21+ age-gate + ID-verify, Veratad vs Yoti vs AgeChecker.net?
The Tobacco 21 Act (December 2019) made it federal law to sell vape only to 21+. A “click yes I’m 21” modal is not enough, the FDA + state AGs have been fining brands $500, $50k per non-compliant transaction. You need real ID verification.
The three vendors I’ve shipped:
- Veratad (TransUnion), most thorough. Customer enters DOB + last 4 of SSN; backend cross-references AAMVA (state DMV database) + LexisNexis + court records. ~$0.45 per verification. Best for stores doing >1,000 orders/mo. Magento integration is REST API, ~12h of dev work.
- Yoti, UK-rooted, strong on biometric verification (selfie + ID photo). Customer uploads driver’s license photo + takes a selfie; ML compares. ~$0.25 per verification. Better UX (customers complete faster) but slightly weaker backend trust.
- AgeChecker.net, vape-industry specific, cheapest. ~$0.15 per verification. Database-only (no selfie), so weaker on identity-theft cases. OK for low-volume stores or when budget is tight.
Integration pattern in Magento:
- Customer adds vape to cart → checkout → before payment authorization, JS triggers age-gate vendor SDK.
- Vendor returns pass / fail / manual-review via webhook.
- Pass: order proceeds to payment. Fail: order blocked, customer told why.
- Manual-review (~5-8% of cases): order pending, admin reviews ID photo, approves or denies.
Failed-verification customers get a one-time email asking them to retry with a different document. Avoid blanket bans.