How much does Venmo charge?

From ordering pizza to scheduling a parent-teacher conference, one of the best attributes of apps is how much easier they make everyday tasks, helping you quickly accomplish tasks and errands from your mobile device — day or night. When it comes to sending and receiving money between family and friends, that should be easy too.

But with so many mobile payment apps on the market, it’s hard to figure out which one is best for you. Of course you’d like it to be fast, convenient, and secure, but it also needs to be affordable.

Luckily, Venmo meets many must-have requirements for easy, contactless, and economical person-to-person transactions, whether you’re splitting rent or the bar tab. With Venmo, you can do the following free of charge:

• Open and hold an account (with no startup or monthly fees)
• Perform basic transactions, such as spending or receiving money from your bank account, debit card, or Venmo balance
• Transfer money from your bank account
• Receive a refund from a merchant
• Speak to a customer service representative

And while Venmo charges for certain features, including sending money from your credit card or depositing payroll, non-payroll, government, and non-government checks, those charges are minimal.

What’s more, in addition to holding a free personal account with Venmo, you can even open a business profile to accept and manage customer payments. However, you do need a personal account with Venmo if you’d like to have a business account, and Venmo strictly prohibits any form of business transactions on personal accounts. 

Fortunately, you can create and store both profiles under the same login, which will keep your personal and business transactions separate.

An overview of Venmo for business

Built for small and medium-sized businesses, associations, and clubs, Venmo for business helps companies just starting out — those with less capital and social reach — boost their visibility and develop new referrals among current Venmo users. 

One of Venmo’s biggest cons, however, is its accessibility: Both its personal and business accounts are currently only available within the United States.

Venmo for business transaction fees

Like Venmo’s personal account, Venmo charges aren’t excessive for business profiles. In fact, for every payment the business owner receives that’s $1 or more, Venmo will only charge a nonrefundable seller transaction fee of 1.9 percent plus 10 cents. 

Although Venmo used to offer new business profiles a trial period of 30 days without seller transaction fees, these Venmo charges now begin once you receive a payment that’s $1 or more — regardless of business size or industry.

The reason Venmo charges for business profiles

While pesky, seller transaction fees (which align with industry standards) help Venmo continue providing and optimizing the business profile service. Venmo charges are meant to benefit and protect your business by providing enhanced payment options, tax reporting, and dispute services.

Venmo for business benefits

When it comes to Venmo for business, the affordable seller transaction fees are just one of the many benefits. With a Venmo business profile, you also

• Keep more of your hard-earned money, since you don’t have to pay any form of setup or monthly fees
• Improve visibility to grow and scale, especially if you add a profile picture, background image, or logo to your business profile
• Receive a free quick response (QR) kit of lanyards, stickers, wallet cards, and a tabletop display containing a unique code you can post or hand out to customers for even faster, more convenient payment options
• Have the ability to participate in social engagement on the app by “liking” customer purchases, publicly thanking them for their business, or providing them with social media and website links to boost customer relationships and loyalty
• Get secure formal tax documentation that meets or exceeds both state and federal reporting thresholds

How to create a Venmo for business profile

To set up a Venmo for business profile, simply click the icon in the bottom right of your Venmo app (the one shaped like a person and dollar sign) or the Create a business profile link in the left navigation bar on the website or in the upper right of your profile screen in the app.

If you don’t already have a Venmo personal account, you’ll need to open one by either downloading the Venmo app or navigating to Venmo’s website and clicking Get Venmo.

1. Next, click the Business option.
2. Click Get started.
3. Select the Send code button to receive a confirmation code.
4. Type the confirmation code in the Venmo screen.
5. Enter your legal name, email address, and the password you’d like to use with Venmo after you’ve verified your phone number.
6. After reading through the legal terms and conditions, click Agree.

Venmo for business includes more than enough features to help get your small business up and running and interacting with customers quickly and conveniently.

Most importantly, it’s safe and secure for your business and customers alike, thanks to its data encryption technology, multifactor authentication (MFA), and extra security precautions like a PIN code and fingerprint-scanning authorization that simultaneously protect your business and customer information.