diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 5feed29..3cba66c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ before_install:
 install:
   - pip install pycurl flake8
   - pip install mock
+  - pip install six
   - python setup.py install
 script:
   - python -W always setup.py test
diff --git a/openpay/util.py b/openpay/util.py
index 40de5d8..c3a8d2c 100644
--- a/openpay/util.py
+++ b/openpay/util.py
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
-
 import logging
 import sys
 
+import six
+
 logger = logging.getLogger('stripe')
 
 __all__ = ['utf8']
 
 
 def utf8(value):
-    if isinstance(value, unicode) and sys.version_info < (3, 0):
+    if isinstance(value, six.text_type) and sys.version_info < (3, 0):
         return value.encode('utf-8')
     else:
         return value
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9db965c..992d6ee 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -43,5 +43,5 @@
       package_data={'openpay': ['data/ca-certificates.crt', '../VERSION']},
       install_requires=install_requires,
       test_suite='openpay.test.all',
-      use_2to3=True,
+      # use_2to3=True,
       )