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Comment by news_to_me | Hacker News Reader

The article doesn't mention Square Cash at all – I'm curious to know how it compares in terms of success/market share.

Personally I greatly prefer Cash. It's an excellently designed app – simple, straight-to-the-point, no superfluous features. I don't really understand why people prefer Venmo.

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Because of network effects. Venmo is easy enough to use, and most of my friends use it. In fact, I was introduced to it by a friend who doesn't work in the tech industry.

You have to understand that for most people, learning a new system is a hassle that they would rather avoid. If Venmo continues to just work, I doubt people would switch to anything else for their payment/ money transfer needs.

Venmo came first and there is no reason to switch.

Cash used to offer instant automatic withdrawals to your bank. Now they delay it by a couple business days (and charge for instant), but at least it's automatic. Venmo, I have to manually withdraw every time I get money.

I assume you meant deposit, not withdraw right?

Nope, withdraw. I don't want to let Venmo hold my money for free. I prefer to have it in my bank account.

I've found that PayPal's business practices are enough reason: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-takes...

Surely parent comment starting with "Venmo came first" indicates that they don't see PayPal and Venmo as competing in the same space.

PayPal owns Venmo, and Venmo's profits help sustain PayPal. PayPal's business practices have rightly come under heavy scrutiny, which means that, for quite a few people, there is a compelling "reason to switch" in spite of the fact that it "came first".

The article notes that Venmo is currently operating at a loss.

Ah, I wasn't aware PayPal owned Venmo.

A friend attempted to send me money via Square Cash without asking me my preference. Square Cash can only be used at mobile app. You cannot use a website at all (at least not last year). No thank you.

They've had a website (https://cash.me/) for as long as I can remember.

How do you sign up? There is no option on the website.

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