Venmo Users Weigh In on P2P Etiquette

Don’t delay on sending your payment requests to friends on Venmo, users of the platform say.

A new survey of the app’s users released this week has shed light on the standards of etiquette on ETA member PayPal’s popular peer-to-peer payments app, which is commonly used to split restaurant bills, travel expenses, and reimburse costs among roommates and friends.

Nearly three in four users – 72 percent – agree that 24 hours within a transaction occurring is the appropriate time frame to send a payment request to friends who owe them. They also agree that 24 hours is the appropriate repayment window for users who receive a request. Should that 24-hour window for repayment expire, don’t wait too long to send a “remind” notification, a majority of users caution. Two in three say remind notifications are appropriate within four days of the original transaction.

If you go out to eat in a group and one person covers the bill, 42 percent of Venmo users say it’s best to pay the person immediately and in real-time once the bill is settled. This also goes for other large purchases like concert tickets, sporting events, and flights, Venmo says. And 88 percent say discussing how expenses will be split ahead group travel, like a spring break trip or bachelor/bachelorette weekend, is essential.

And some Venmo users believe no amount is too small to request or pay. In fact, 24 percent of Venmo users believe requests can be between $1 and $5, and three million “penny poke” payments (payments of $1 or less sent to friends as hello or thank you messages) were sent in 2018 alone.

Though Venmo says correcting amounts is an important to the platform’s etiquette, 28 percent of surveyed users said they would complete a payment $20 over their estimated amount so that they avoid looking cheap to their friends. However, over 50 percent said they would ask for a copy of the bill in such an instance.

The survey, conducted by Atomik Research, was conducted via an online panel of 1,006 Venmo users in the United States.

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