Eventbrite hops on the mobile card reader bandwagon

If the credit card readers from Square, PayPal, and Intuit weren’t enough for you, there’s another option in the space from Eventbrite. True to the site’s mission, they’re focusing the reader and the associated iPad app (sorry iPhone and Android users) on event organizers instead of to the general public. The At The Door Card Reader plugs into the iPad’s dock connector instead of the headphone jack and is fully encrypted, but beyond that Eventbrite’s magic for its customers is its ecosystem of event-focused services it believes will better serve its core audience.

That is the euphemistic way of explaining why Eventbrite decided to launch its own card reader instead of using partnering with any of the players already in this space. A more direct reason, as an Eventbrite VP told CNET, is that the company wants to provide organizers with more customer information than Square provides — the better to sell you more merch down the road, we suppose.

Eventbrite’s dongle will cost $10 to start but, as is now standard, will come with a $10 credit to offset the cost (shipping is still up to you). The software is also compatible with wireless Star receipt printers, should such a thing be helpful at your venue. The company charging a 3 percent credit card fee on every transaction, which is .25 percent more than Square and .03 percent more than PayPal — so chances are this product won’t have much appeal beyond Eventbrite’s already-existing userbase.