Etsy Card Reader – All You Need To Know

Craft Maker Pro » Etsy Card Reader – All You Need To Know

Good news Etsy sellers!

Etsy just released a card reader that works just like all of the other card readers out there, except it’s orange and only works with Etsy purchases.It is now available for Etsy Etsy-Card-Reader-–-All-You-Need-To-Knowsellers based in the US only to accept credit and debit card payments in person and help manage their multi-channel sales more efficiently.

According to Etsy, 35 percent of its sellers sell their products at craft shows which mean that 35 percent of its sellers may be using services like Square or PayPal to accept credit cards. That also means that a percentage of those sales go directly to Square or PayPal.

How It Works

The Etsy Card Reader can be plugged into a smartphone or tablet, and will then be used in conjunction with an Etsy app to allow sellers to accept credit card and debit card purchases while selling their handmade goods at craft fairs and in other retail settings.

The card will also integrate with a seller’s online shop. Items sold in person get captured in your Etsy Shop Stats, and your online inventory will adjust in real-time. Etsy will also send electronic receipts to customers who make a purchase using the reader that will include information about the seller’s Etsy store to try to build a deeper seller-customer relationship.

In addition, if someone with an Etsy account buys a necklace from a booth at a flea market, she can write a review that feeds back to the seller’s page online.

Etsy Card Reader Payment Info

The payments through the card reader are competitively priced at 2.75% per swipe. The readers are only available to sellers who use Etsy’s own payments platform, called Direct Checkout, to accept credit and debit card purchases on Etsy.com and on the Etsy app.

Etsy vs Square

The new product will pit Etsy against other reader providers such as Square, PayPal and Amazon. However, the closest competition of Etsy is Square. Square charges the same 2.75 percent fee as Etsy while PayPal charges 2.7 percent. Amazon is taking just a 1.75 percent cut on purchases through the end of 2015, but will raise the fee to 2.5 percent after that.

Etsy’s fee is higher than PayPal’s and Amazon’s (but the same as Square’s). On the other hand, merchants using Etsy’s reader don’t pay the 3.5 percent transaction fee it charges for online orders.

The advantage of Etsy over Square and others is that the Etsy card reader and app are integrated with the site itself and so sales are included in your Shop Stats. What’s more, sales made in person are automatically reflected in your store’s inventory (whether the person paid cash or card). However, Etsy card reader can’t accept mobile payments like Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

Etsy App and Reader is launching in the U.S. at first but will roll out to additional countries “soon.”

Sign up here to get your free Etsy card reader.

That’s it. Happy selling!

Gary Capps
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