(Newswire.net — October 10, 2017) — Selling age-related goods is a bit of a minefield. Whether you sell alcohol or online medications, it’s your job to determine whether a customer is an appropriate age. If you or your employees get it wrong, you could be prosecuted, fined, and even sent to prison.
The Law is Clear
The law is very clear about age restrictions on certain goods and services. Age restrictions vary according to your location, but in the UK, they can range from restricting lottery sales to children 15 and under to not selling alcohol to young people 17 and under. In the US, age-related laws vary across different states.
In a store, it’s often relatively easy to avoid making a mistake. You can ask for ID or make a judgement based on the person’s appearance. The system is not foolproof and kids sometimes carry fake ID or look a lot older than their biological age. If you sell goods and services online, however, your job is much harder.
When someone buys age-related goods from your website, you can’t see the person or ask them in person for ID. Anyone can order goods online and have them shipped home, even if they are not legally of age to buy the goods.
Age-Restricted Goods
There are a number of goods and services that are age-restricted. These include:
-
Alcohol
-
Tobacco
-
Drugs
-
Adult material/services
-
Gambling
-
Video games
If you intend to sell goods and services in any of the above niches, it is very important that you are 100% sure on what the law is in your jurisdiction. Ignorance is not a valid defense in a court of law.
Age-Verification Software
The best way to ensure you don’t inadvertently sell age-restricted goods or services to a minor is to implement identity verification software that tells you whether a person is who they claim to be. For example, leading identity verification software solutions source data from authoritative databases such as government and financial institutions to verify the identity of a customer.
Names, addresses, birth dates, telephone numbers and social security numbers are all cross-checked to verify the person’s identity. It’s easy to fake some of this data, but not all of it.
Hundreds of primary data sources are accessible via the software dashboard, so the chances of mistakes being made or minors slipping through the net are minimal. Using a sophisticated identity verification solution such as Cognito ensures your customers are old enough to do business on your website.
Staying Compliant
Using age-verification checks helps your business stay compliant with all current legislation. You need to prove you are doing everything in your power to ensure minors are not buying goods or services from you. This applies to all businesses, large and small.
Make sure you train all employees on how to use age verification software. Merchant account providers do run checks at their end, but the onus is on you to filter out underage customers before they get through the payment gateway.