It might seem strange that a service that is seven years old would just be getting around to gift cards, but Etsy did not have its own payment service until this year. Paypal was the default payment system on Etsy for the first seven years of its life. Sellers can still accept payments via Paypal and for international sellers, Paypal is still the only payment option on Etsy.
One big benefit of having its own payment system, called Direct Checkout, is that Etsy can now offer gift cards which can be used to purchase from sellers on Direct Checkout. The majority of Etsy sellers in the US now accept Direct Checkout so that means hundreds of thousands of sellers will accept payment with Etsy Gift Cards.
As you might imagine, sending and receiving a gift card on Etsy is a beautiful experience.
So if you have a friend or loved one who enjoys buying on Etsy but you can't decide what to get them this holiday season, head on over to Etsy and buy them a gift card. I plan to do that a fair bit this year.
