When buyers want to pay through Venmo instead of your site
I was reading about an artist who lost a sale because the buyer only wanted to pay through Venmo, and the artist wasn't comfortable going outside their normal checkout process. It got me thinking about how common this must be now.
For those of you selling your work, how do you handle it when a collector or buyer asks to pay through something like Venmo or Cash App rather than going through your website? Do you accommodate them to close the sale, or do you stick to your process? I imagine there are real concerns around things like tracking, taxes, and not having a proper receipt or record of the transaction.
Would love to hear how people navigate this. Does saying no ever cost you the sale, or do serious buyers understand?
Posted in The NEW #SmallWins by Art Storefronts!
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This one hits close to home because I had someone reach out about a character commission wanting to pay through a mobile app instead of my normal checkout. I almost went for it because the sale felt real, but something felt off about how insistent they were. In my experience, legitimate buyers have no problem going through a proper website checkout with a credit card. The people pushing hard for Venmo or Cash App, especially with urgency, have almost always turned out to be running some kind of reversal scam. I lost that particular sale by saying no, but I also kept my work and avoided a chargeback nightmare. Serious collectors tend to understand when you stick to a secure process with proper records for taxes and receipts.