New Etsy Credit Card Reader Targets Offline Merchants

etsy credit card reader

Etsy wants its merchants to conduct sales on its popular ecommerce site. But the company also understands many of its clients need to be able to conduct business face-to-face too.

That’s why the handmade and vintage ecommerce site has introduced the Sell on Etsy Reader. The device works like many other similar plug-in credit card scanners for the smartphone or tablet.

The new Etsy credit card reader offers another point-of-sale solution for Etsy merchants offering their products for sale in person at craft fairs or other similar events. The Sell on Etsy Reader is free, as are the apps merchants can download to their mobile devices to use the credit card reader. The apps are available for download to Android and iOS devices.

Writing on the official Etsy News Blog, Director of the Payments and Multichannel Sales division, Camilla Velasquez, explains:

“The reader gives sellers another tool to grow their creative businesses beyond their online Etsy shops and allows buyers to find and buy unique items with a story anywhere they see the Etsy brand, online and offline.”

The Etsy reader works in conjunction with a user’s Etsy shop and across other e-commerce platforms. If a sale is recorded using the Sell on Etsy device, it is also seamlessly reflected in a merchant’s Etsy account inventory.

Etsy says the new reader was developed in recognition of the fact that 90 percent of retail sales still occur offline. The company also says more than one-third of Etsy merchants say they also conduct business offsite.

By offering the Etsy reader, the company is extending its brand off its ecommerce website allowing Etsy merchants to easily continue using its services even when they are not selling online.

The readers also give Etsy the opportunity to extend its business into the digital payments market dominated by competitors like Square and PayPal Here.

At the same time, the new payment option give Etsy the opportunity to retain offline customers who might otherwise choose a competing digital payment option when selling off of the Etsy site.

Though there is no upfront cost for using the reader, Etsy takes a 2.75 percent cut off all payments processed through the new card reader.

That’s the same as the rate currently charged by Square for online payments.

Image: Etsy

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