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Venmo Five Years Ago

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Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#71

Post by saturdaysaint »

nemothekid wrote: post #56
superuser2 wrote: post #34

Venmo is an objectively worse experience to Square Cash in every way. Bank accounts rather than debit cards, difficult Facebook-linked discovery, stupid social networking integration, obtuse UI. Square Cash is beautiful, elegant, and effortless. I encourage my friends to use it over Venmo whenever I can. Unfortunately, Venmo is wildly more popular among people I know.

I'd have to argue with "objectively" - many of your gripes are subjective. The bank account vs. debit card is one time on setup - and has little to do with day to day interaction. Not do I see how the UI is obtuse - it takes 3 clicks to pay someone. The one legitimate gripe you have (the facebook/social network), is a plus in my opinion - in the sense I can pay anyone by just knowing their name. Friend of so-and-so i…

"The bank account vs. debit card is one time on setup - and has little to do with day to day interaction. Not do I see how the UI is obtuse - it takes 3 clicks to pay someone."

I like Venmo, but I vehemently disagree here. Every time I recommend Venmo to someone who hasn't heard of it, I have to explain why they should give their banking information to a company they've never heard of. It's an onboarding disaster. I recommend Google Wallet to most people now since it's both a trusted name and doesn't require linking to a bank. My conversation is usually as simple as "Hey download Google Wallet - it's an easy way to zap money between people - and send me $x".

Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#72

Post by nommm-nommm »

avn2109 wrote: post #67
morgante wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're the on in the bubble. Young people don't write checks. Full stop.

Agreed. I am a millenial and I was super pissed when I discovered my new landlord required me to pay by check. Mostly because this required me to figure out how to get checks from the bank.

"Super pissed?" Really?

Unless you have some sort of obsolete bank then paying your landlord by check is just as easy/fast as any app.

This is how I pay rent:

1) login to bank website

2) click bill pay

3) put in amount in the right place (this was previously set up)

4) Click make payments

The bank then mails your landlord a check. You can even schedule payments automatically.

If get a new landlord:

1) click add company or person to pay

2) click person

3) Enter person's name, address, and phone number.

4) Click add person.

And do you expect your landlord to pay a premium to take a credit card?

You can also pay every one of your bills at the same time (credit cards, loans, etc...)

Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#73

Post by kedean »

josephpmay wrote: post #2

For those who are older, Venmo is used today probably more than cash by college students (for things like paying a friend back, paying membership dues, paying to get into a party, etc.)

Depending on where you live, at least. In my section of the midwest, I've never met someone who uses Venmo for anything.

Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#74

Post by jvm »

siong1987 wrote: post #45
superuser2 wrote: post #34

Venmo is an objectively worse experience to Square Cash in every way. Bank accounts rather than debit cards, difficult Facebook-linked discovery, stupid social networking integration, obtuse UI. Square Cash is beautiful, elegant, and effortless. I encourage my friends to use it over Venmo whenever I can. Unfortunately, Venmo is wildly more popular among people I know.

Yes, Square Cash is beautiful but I don't agree with you that the app is elegant and effortless. 3 annoying parts about the app: - lack of built-in calculator, the Venmo's bulit-in calculator makes it really easy to calculate the split between friends. - constant prompt for security code in order to pay someone. - expired requests, there should be a way for me to see all the requests instead of going to each friend p…

> there should be a way for me to see all the requests

In my (Android) version of the app this is what happens if you click the button in the upper right hand corner.

Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#75

Post by nommm-nommm »

sithadmin wrote: post #44
wil421 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not very hard to ask for change from a restaurant or get change from a bar later on in the night. If everyone got $20 from the ATM earlier what's to stop them from using their debt card to pay the bill? I was a server for many years and splitting the bill is standard for most younger people.

>Its not very hard to ask for change from a restaurant or get change from a bar later on in the night. If everyone chips in a $20 or two, but there's a wide spread in min and max spend per person, getting the correct increments of change to distribute to each diner in the party becomes an efficiency nightmare. Nevermind the fact that it's just plain stupid when reasonable alternatives (Venmo, Square Cash, etc.) exist…

We differ greatly in our definitions of "nightmare," "stupid," and "reasonable."

But that's ok.

Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#76

Post by [deleted] »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #69
avn2109 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I am a millenial and I was super pissed when I discovered my new landlord required me to pay by check. Mostly because this required me to figure out how to get checks from the bank.

Why would you be super pissed? Accepting credit cards costs the merchant 3%, a substantial amount for the amount charged by a landlord. Which is why check payments dominate larger transactions. Merchant fees are expensive compared to an ACH check fee (25 cents tops).

[deleted]

Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#77

Post by [deleted] »

Jtsummers wrote: post #63
toomuchtodo wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's my point. Once you get older, this problem drops away. You probably don't have roommates (no need to split rent or utilities) and you probably eat out less often (and when you do, you can split the check). If you're a parent, you're paying for things that require a check or cash. The check then become's "frictionless" as you already require it.

This is true. And I had a longer, but more rambling reply, saying that. I can still see situations where I'd prefer this (or similar) to cash. For covers at bars ("oops, forgot to hit the ATM! Can you get me?"), for buying tickets to shows (to ensure we're seated near each other), and other situations. But they're still infrequent compared to a decade ago for me.

[deleted]

Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#78

Post by jvm »

superuser2 wrote: post #34

Venmo is an objectively worse experience to Square Cash in every way. Bank accounts rather than debit cards, difficult Facebook-linked discovery, stupid social networking integration, obtuse UI. Square Cash is beautiful, elegant, and effortless. I encourage my friends to use it over Venmo whenever I can. Unfortunately, Venmo is wildly more popular among people I know.

I'm surprised you didn't note that Venmo forces you to carry a "Venmo" balance instead of paying out immediately to your bank account. That to me is the biggest area of superiority for Square Cash.

Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#79

Post by aidenn0 »

XaspR8d wrote: post #61

I've yet to see a payment app reach any major usage in my social network, which is extremely fragmented among Google Wallet, Snapcash, PayPal, Square Cash, Popmoney, Simple, bank-specific apps i.e. Chase Mobile... (Weirdly enough I don't know anyone using Venmo, though I'm familiar with it from HN and the like.) It seems like everyone wants a simple payment app, but there's a huge 'sign-up fatigue' from the fragmenta…

Maybe it's because of age, but I don't know of any of my friends using any of those.

Re: Venmo Five Years Ago

#80

Post by aakilfernandes »

avn2109 wrote: post #62
XaspR8d wrote: post #61

I've yet to see a payment app reach any major usage in my social network, which is extremely fragmented among Google Wallet, Snapcash, PayPal, Square Cash, Popmoney, Simple, bank-specific apps i.e. Chase Mobile... (Weirdly enough I don't know anyone using Venmo, though I'm familiar with it from HN and the like.) It seems like everyone wants a simple payment app, but there's a huge 'sign-up fatigue' from the fragmenta…

That's odd. Literally 95% of my friends are on Venmo, with the only holdouts being the people who refuse to grant account withdrawal permissions to a third party.

That was me up until a few months ago. A combination of a good track record and not wanting to be "that guy" caused me to switch. Don't make me regret it Venmo!
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