Best POS Reader for Etsy Sellers and Handmade Shops (2026 Guide)
A maker-first comparison of the best POS readers for Etsy sellers and handmade shops at craft fairs — current fees, hardware, and which one fits how you sell.
If you sell handmade at craft fairs, weekend markets, or pop-up events, at some point a customer is going to pull out a card and ask if you take payment. Saying “cash only” these days costs you sales. Most shoppers don’t carry cash, and a portable POS reader pays for itself after a few transactions.
The good news: the hardware is cheaper and simpler than it was even a couple of years ago. The tricky bit is figuring out which reader makes sense for how you already sell, whether that’s Etsy, Shopify, both, or just a stall on the weekend.
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Here’s a quick note on what’s changed since this guide first went up: Etsy no longer makes its own card reader (it discontinued that in favour of a Square partnership), and PayPal Here was rebranded to Zettle by PayPal in 2021. So if you’ve seen those names floating around in older guides, yep, the landscape has shifted.
Let’s run through the options that actually make sense for handmade sellers in 2026.
Quick comparison: POS readers for handmade sellers
A snapshot of the current options. Fees and hardware prices change, so double-check the provider’s site before buying.
| Reader | Hardware cost | Per-swipe fee (US) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square Reader (contactless + chip) | ~$59 | 2.6% + 10¢ | Most handmade sellers; easiest all-rounder |
| Square Reader (magstripe only) | ~$10 | 2.6% + 10¢ | Backup reader or very low volume |
| Shopify POS (Tap & Chip) | ~$49 | 2.7% (in-person) | Shopify sellers who want one system for everything |
| Zettle by PayPal | ~$29 | 2.29% + 9¢ | Sellers already deep in the PayPal ecosystem |
| SumUp Solo | ~$39 | 2.6% + 10¢ | Sellers who want a standalone reader (no phone pairing) |
| Stripe Reader | ~$59 | 2.7% + 5¢ | Custom setups / tech-savvy sellers |
Prices are US retail and rounded. UK, EU, and AU pricing differs, so check the provider directly.
Why you need a POS reader for craft fair sales
A POS reader lets you accept card and contactless payments on the spot using your phone or tablet, so you can sell in person without turning away cashless shoppers.
Card payments have quietly become the default. Cash still turns up at markets (especially at weekend community events), but the majority of craft fair shoppers expect to tap or swipe. A portable reader does three things for you:
- Captures sales you’d otherwise lose when someone doesn’t have cash on them.
- Records the transaction in an app, so you’re not scribbling sales on a receipt pad and trying to reconcile it later.
- Makes your stall feel professional. It quietly signals that you run this as a real business, not just a hobby.
Keep in mind that POS readers aren’t just for craft fairs. If you do wholesale drop-offs, teach workshops, or take custom orders at in-person meetings, the same reader handles those too.
Square: the default choice for most handmade sellers
Square is the most common POS reader among handmade sellers in the US, and for good reason. It’s genuinely easy to set up, the free app does most of what a maker needs, and the hardware is cheap.
What you get:
- A contactless + chip reader for around $59 (a $10 magstripe-only version also exists as a backup).
- Free Square POS app for iOS and Android (no monthly fee).
- 2.6% + 10¢ per in-person tap, chip, or swipe in the US.
- Next-business-day deposits to your bank account.
- Inventory tracking, customer history, gift cards, and basic reports all built in.
- Integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Etsy (via partner apps), and plenty more.
Where Square wins for makers: the ecosystem. You can run craft fair sales, take wholesale orders, and even sell through a free Square Online store, all tied back to the same inventory list. If you already sell on Etsy or Shopify, Square sits comfortably alongside them rather than trying to replace them.
If you use Craftybase to manage your inventory, it connects directly with Square to import your in-person sales automatically and keep your materials inventory in sync with what you make and sell. So a craft fair weekend doesn’t turn into a Tuesday night of manual data entry.
Shopify POS: best if Shopify is your main store
If your online shop is on Shopify, Shopify POS is the obvious pick. Not because the hardware is special, but because your products, stock levels, and customer data are already in one place.
What you get:
- Shopify POS Go (an all-in-one handheld) or the Tap & Chip Reader (around $49) that pairs with your phone or tablet.
- Shopify POS Lite is included free with any Shopify plan.
- 2.7% in-person card rate on most Shopify plans (lower on Advanced).
- Automatic stock sync between your online store and craft fair sales: sell a necklace at a market, your Shopify listing updates.
- Customer profiles that carry across online and in-person.
Where Shopify POS wins for makers: unified stock. A proper headache in multi-channel handmade is wondering whether the last of that lavender soap sold online this morning or at yesterday’s market. Shopify POS makes that question go away.
Where it doesn’t work as well: if Shopify isn’t your main store, you’re paying for a Shopify subscription just to use the reader. At that point, Square is cheaper.
Zettle by PayPal: a solid option if you’re already on PayPal
PayPal rebranded its POS system from “PayPal Here” to Zettle by PayPal in 2021. The reader itself is a small Bluetooth device that pairs with your phone or tablet.
What you get:
- Zettle card reader for around $29.
- 2.29% + 9¢ per tap, chip, or swipe in the US (lower than most competitors).
- Free Zettle app.
- Deposits into your PayPal account (you can then transfer to your bank).
- Supports Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Where Zettle wins: if you already run your handmade business through PayPal (invoicing, online payments, wholesale), Zettle keeps everything in one account. It’s also a strong pick outside the US: Zettle has solid coverage in the UK and Europe, where PayPal is more established than Square.
