How do people in Venezuela pay online?
Most adults bank and hold a card. In the World Bank’s 2024 Global Findex survey, 87.3% of adults had an account and 71.6% owned a debit card. The World Bank, using ITU data, puts internet use at 76.7% of the population in 2024.
Bolívars still carry most payments. A study by the research firm Ecoanalítica, reported in December 2024, covered 45,421 transactions in 530 shops in ten cities. It found that 75.5% of payments were in bolívars and 24.7% in foreign currency: 16% in US dollars, 3.7% in Colombian pesos, 3.1% in euros and 1.8% in crypto assets. Of the bolívar payments, 66% went through card terminals, 28.3% through Pago Móvil, 3.4% through Biopago and 2.4% in cash. Foreign currency was paid mostly in cash (65%), by Zelle (16%) and by international card (9%). The survey covers shops rather than online stores, but it shows which methods shoppers already use.
Pago Móvil is the main digital alternative to the card. It is the interbank mobile payment service run by Venezuelan banks. A 2019 joint circular from the central bank (BCV) and the banking supervisor (Sudeban) told banks to promote person to person (P2P) and person to merchant (P2C) Pago Móvil, and to launch the merchant to person service (C2P) by 30 July 2019, which lets a merchant request a payment in real time that the customer then authorises.
The same circular asked banks and card operators to build a system that processes debit and credit card transactions in Venezuela independently of the Visa, Mastercard and Maestro brands, citing the risk that sanctions could disrupt those networks. International Visa and Mastercard cards are still part of the mix for foreign-currency payments, and Google Pay is listed for online and in-app payments in Venezuela. Apple Pay is not on Apple’s list of supported countries.
What rules shape online payments in Venezuela?
VAT is 16%. PwC reports a general rate of 16%, which the government can set between 8% and 16.5%, a 15% rate on listed luxury goods and an 8% reduced rate for some items. The law also allows an additional VAT rate of 5% to 25% on goods and services paid in foreign currency or in crypto assets not issued by Venezuela, taking effect 30 days after it is published in the Official Gazette.
Foreign-currency payments are taxed. The large financial transactions tax applies a transitional rate of 3% to payments made through the national financial system in foreign currency or in crypto assets not issued by Venezuela, with a legal range of 2% to 8%. The rate for other taxable debits by special taxpayers was cut to 0% from 15 July 2024.
The exchange rate comes from the banks. The BCV publishes a daily reference rate, the weighted average of the operations of the exchange desks at participating banks. It was 888.8909 bolívars per US dollar for 29 October 2026, and the BCV also lists each bank’s own buying and selling rates. Prices move fast: the BCV’s consumer price index rose 8.4% in September 2026 and 225.3% from January to September.
US sanctions programmes apply. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) runs a Venezuela-related sanctions programme under several executive orders, including the 2019 order that blocks the property of the Government of Venezuela, with general licences for some activities. Merchants and their providers need to screen counterparties against the sanctions lists that apply to them.
How would Omno route payments in Venezuela?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Venezuela:
- Pago Móvil could be offered through providers that support it, with the order pending until the provider confirms the payment.
- Bolívar card pay-ins would be routed by BIN to providers that process Venezuelan cards, with cascading to the next provider in the rule if one is unavailable or rejects the request.
- Currency rules could send VES payments to providers with local support and USD payments by international card to international providers.
- Screening rules set by the merchant could hold or block payments from customer groups that need a sanctions review before they go to any provider.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for bolívars and Pago Móvil. Most payments in the 2024 survey were in bolívars, by card or Pago Móvil, so a checkout that only takes US dollar cards misses most shoppers.
Plan for two currencies. Many shoppers also pay in dollars, and foreign-currency payments through Venezuelan banks carry a 3% tax, so decide which currency each customer group pays in.
Plan for fast-moving prices. The BCV reference rate changes daily and inflation is high, so update bolívar prices often and keep quotes short.
Plan for sanctions screening. Check with your providers and advisers which sanctions rules apply to your business before you accept payments from Venezuela.