It is not abstract to wonder how popular apps make money. This curiosity could arise from your frequent usage of the app, or how safe it is.
Venmo has become a household name in the P2P economy, and considering how it makes money before using the app is actually a wise thing to do.
This article on ” How Does Venmo Make Money” goes beyond stating clearly the source of revenue, it also analyzes what the app does and how safe it is.
Before we go into details on how Venmo makes money, let’s pay attention to these details.
Table of contents
What Is Venmo?
Venmo is a P2P payment app that allows for quick and easy exchange of money directly between individuals. This payment app is readily available on iPhones and Android phones. It was founded in 2009 as a text message-based payment delivery system.
In March 2012, Venmo introduced a platform with an integrated social network. This was in a bid to capitalize on the growing P2P economy.
In less than six months from March 2012, Braintree and other e-commerce giants bought Venmo for $26.2 million. A year later, Braintree was acquired by PayPal Holdings Inc. for $800 million.
During this period, Venmo was already enjoying a substantial boost in users; hence, the monetization of Venmo’s user base by the new owners.
In a nutshell, Venmo is a free-to-use mobile app founded by Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail. Currently, owned by PayPal the app is used to send and receive money online by U.S residents.
How Does Venmo Work?
Getting to know how Venmo works give a broader knowledge of how they make money. Basically, Venmo is an app available on iPhones and Android phones so, users must first download and install the app on their phones.
Afterward, users proceed to link their Venmo accounts to their credit card, debit card, or checking accounts. Once this is done, Venmo users can now exchange funds online with Venmo being the virtual fiscal intermediary.
Clearly, Venmo works as the middle man between the two bank accounts of the two users conducting payment transactions.
On a more simplified note, Venmo is an app used to transfer and receive funds. However, funds transferred through this app can be kept as Venmo Balance or re-transferred into a bank account or credit card.
Is Venmo Social Media?
Venmo is quite different from other P2P payment apps because of its integration of social media functions. The social element and the financial element of Venmo merge to give a beautiful user experience.
It may not necessarily be a social media app but, it integrates social media features and playful gestures to make the transfer of funds worthwhile.
How Does Venmo Make Money?
You may be wondering how Venmo makes money considering the fact that the app is free to use and download. Well, some transactions on Venmo cost some money.
For instance, linking your Venmo app to your credit card attracts a 3% fee of the total value of the transaction.
This 3% charge on transactions with credit cards is one of the ways Venmo makes money off customers.
Also, the Venmo app makes money from charging businesses 2.9% of the total money a customer pays for their goods and services. That means there is a 2.9% charge on businesses whenever customers use Venmo API to pay.
This source of revenue will take a new leap as Venmo has now entered into a partnership with Uber. Hence, customers can now pay for Uber and UberEats with Venmo thereby attracting a 2.9% business transaction fee.
Venmo’s way of making money will duly pay off more as its future plans to increase the use of Venmo for transactions between customers and businesses will yield more income.
In a nutshell, Venmo makes money through the following itemized below.
- 3% charge on transactions with credit card
- 2.9% fee on business when they receive payment from their customers using Venmo.
- 0.30% per transaction on businesses
How Safe is Venmo?
Apps that are linked to bank accounts are vulnerable to security breaches. However, owners of these apps and platforms directly linked to consumer bank accounts employ the highest safeguarding standards.
Currently, Venmo uses data encryption technology to protect users against unauthorized transactions. Also, user information-login details, security pins are all stored on servers in secure locations.
Despite these security measures, the app has fallen prey to hackers and scammers. Venmo scam happens when hackers gain access to a user’s account, they can now easily transfer a user’s Venmo balance to a neutral bank account.
Also, scammers can change a user’s email address and redirect a user’s notifications. Hence, the real user remains ignorant of transactions made during this period.
This explains Venmo scam stories of users losing up to $3, 000. To curb this menace, Venmo allows users the option of setting up pin codes for mobile application transfers.
Therefore, strengthening the security measures to safeguard every user’s Venmo account.
Full Guide on How to Protect Your Venmo User Account?
Virtually, every app linked to bank accounts for online transactions is at risk of security breaches.
While the owners of these platforms do their bid to protect your funds, you can adhere to this full guide below to combat the devastating effects of hacking.
- Store minimal sums in Venmo balance
- Transfer Venmo transactions to bank accounts or credit cards
- Use Venmo with friends and family
- Conceal transaction histories on Venmo by opting from its social network.
- Change your social network settings to “private” as public settings will publish transactions on the feed.
Venmo Review: Is it Legit or Scam?
Generally, P2P payments are convenient, fast, and easy to use. Peer-to-peer payment aids individuals transfer money from one person to another through a click of a button.
Venmo is one such app that makes transactions easy. Hence, for some reason, it is a good app to have. Venmo as an app is no scam zone.
In fact, by the fourth quarter of 2019 Venmo boasted 40 million with a net payment of $29 billion.
These statistics indicate that Venmo recorded a 56% year-over-year climb. Approximately $300 million was stipulated as Venmo revenues for 2020.
Most Venmo reviews depict successful peer-to-peer payments. Also, social media integration gives an awesome user experience. Irrespective of all the nice features, it is not advisable to Venmo large amounts of money neither is it to leave large sums as Venmo account balance.
Notes consultant Richard Crone on reviewing Venmo App has this to say:
“Partnering with Venmo is like partnering with a credit card processor, but with much more upside,’.
“Retailers spend a lot of money trying to get you to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. But they could get these things for free, as a byproduct of allowing Venmo payments. People can see where their friends have been and what they’ve been buying, which turns users into advertisements for businesses, among a highly desirable target demographic.”Richard CroneTweet
A click on the button will redirect you to where to download the Venmo app.
Conclusion
Venmo app is free to download and use app for peer-to-peer transactions. Just like most apps linked to bank accounts, it also faces some challenges -vulnerability to hackers.
This article reviews the Venmo app, states how it makes money and offers a full guide on how to protect Venmo User account.
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