How To: Implement Venmo Payments

Overview

This guide covers the three ways to accept Venmo with Coinflow:

1. Prebuilt Checkout UI (iframe) — Venmo appears automatically inside Coinflow’s hosted checkout.
2. CoinflowVenmoButton SDK component — Embed the Venmo button in your own checkout UI.
3. Direct API + PayPal SDK — Render the Venmo button with PayPal’s own SDK and call Coinflow’s checkout endpoints directly.

Option 1: Prebuilt Checkout UI (iframe)

This is the simplest path. If you already embed Coinflow’s hosted checkout, there is nothing to build — once Venmo is enabled on your account, the Venmo button automatically appears alongside your other payment methods in the checkout iframe.

If you have not yet integrated the hosted checkout, see Implement Checkout for how to embed the CoinflowPurchase component.

Option 2: CoinflowVenmoButton SDK Component

Use the CoinflowVenmoButton component when you have built your own checkout UI but want Coinflow to manage the Venmo order creation, approval flow, and settlement. You render a single React component where you want the Venmo button to appear, and Coinflow handles the rest inside a secure iframe.

$
npm install @coinflowlabs/react

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import {CoinflowVenmoButton, Currency} from '@coinflowlabs/react';
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function VenmoCheckout() {
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  return (
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    <CoinflowVenmoButton
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      env={'sandbox'} // 'prod' | 'sandbox'
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      merchantId={'YOUR_MERCHANT_ID'}
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      sessionKey={'USER_SESSION_KEY'} // From: /api-reference/api-reference/authentication/get-session-key
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      subtotal={{cents: 500, currency: Currency.USD}}
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      email={'customer@example.com'}
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      handleHeightChange={(height) => {
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        /* size the button container */
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      }}
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      onApprove={({paymentId}) => {
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        // Payment approved — show your own confirmation screen.
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        console.log('Venmo payment complete', paymentId);
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      }}
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      onError={(error) => {
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        console.error('Venmo payment failed', error);
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      }}
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    />
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  );
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}

Component Props

In addition to the standard Coinflow purchase props (env, merchantId, sessionKey, subtotal, handleHeightChange, etc.), the CoinflowVenmoButton accepts the following:

Option 3: Direct API + PayPal SDK

This is the most flexible path. Venmo runs on the PayPal JS SDK — you load the SDK with Venmo enabled as a funding source, render the Venmo button, and call Coinflow’s Venmo checkout endpoints to create the order. Use this when you need full control over the Venmo experience.

$
curl --location 'https://api-sandbox.coinflow.cash/api/merchant/v2' \
>
--header 'accept: application/json' \
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--header 'x-coinflow-auth-session-key: <YOUR_SESSION_KEY>'

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{
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  "merchant": {
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    "paypalMerchantId": "EXAMPLE_PAYPAL_MERCHANT_ID"
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  }
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}

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<script
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  src="https://www.paypal.com/sdk/js?client-id=<PAYPAL_CLIENT_ID>&merchant-id=<PAYPAL_MERCHANT_ID>&currency=USD&intent=authorize&components=buttons&enable-funding=venmo&disable-funding=paylater"
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  data-partner-attribution-id="CoinflowLabsLimited_PSP"
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></script>

$
curl --location 'https://api-sandbox.coinflow.cash/api/checkout/venmo/<YOUR_MERCHANT_ID>' \
>
--header 'accept: application/json' \
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--header 'content-type: application/json' \
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--header 'x-coinflow-auth-session-key: <YOUR_SESSION_KEY>' \
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--data-raw '{
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  "subtotal": {
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    "cents": 500,
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    "currency": "USD"
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  },
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  "venmo": {
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    "email": "customer@example.com"
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  }
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}'

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{
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  "paymentId": "EXAMPLE_PAYMENT_ID"
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}

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paypal.Buttons({
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  fundingSource: paypal.FUNDING.VENMO,
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  style: {layout: 'horizontal', shape: 'rect', height: 48, tagline: false},
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  createOrder: async () => {
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    const res = await fetch(
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      `https://api-sandbox.coinflow.cash/api/checkout/venmo/${merchantId}`,
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      {
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        method: 'POST',
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        headers: {
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          'content-type': 'application/json',
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          'x-coinflow-auth-session-key': sessionKey,
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        },
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        body: JSON.stringify({
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          subtotal: {cents: 500, currency: 'USD'},
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          venmo: {email: 'customer@example.com'},
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        }),
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      }
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    );
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    const {paymentId} = await res.json();
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    // Coinflow's paymentId IS the Venmo order ID — return it directly.
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    return paymentId;
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  },
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  onApprove: async (data) => {
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    // Payment approved by the customer in Venmo.
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    console.log('Approved', data.orderID);
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  },
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  onError: (err) => console.error(err),
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}).render('#venmo-button-container');

Important Notes

Account Configuration: Venmo must be enabled on your account by the Coinflow integrations team before any of these options will work.

US Only: Venmo is available only to US customers. The button renders only when Venmo is an eligible funding source.

PayPal Rails: Venmo runs on PayPal’s processor. It uses your paypalMerchantId and the same PayPal client-id, loaded with enable-funding=venmo.

Sandbox vs. Production: The sandbox client-id provided above only works against the PayPal and Coinflow sandbox environments. Use your production client-id (from the integrations team) and the production API base URL (https://api.coinflow.cash) when going live.

Settlement: Regardless of which integration path you choose, funds are delivered to your configured settlement location, and the recommended way to confirm completion is by listening for Settled webhook events.