Age verification the smart way
On 1 October 2024, new legislation came into force requiring all webshops that sell tobacco, nicotine products, e-cigarettes and/or alcohol to verify the customer’s age.
A simple pop-up where the user merely confirms they are over 16 or 18 is no longer sufficient.
It is now the webshop’s responsibility to ensure they do not sell to minors - just like in physical stores, and as in physical stores, the Danish Safety Technology Authority (Sikkerhedsstyrelsen) will check that these requirements are met.
Unfortunately, Sikkerhedsstyrelsen does not provide a solution. Each webshop must choose the approach that suits them best, as long as it effectively ensures the buyer meets the age requirement.
But which solution is best for a webshop? And how do you make sure it does not hurt your conversion rate? Let’s take a look.
Solution #1 - Verify the customer’s age directly in the webshop
This may seem like the obvious choice. It is your webshop, you sell products that require age checks, so of course the validation should happen in the webshop.
That is certainly possible. We have seen several webshops use this approach.
When the customer clicks "Go to checkout", they are shown a pop-up asking them to confirm their age with MitID.
After the customer verifies their age with MitID, they are sent back to the webshop to enter their details and complete the payment.
It sounds like a good solution, so what is the issue? Naturally, we think our own age verification is the best, but we see three drawbacks to this approach.
Drawback 1: You must integrate and maintain a solution yourself
It is not huge, as most providers offer good integrations, but it is still an extra plugin that must be integrated and kept up to date.
Drawback 2: Most solutions have a monthly fee
In addition to paying per MitID verification, many solutions also charge a monthly subscription. The price depends on the provider but is typically a few hundred kroner.
Drawback 3: You must use MitID every time age needs to be verified
This is the biggest drawback we see. Even if it is quick, it is still an extra step that can create friction.
So how can you verify age without MitID? By validating via MobilePay.
All MobilePay users are already verified with MitID. It is therefore possible to send a minimum age to MobilePay. If the customer is younger than the minimum age, the payment will be declined (the merchant will not see the reason due to GDPR).
This means there is no extra step for the customer - everything happens under the hood.
Given how large a share of Danish online payments run through MobilePay, we see this as a major advantage for both the customer and the webshop.
Another advantage is that validation via MobilePay does not incur any MITID verification fee.
Drawback 4: Validating foreign customers
If you sell to foreign customers where age checks are not required, implementation can be trickier.
Either ensure that the validation happens only after address details have been entered (that is, right before payment).
Or add a checkbox like "My delivery country is outside Denmark" before checkout and make sure Denmark cannot be selected as the delivery country (we have unfortunately seen cases where this last part was forgotten).
That also brings us to the second solution: Let your payment gateway handle the age check.
Solution #2 - Let the payment gateway verify the customer’s age
In this solution, the age check occurs only when the customer proceeds to payment - and only after they have chosen a payment method.
If they choose MobilePay, the age check happens at MobilePay, since they know the customer’s age (all MobilePay users are MitID-verified). There is no extra step for the customer and no extra MITID fee for the webshop owner, as validation via MobilePay is free.
If they choose another payment method, they will be asked to confirm with MitID, after which they are returned to the payment window (provided they meet the minimum age). Here there is a fee per MitID verification of DKK 0.50.
There can, of course, be drawbacks here too. Let’s look at them.
Drawback 1: You become tied to your payment gateway
If you later decide to switch gateways, you must find a new age verification provider (unless the new gateway also supports it). That makes switching more cumbersome.
Drawback 2: Lower per-verification price at high volume
We have chosen not to charge a monthly fee for age checks, only a small fee per MitID verification, close to our cost price.
If you have a high volume of payments that require MitID verification, you might save on the MITID fee with another provider. But you need to do the math, as you will often also pay a monthly subscription for their solution.
Which solution is best for a webshop?
It is hard to say, because all webshops are different.
It is like asking whether a Renault or a Skoda is better - it depends on the person driving it every day (in this case the answer is of course Renault, but you get the point).
Both solutions can work well. Ultimately, it is about what delivers the best experience for you and your customers.
If you want to read more about our age verification solution, you can do so here.
Below you will also find a diagram showing how we handle age checks in the payment flow.