Just check that Zettle is available in your country before you buy. Availability varies.
SumUp and Stripe Reader: worth knowing about
Two other options that have grown in popularity with small sellers:
SumUp makes the SumUp Solo, a small standalone reader with its own screen, so no phone pairing is needed. That’s handy if you don’t want to hand your phone to a customer. Flat 2.6% + 10¢ in the US, and it’s very popular with market sellers across the UK and Europe.
Stripe Reader is the in-person reader from Stripe. It’s more developer-leaning: you typically need it paired with an app built on Stripe (many craft fair management tools use Stripe under the hood). Fees are 2.7% + 5¢ in-person. Probably overkill for most handmade sellers, but worth knowing about if you use a specific market or workshop platform that runs on Stripe.
How to choose the right POS reader
You don’t need the “best” reader in some abstract sense. You need the one that fits how you already sell. Here’s the decision shortcut:
- You sell on Etsy, craft fairs are a side thing: go with Square. Cheap, easy, plays nicely with Craftybase for inventory.
- You sell on Shopify as your main store: go with Shopify POS. Your stock stays in sync automatically.
- You already run everything through PayPal: go with Zettle by PayPal. One account, lower fees.
- You sell outside the US (UK/EU):SumUp or Zettle tend to be more maker-friendly than Square in those markets.
- You mostly want a standalone device and don’t want to juggle a phone:SumUp Solo or Square Terminal (the more expensive all-in-one Square option).
One thing worth mentioning: don’t overthink the per-swipe fee. The difference between 2.29% and 2.7% on a $30 candle is about 12 cents. That’s not where you should optimise. Pick the reader that fits your workflow, and you’ll save far more time (and sanity) than you’d save on fees.
Where inventory software fits in
Here’s the part most POS comparison guides skip: a POS reader handles the payment, but it doesn’t handle what you actually made and what it cost you.
A craft fair weekend might look like this: you sell 14 bars of soap, 6 candles, and 3 lip balms. Your Square app records the $340 in revenue. Great. But unless you manually adjust your stock and work out what materials just walked out the door, you’re flying blind on:
- Which products are your actual margin-makers (not just the ones that sell the most)
- When you’re about to run out of beeswax, shea butter, or whichever material just got used up
- What your real cost of goods sold was for that weekend, which matters at tax time
You deserve to know this, honestly. Most handmade sellers are told to worry about it later, but the earlier you have this data, the easier every decision gets.
Craftybase is built for this exact workflow. It connects with Square (and Etsy, Shopify, WooCommerce) so your in-person and online sales flow into one inventory system. As products sell, your materials deplete automatically. Your COGS reports and pricing stay accurate without you having to count anything.
That’s the piece that turns “I did some craft fairs this quarter” into “I know exactly what I made and what it cost.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a POS reader if I only sell on Etsy?
Not for online Etsy sales — Etsy handles checkout for you. You only need a POS reader if you sell in person, such as craft fairs, weekend markets, pop-ups, wholesale meetings, or workshops. Etsy used to make its own reader but discontinued it in favour of partnering with Square, so most Etsy sellers who do in-person events use Square or Shopify POS alongside their Etsy shop.
Which POS works best for small craft fair sellers?
Square is the most popular POS for small craft fair sellers in the US because the reader is cheap (around $59), the app is free, and there are no monthly fees. It accepts tap, chip, and swipe payments, deposits to your bank the next business day, and integrates with most inventory tools makers already use. Outside the US, SumUp and Zettle tend to be equally popular with UK and European market sellers.
Does Craftybase connect to POS systems?
Yes, Craftybase connects directly with Square, importing your in-person sales automatically and keeping your materials inventory in sync. Sell 12 bars of soap at a Saturday market, and Craftybase deducts the materials that went into making them, without any manual data entry. It also connects with Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, and WooCommerce, so your in-person and online sales flow into one single source of truth for inventory and COGS.
How much does it cost to accept card payments at a craft fair?
Expect to pay around 2.3% to 2.7% per transaction, plus a small fixed fee (usually 5–10¢) depending on the reader. On a $30 candle, that works out to about 70¢ to 90¢ in processing fees. There's also the one-off hardware cost, typically $10 to $60 for most entry-level readers. No monthly fees on the popular options (Square, Zettle, SumUp), so it's genuinely pay-as-you-sell.
What happened to the Etsy Card Reader?
Etsy discontinued its own card reader and now recommends that Etsy sellers use Square for in-person sales. If you had an old Etsy Reader, it's no longer supported. Most Etsy sellers running craft fairs today use Square or Shopify POS and either connect the sales back to Etsy via a partner app or keep craft fair sales separate and record them in their inventory tool.
Is PayPal Here still a thing?
PayPal Here was rebranded to Zettle by PayPal in 2021. It's the same parent company and similar service, but the app, hardware, and pricing were refreshed under the Zettle name. If you're already running your handmade business through PayPal, Zettle is a natural fit, with deposits going straight to your PayPal balance and the fees (2.29% + 9¢ in the US) are among the lower in-person rates on the market.
Getting organised for your next market
A POS reader is one piece of the puzzle. The other is knowing what you’re actually bringing to the stall and what sold. If you’re gearing up for a craft fair, our free craft show inventory template is a handy printable checklist for the day. And once you’re back home with a tote full of receipts, Craftybase handles the boring bit: turning those sales into clean stock and COGS numbers so you can get back to making.
You don’t need to have all of this figured out from day one. Most makers don’t. Pick a reader, take it to the next fair, and tidy up the numbers afterwards. That’s genuinely how almost every successful handmade business starts.
