Marketplace Etsy and Square, have struck a new deal when it comes to merchants taking payments in real life with a card reader. Previously, Etsy merchants could use a branded reader but now they will need to transition to a service administered by payments service Square.
You can read the announcement in full from Etsy here.
This means the Etsy card reader will no longer be operational from March 31st this year. So if you’re currently using the card reader to accept payments in-person, this functionality will not be available in the Sell on Etsy app after that date.
But there are incentives to transition to the new device:
We’ve even made it easy for you to sync your Etsy inventory to the Square app, so you can be up and running in time for your next in-person selling event. As a bonus, Square will reimburse new users’ processing fees on up to $1,000.00 of sales processed during their first 180 days after signing up for Square.
– Ryan Moran, Etsy
The old branded Etsy card reader was launched in 2014 and was previously only available to users in the United States and Canada and, so far, these changes simply apply there and we can see no plans for expansion of the service into Europe right now. (Although there is no notice on what date the Square system will be available in Canada.)
We suspect that the North American focus of the Etsy reader might change because Square does have international ambitions. So watch this space on that. But, more interestingly, this is another initiative from Etsy to streamline operations and concentrate more fully on core marketplace success. It makes perfect sense for a company like Etsy to leave the development of payment cards readers, and the like, to third party specialists. Rather than retain them in house.
