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Venmo is a popular digital wallet app in the US that allows customers to send, receive, and manage money using their mobile device. Customers can pay businesses using their Venmo balance or linked bank account.

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Payment Method Details

Customer locationsUS
Supported currenciesUSD
Recurrent payments✓
Manual capture support✓
Refunds✓
Supported processorsBraintree

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Prerequisites

  1. Connect and activate the Braintree integration in PayNext
  2. Enable Venmo in your Braintree Control Panel under Settings → Account Settings → Payment Methods → Venmo and accept the terms of service
  3. Turn on Venmo in your PayNext checkout configuration

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Testing

1

Configure sandbox credentials

Use Braintree Sandbox credentials in your PayNext integration
2

Use test Venmo accounts

Follow Braintree’s Venmo testing guide to obtain sandbox login details
3

Make a test payment

Complete a Venmo payment via PayNext SDK on your website
4

Verify payment

Confirm the payment appears in the PayNext dashboard
Recurrent payments and MIT (Merchant-Initiated Transactions) do not work with Venmo test credentials. You must use a production Venmo account to test recurring and off-session payments.

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Dynamic Statement Descriptor Advanced

When enabled, PayNext generates a unique code and passes it as the Venmo dynamic descriptor. This helps match transactions with chargeback alert providers (Visa CDRN, Ethoca), allowing you to refund before a dispute occurs. You can also use the descriptor to retrieve payment history when a customer forgot their account details or can’t access their account.

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How It Works

Venmo statement descriptors follow this format: 
VENMO * + Business Name + Space + Dynamic Descriptor Name
The total is limited to 22 characters. The VENMO * prefix takes 7 characters, leaving 15 characters for your business name, a space separator, and the dynamic code.
Unlike PayPal, Venmo does not return the full descriptor in API responses. PayNext only receives back the 5-character dynamic descriptor code that was sent to Braintree (this use case is Venmo specific). The full descriptor (including your business name) appears on the customer’s bank statement.

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Descriptor Length Examples

Your business name is configured in your Venmo application form and can be edited via the Venmo Processing page in the Braintree Control Panel.
If your business name is longer (e.g., MyCompany Store), the dynamic code gets truncated:
VENMO *MyCompany S O
Only 1-2 characters remain for the code, reducing uniqueness significantly.
Keep your Venmo business name to 9 characters or less to ensure at least 3-4 characters are available for the dynamic code. Using fewer than 3 characters is not recommended as it significantly reduces the effectiveness of transaction matching.

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Descriptor Rules

  • Only descriptor.name is supported
  • Allowed characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, space, +, -, .
  • Venmo enforces a 22-character limit—no manual truncation needed
  • Invalid characters are dropped; over-length descriptors are truncated automatically
  • The business name portion is configured in your Venmo application form in the Braintree Control Panel

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Where The Descriptor Appears

  • Searchable by and available for each payment in the dashboard
  • statement_descriptor field in the payment object
Enable this feature in Dashboard → Integrations → Braintree → Enable Venmo dynamic statement descriptor.