E-Commerce Age-Restricted Goods
Online age assurance for alcohol, tobacco, vaping products, and other age-gated goods — verify buyers at checkout or category entry with minimal friction.
What You Need to Comply With
- Alcohol and tobacco age requirements — most jurisdictions require sellers to verify that buyers of alcohol and tobacco products meet the minimum age (typically 18 or 21). Online sellers bear the same obligation as physical retailers.
- Vaping product regulations — jurisdictions worldwide are tightening age verification requirements for e-cigarettes and vaping products, often mirroring tobacco regulations.
- Delivery verification gaps — while delivery-time age checks exist, online point-of-sale verification provides an additional layer of compliance and reduces the risk of failed deliveries due to age rejection at the door.
Recommended Verification Flow
For most e-commerce platforms selling age-restricted goods, the age_only flow provides the right balance of compliance and conversion:
- age_only — quick 18+ or 21+ verification using face estimation and liveness detection. No ID document required. Completes in under 60 seconds.
Trigger verification when a buyer first adds an age-restricted product to their cart, enters a restricted category, or reaches checkout. Once verified, the buyer can purchase freely until the verification expires.
Data Handling
All verification data is stored and processed within the EU (Germany). Face detection and age estimation run client-side in the buyer's browser, so raw biometric data is never transmitted to servers. Only the verification result and liveness video are stored.
Retention & Evidence
Age-only verifications expire after 1 year with annual renewal. This means returning customers re-verify annually, keeping your compliance posture current without requiring verification on every purchase.
Verification results and audit logs serve as evidence that age assurance was performed, which can be exported via the API for regulatory reporting.
Integration
Embed the verification widget at the right point in the purchase flow:
- At checkout when the cart contains age-restricted products
- At category entry for age-gated product sections
- Listen for
ae:completeto proceed with the order - Use
/v1/verify/:externalId/verifiedto check returning buyers - Use
/v1/verify/:externalId/can-submitto determine if re-verification is needed
See the quick start guide and embed documentation for integration details.
Which Plan Fits
Small retailers and specialty shops typically start on the Launch plan. Larger e-commerce operations with higher traffic across multiple age-restricted categories benefit from the Scale plan with volume pricing.
See pricing for full plan details.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does age verification add to checkout time?
- The age_only flow typically completes in under 60 seconds. Users estimated at 25 or older are auto-approved immediately. Once verified, the buyer can purchase from any age-restricted category without re-verifying until the verification expires after 1 year.
- Do buyers need to re-verify for every purchase?
- No. Verification is per-user, not per-transaction. Once a buyer completes age verification, their status is stored against their account (via the externalId). Subsequent purchases of age-restricted goods check the existing verification status via the API without requiring the buyer to verify again.
- How do different minimum age requirements work across jurisdictions?
- AgeEvidence verifies the user's age; your platform applies the jurisdiction-specific threshold. For example, the age_only flow provides an estimated age, and your system determines whether 18 or 21 is the required minimum based on the buyer's shipping address or account region. The full_age flow extracts a date of birth from an ID document for precise age calculation.