How to use venmo to pay on amazon

If you want to buy anything on Amazon.com, you’ll generally need a credit or debit card — but in 2022, the online retailer will begin accepting Venmo as well. Venmo parent company PayPal announced the news (via GeekWire) during its Q3 earnings call on Monday.

We’re pretty sure that’s the first third-party payments platform Amazon has embraced in recent memory. You can’t use PayPal itself to buy things on Amazon! (Here’s a list of the payment methods Amazon does accept as of today). You might cite Amazon’s recent buy-now, pay-later partnership with Affirm, but that still requires credit. Venmo, by comparison, acts more like a bank account for some mobile users, complete with a (sometimes expensive) check-cashing feature.

Details on the Amazon partnership are scarce right now, but if you’ve got a US Venmo account, PayPal says you’ll be able to use it to make purchases at both Amazon’s website and its mobile app starting in 2022, and you’ll be able to use either your Venmo balance or a linked bank account to pay. The company didn’t provide a more specific timeframe or any details about how those transactions might work, saying on the earnings call that PayPal was “still working” with Amazon on the details.

It’s possible that Amazon will surface it as a full-fledged payment mechanism by offering an entire Pay with Venmo option, or it’s possible it will try to maintain more control by requiring you to integrate Venmo with its own Amazon Wallet. (Maybe you’ll have to deposit Venmo money into your Amazon balance first?)

Venmo, like PayPal, recently added support for popular cryptocurrencies. It’s not clear if that will allow you to effectively purchase Amazon items with cryptocurrency, though.

On PayPal’s Q3 earnings call, the company stated that while the PayPal portion is still larger than Venmo, the Venmo business has now grown as large as the entire PayPal US footprint.

• Amazon does not accept Venmo, which is owned by PayPal.
• However, you can use the Venmo Card to make Amazon purchases, since it's an ordinary debit card linked to your Venmo balance. 
• You can request a Venmo Card within the Venmo app.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't directly accept payment through Venmo (or Venmo's sister payment service, PayPal). 

Part of the reason for this is historical – PayPal has always had a strong relationship with eBay — and was once owned by eBay — which Amazon has always treated as a direct competitor. 

But that is not the entire story. It's possible to use Venmo to make purchases on Amazon using a Venmo Card.

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How to use a Venmo Card to make Amazon purchases

Venmo offers a Mastercard debit card with which you can use to make purchases using your Venmo app balance. It's a physical debit card that you can carry in your wallet or purse, and use it at any store in the US that accepts Mastercard. 

But more importantly, you can add the Venmo Card to your Amazon account and use it to make purchases as a debit card. 

1. To get a Venmo card, start the Venmo app on your phone and then tap the three horizontal lines at the top left of the screen. 

2. In the menu, tap "Venmo Card." 

3. Then tap "Get the Venmo Card" and follow these instructions to request your Venmo Card. 

Apply for the Venmo debit card from within the Venmo app. Dave Johnson/Business Insider

Once you've received your Venmo Card, you can add it to your Amazon account or checkout cart to make purchases, just as you would with any other debit or credit card.

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

• How to get a Venmo card, which is like a debit card that uses money from your Venmo balance

• You can't delete your Venmo history, but you can make all past and future transactions private — here's how to do it

• How to cancel a Venmo payment if you paid an inactive account, or send a request if you paid the wrong person

• How to delete your Venmo account and get a copy of your transaction history beforehand

Dave Johnson

Freelance Writer

Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.

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