other merchants.

https://www.shift4.com/shift4-payments-acquires-3dcart/

[Choice Checks LLC]

Looking forward to a newsletter when they do send one out.

www.choicechecks.com

Accounting Supplies and Business Checks

[jnnjr]

What I hope this does NOT turn into is something like Shopify where if you don't use their processing, additional fees are tacked onto the order. (Given that Shift4 is a processing company)

[Lisa Crane]

Hi there! We have absolutely no plans on add processing fees.
If you opt to use another processor, that would be fine, you would just have to pay for your hosting instead of receiving it for free

[warrisr]

It looks like Shift4 went public in June, which means they are now an investor and bottom line-driven company. That makes me a bit nervous.

[Pack Secure]

@jnnjr if they do that we will be looking elsewhere.

[Lisa Crane]

Have no fear! There are absolutely no plans to charge processing fees if you opt to processes with someone else besides Shift4. You just would not be eligible for the free hosting plan.

[lukiegames]

It looks like Shift bought them in early November. It would be nice to hear something about what changes are coming, who will be staying/going, etc. Or if there will be improvements or anything.

The extra resources can hopefully help improve 3dcart overall. I too am concerned about the payments - all the info I’ve found so far was their recent earnings call (or something like that) and they stressed the advantages of an integrated e-commerce/payment system.

But that doesn’t mean they won’t still allow customers to keep paying the regular way. But agreed Pack Secure. That’s not something that would work for our company.

Id also really like to know if the offices here in South Florida will be staying for long or if support will be moving, etc.

[JoeBTI]

Hope this helps 3dCart catchup in many of the features the big guys have. Seems they're always 1-2 years behind...

They created a new price plan. Plan is completely free, but you can only use the shift4 gateway at their rate, which is currently listed at 2.9% + $0.30 (extremely high).

[Pack Secure]

I was led to believe that if you show them proof of a lower rate you are currently getting they will honor that rate. Please don't quote me on that.

Edited to add: This would be for existing 3D customers.

[hoosierdraft]

We will see how this plays out.

[Elimax]

It would be nice to hear from 3d management if this is the beginning of a roll out to a shopify type of model only? I would rather know what is coming down the line with as much advance notice as possible. Looks as though the shift processing would cost us about $600-800 more a month, but we spend $230 on our 3d service. If the new service were to streamline functionalities on say anti fraud etc., it might be enough to over look the upcharges. If I am getting rid of my gateway / processor and not having to deal with PCI compliance, etc., there may actually be some time savings. We will see.

[Luxlife]

Pack Secure Thanks for sharing the link to the press release.

According to the press release, "...Shift4 Payments, (NYSE: FOUR), a leading provider of payment processing and technology solutions, has announced the acquisition of 3dcart, a powerful ecommerce platform serving over 14,000 businesses..." This brings to mind other figures for the number of merchants such as the 20,000 mentioned a while back on 3dCart's blog:
https://blog.3dcart.com/8-beautiful-...t-using-3dcart

If the press release is correct, it appears 3dCart is smaller than it used to be. It would be interesting to learn how they counted. Or maybe the 20,000 was not true. Searching the internet, there are other merchant count figures,150000 and 17000. There appears to be a decline in the number of merchants, certainly a lack of growth, which is troubling given the continuous and accelerating growth in ecommerce businesses. Does anyone have any thoughts as to why?

[Pack Secure]

@Luxlife You're welcome. It is my hope that 3D will provide us with more information quickly. If there is a decline, perhaps that is why they agreed to be bought out. My hope is that they will have more money infused into their platform and it will improve the platform and add some much-needed features.

[RichiamOrganics]

I am actually very disappointed that it has been nearly two months, and no official word from 3dcart. I would never had know if Pack Secure, had not posted it.

This gives me a feeling that something is changing, and many of us will not like it, as that's the only reason why I can think of why a company with holds very important information like this.

When I was at Big Commerce the same thing happened, and the news wasn't good. As soon as they brought in transaction fees and major price changes I left, so did many others.

When 3dcart changed their plans to unlimited a while back, I had an uneasy feeling they were looking to sell.

I hope they come out soon with more information, but I won't be waiting for them, as I have started to look at other options so I don't get caught out.

I really hope that it is better for us all, rather than worse, as I think 3dcart has the most potential of all the carts I have seen, and overall I have been very happy with them.

[nicolas_t]

They announced is in a rather subtle way in one of their newsletters.

Shift4 has a strong focus on the food/restaurant industry so 2020 was not good to them and acquiring 3dcart is a way to diversify.

I am like you, I am very happy with 3dcart overall . I hope Shift4 will not mess it up.

[ebeegirl]

We received an email last Wednesday announcing the buyout and also some news for merchants who decide to change to Shift4 payments - email came from Gonzalo. I would check your spam folder for the email.