Where to find it
- Have the merchant log in to their Shift4 merchant portal — usually Lighthouse Business Manager (lighthouse.shift4.com) or the portal they were given at boarding.
- Go to Statements / Documents, choose the most recent full month, and download the PDF. Monthly statements are also emailed to the owner.
- Legacy Harbortouch / SkyTab / Restaurant Manager accounts use the same Shift4 statement — look for the Shift4 logo and a monthly "Merchant Statement."
- Can't locate it? The merchant can request the latest statement from Shift4 support or their current rep in a couple of minutes.
How to read it — find the effective rate
Unlike Square, a Shift4 statement itemizes the costs. Find the summary box with total volume and total fees, then:
Example: $1,800 in fees on $50,000 of volume = 3.6% effective. That single number is your headline — everything else explains what's driving it.
The fee section usually splits into these buckets — know which are real cost vs. markup:
| Line on the statement | What it is |
|---|---|
| Interchange | Paid to the card-issuing bank — a true, non-negotiable cost. The floor everyone pays. |
| Assessments / dues | Paid to Visa/Mastercard — also a true cost, small and fixed. |
| Processor markup | Shift4's margin over interchange — this is what we compete on. |
| Monthly & misc fees | Gateway, PCI, statement, batch, support, non-compliance — often padded and waivable. |
| Equipment lease | If present, usually an expensive, long-term lease — a strong switch trigger. |
Where we win
- The markup is visible. Because interchange is broken out, you can point right at Shift4's margin and the monthly fees as the part we cut.
- Monthly "junk" fees. PCI, gateway, statement and non-compliance fees stack up — dual pricing plus a clean program removes most of them.
- Flat-rate plans. If they're on a flat rate, your Shift4 Flat Rate Plus calculator shows the true effective cost fast.
- Equipment leases. A lease line is a layup — we own the hardware conversation and the savings.
What to say
Talk-track: "Shift4's statement actually breaks the costs out — which makes my job easy. Let me show you what's interchange, which you'd pay anywhere, versus their markup and the monthly fees. That gap is what dual pricing erases."
Then run it through the Statement Rate Analyzer and the calculators to build the proposal.
Shift4's portal names and statement layout vary by program (Lighthouse, SkyTab, legacy Harbortouch) and change over time — confirm what the merchant actually has. This guide is an internal reference for reading a prospect's existing Shift4 statement.