Venmo Good and Services - You purchase may not be protected !!!

[Dpavs]

I was looking over the Venmo purchase protection for goods and services and it appears that simply paying for something and stating that it is for goods and services will not guarantee your purchase is protected in the event of non-delivery or wrong merchandise or other issues.

 

Here are the specific terms from their site  and it appears to me that most things listed here on the BST with Venmo as a payment method would probably not be protected or am I missing something?

 

Venmo Purchase Protection Program

IMPORTANT: THIS PROGRAM DOES NOT APPLY TO PAYMENTS TO PERSONAL ACCOUNTS THAT ARE NOT IDENTIFIED AS FOR GOODS AND SERVICES OR PAYMENTS TO TEEN ACCOUNTS. ONLY QUALIFYING PAYMENTS, AS DESCRIBED BELOW, WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR VENMO PURCHASE PROTECTION PROGRAM. If you or a Teen User are the sender or you are the recipient of a Qualifying Payment, you may be eligible for the Venmo Purchase Protection Program. Payments must be made from a Venmo account and are limited to the following types of transactions (“Qualifying Payments”):

• Venmo Debit Card and Teen Debit Card purchases 
• Purchases of goods and services from authorized merchants  
• Payments sent using the Pay and Request feature in your Venmo account that are sent to business profiles or that are identified as for goods and services 

 

Note that the last part "or that are identified as for goods and services " is referring to the account type, so payments to personal accounts are probably not eligible.

[Lobby]

Whenever I buy something, I use Paypal.

But I've resisted selling stuff on line as I don't trust that a crooked buyer won't take advantage of me. 

This Venmo language, while questionable for buyers, sound good to an honest seller.

[w24p]

I’ve had to use the protection 1 time and didn’t have any issues. PayPal owns Venmo so I wonder if/why the language is different. 

[Dpavs]

Yeah not sure but it sure seems like a slippery slope to want to slide on to me.

[TheDominator273]

Sure seems to mean that if you don't select that you are paying for goods or services that you lose protection, just like paying via PayPal and doing the same.

[Dpavs]

10 minutes ago, TheDominator273 said:

Sure seems to mean that if you don't select that you are paying for goods or services that you lose protection, just like paying via PayPal and doing the same.

 

But it appears to state that the protection applies only when you are paying to a qualified seller accounts... which most people aren't.

[Pudgelewis]

33 minutes ago, Dpavs said:

 

But it appears to state that the protection applies only when you are paying to a qualified seller accounts... which most people aren't.

What part of what you highlighted in the original post makes you believe it's an AND statement instead of it simply meaning it has to be marked as a "goods and services" purchase? The way I read it means you have to send it to a business profile OR has to be marked as goods and services.

Edited September 15, 2023 by Pudgelewis

[DFW Snowman]

I think the wording is just confusing.  I don't think this part "that are identified as for goods and services " refers to the "account", I think it is independent of that clause.  So here's how I understand that last bullet point, which I believe conveys what they were trying to say but without the confusion:

 

• Payments sent using the Pay and Request feature in your Venmo account
  • that are sent to business profiles or
  • that are identified as for goods and services

 

 

[Dpavs]

Might be ok ot use, but that wording made me want to at least bring it everyone's attention!