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| My new Etsy Reader on my old work board... |
The problem with selling both in person and online, especially with one of a kind items like mine, is that you need to ensure you don't sell something in person, then find out that you have sold it online.
Etsy have a "Sell on Etsy" App, that has gradually added features over the years, that now allows you to manage your listings and deactivate listings from your event which is helpful, but, it's frustrating sometimes to pay for your listing fee, but then have to deactivate it if you sell it in person and not get the benefit of that sale counting towards your statistics.
The Etsy Reader is the perfect compliment to an online Etsy store.
In combination with the Sell on Etsy App, it allows you to -
- Sell your listings in person.
- Create 'quick' listings on the fly for items you haven't listed.
- Add pictures to these 'quick' listings if you want to, or not.
- Sell a combination of 'quick' and already listed items.
Selling through multiple outlets can also be confusing for record keeping. Managing Square statements, in-person cash sales and online Etsy sales makes for more pieces of paper than I personally like, and I know my hubby doesn't, since I have a tendency to file in 'piles'...
The Etsy Reader is the answer to this!
It's orange, with the Etsy logo and has a slightly rubberized feel to it. It connects into the headphone jack of your phone like other card readers.
To use the Etsy Reader, you must have the "Sell on Etsy" App installed on your device (it works with both Apple and Android devices and with tablets and phones).
I wish I were tech-savvy enough to actually do screenshots, but, for some reason, my shonky Galaxy S2 won't co-operate. The page describing the reader does have screenshots of how the App works.
My main point in writing this, was to actually review how the Etsy Reader works in practice and its benefits / drawbacks.
Benefits
- You can receive credit card and cash payments.
- You can add a sales tax profile and it will automatically calculate and add this amount to your sale, for both cash and card payments.
- Quick sales are not subject to the Etsy listing fee of 20c.
- Cash sales incur no payment processing fees.
- All sales count towards your Etsy sales statistics.
- Much easier to manage your Etsy-listed items and unlisted items at a craft fair
- You can keep all your paperwork in one place - ie an Etsy monthly statement.
- You can have a cohesive feel to your shop - ie, Etsy in person and Etsy online.
- You can send email receipts
- Buyers can leave reviews for Etsy listings sold in person (not quick sale items) if they are on Etsy.
Drawbacks
- It's a little time consuming to have to type in the quick sale description. They need to add the ability to create quick listings that you can store and simply click on.
- You have to wait for Etsy to transfer money to your bank account, whereas Paypal transfers instantly to a Paypal account and many sellers use their Paypal account with a debit card in lieu of a bank account.
- Higher fees for a manually entered transaction. This is pretty standard (as the card doesn't have to be present and therefore it's a higher security risk), but a little unfair if you have the card with you and the swipe function isn't working (whether it be the reader or the card stripe itself at fault).
- Some sellers feel that the recent changes that Etsy has made to search and its business practices are not helping sellers and the Etsy reader is designed as a money-making option for them and less of a help to sellers.
Overall I love the new reader. To me, I would be paying the fees anyway (they're pretty universal) and I don't operate my business on a shoestring enough that a couple of days before the money transfers to me matters all that much.
I love having my paperwork in one place and I love that I don't need to put my store in vacation mode ahead of a big show because it's too hard to manage the Etsy-listed items as well as those that aren't listed. I can simply sell them there and then.
I also like the ability to have the equivalent of a cash register that records all sales and I love that I can increase my Etsy sales statistics at no cost to me for cash sales in-person.
The reader seems durable and I haven't had any problems with it at two shows over the past 2 weeks.
In short - it's a winner for any Etsy seller!
