Informal poll - the Venmo app by Paypal

I honestly dreaded "having" to sign up for it when some of the kids activities were requesting to be paid through it. Now that I have it I find it seamless, really just a quicker version of PayPal. As MsAli indicated it seems to be more popular among the younger people, like me . We have one music instructor that gets paid weekly and two others that are paid monthly via the app along with other occasional transactions. It came in really handy recently when we found out that my oldest daughter (going to college for voice/musical theatre) was responsible for finding and paying for her own piano accompanist. We were able to get him paid right away and reserve her spot with him by being able to pay instantly through the app. On average we use it 2-3 times a week.

Now if it can also be used to get a discount on rocks I'll REALLY like it!

Ive had it for a while, its easy to hook up and you can request a debit card that you can use to buy gas or groceries out of your venmo account.
I got it because some of my customers will not use paypal, I use them both but really no preference except my paypal account is commercial and my venmo account is personal.

Tony

I understand that Venmo does not give buyers any protection, therefore I will not use it. I prefer Square.

It's just quicker and easier by a few steps Jason. From the moment people ask if I have Venmo its as easy as telling them my name and money is there in about a 1 minute interaction - even quicker if I generate a QR code on my phone for them to scan with their phone.

Tommy, my dang flip phone won't scan. Telemarketers love smart phones cause their owners have the big bucks. Us flip phone folks aren't pestered as much by the scammers.

Square offers no protection whatsoever, if you have a problem they tell you to take it to civil court. I know from experience, I wont use them anymore.

Tony

Sorry, I meant sellers. I then looked it up on the venmo site. The seller has to have a business account or the buyer has to designate the transaction as a purchase.

"Can I currently use Venmo to buy or sell merchandise, goods, or services?

Venmo was originally designed for people who know and trust each other to send each other payments. However, we’re in the process of growing our services to accommodate the varying needs of our customers. The only way to accept payments for goods and services on Venmo is to be explicitly authorized to accept Venmo for purchases, either by applying for a business profile or  tag a payment to a personal profile as a purchase.

As a customer or “buyer”, you may use Venmo to pay for goods or services in the app by paying an authorized business profile or tagging a payment to a personal profile as a purchase when it’s available. You can also use your Venmo account to pay for goods and services, by using a Venmo Debit Card at merchants that accept the card, through mobile websites or apps that are approved to offer Venmo as a payment option, or by using your in-store QR code at select merchants.

For more information about accepting payments for your business in the Venmo app, you can read more about business profiles or learn about making payments for goods and services to personal profiles.

Venmo may NOT otherwise be used to receive business, commercial or merchant transactions, meaning you CANNOT use Venmo to accept payment from (or send payment to) another user for a good or service, unless explicitly authorized by Venmo.

Unless directly given the option by Venmo, DO NOT USE VENMO TO TRANSACT WITH PEOPLE YOU DON’T PERSONALLY KNOW, ESPECIALLY IF THE TRANSACTION INVOLVES THE PURCHASE OR SALE OF A GOOD OR SERVICE (for example, concert tickets, electronic equipment, sneakers, a watch, or other merchandise). These transactions are potentially high risk, are not allowed under Venmo’s User Agreement, and Venmo does not have a protection program for such transactions unless directly offered. So:

If you send a Venmo payment to an unauthorized business profile or another individual for a good or service without identifying the payment as for goods and services, you could lose your money without ever getting what you paid for.
If you accept a Venmo payment from someone for a good or service via your personal profile and the buyer didn’t identify a payment as for goods and services, we may later review the payment. When that happens, we may reverse the payment, meaning you could lose both the payment and the item sold. This review process may not occur until after you attempt to transfer the funds out of Venmo."

My only experience with Venmo was a truly sketchy one, but wasn't really their fault.
Never an issue with the square account, from buyer or seller standpoint, but the biggest ticket purchases have been relatively small, maybe $300 tops, and have been within the greater peer circle and in person. I won't be sharing my debit number with anyone by phone or message, so square will remain in person only.
Tony catmandewe I have heard that what square promises and what they deliver are not the same thing at all, no customer service at all for sellers. Still, at shows having the ability to do card purchases really increased our sales.
lparker the venmo TOS section you pasted appears to deal with private vs commercial profiles, and only says that there is no protection for private account to private account, just like sending friends and family payments was on PayPal. And like I said above, my fellow vendors at bazaars and art shows who used square all had stories of how they were on their own if anything went south. "Dispute resolution" and protection are totally different things.