Venmo – A Kinder Gentler PayPal

by thubten

Have you heard of Venmo yet? Most people haven’t.

I was a customer of PayPal’s rival, X.Com back in 1998, and was happy when they merged with PayPal. Since PayPal’s acquisition by eBay, at least from my point of view, everything’s gone down hill.

As someone who markets products and services via web sites, PayPal is a necessary evil. As more and more customers refuse to use PayPal, however, the need for a real challenger grows.

I was recently exposed to Venmo, and have been pleased with what I’ve seen so far. The interface is simpler than PayPal’s and seems to be simpler to use. Venmo has added a social trust dimension to exchanges, as well as the ability to pay each other using handheld devices (PayPal’s original business).

Using SMS text messaging, people can send money to each other’s Venmo accounts. It’s very cool! You can also embed payment widgets into your WordPress, or other web / blog site:

{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

JFarruk May 9, 2010 at 11:38 pm

Thanks for the great write up. Please feel free to contact me directly if there is anything I can do help!

AudreyW May 18, 2010 at 6:16 pm

Thanks for the information. I have been looking for an alternative to PayPal. I am heading over to try it right now.

Barry Peters May 26, 2010 at 6:57 pm

I have been a Venmo user for 2-3 months but havent a single transaction. Was it designed for peeer transactions or B2C like Paypal.

Enjoyed your blog for first time; pulled there by your connecting to me on Twitter!

thubten May 26, 2010 at 7:14 pm

Thanks for saying hello, Barry! Yes, the intention is peer-to-peer transactions, like PayPal, but with less red tape and more social interaction.

Leela Vox Alexander June 1, 2010 at 4:05 am

Dear Thubten,
Thank you for sharing this valuable information! You are a wealth of knowledge, and this site is like a Swiss Army Knife of tools for anyone wanting to take their work on the web to the next level. I am grateful for the tools you are sharing with me, and others.
All the best,
Leela

tan March 22, 2011 at 5:42 pm

hi there,
i LOVE venmo and would love to put a payment widget on my site. where did you get one???
is there an official one or did you make that one up? Would you be willing to share?

thubten March 23, 2011 at 3:12 am

Thanks Tan!

I got it from the Venmo site.

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