[Peaces]

I am working with a merchant that sells cigars and I want to add an age verification to the entrance to my site. Anyone had experience finding the scripting/code and guidance on the do's and don'ts for this kind of site?

[Convergence]

Question: How would you know if someone is entering accurate information?

[CCBerries]

I'd look at the alcohol sites and see how they do it, from memory: most just ask you to enter your birthday.

On the shipping side send the packages as "Adult signature required" (it costs extra), which should keep underage people from ordering.

I've also run into places that require you to fax/email a copy of your drivers licence, but that was for ammo. I've never bought tobacco products over on the web but the feds have to have some guidance out there to follow.

[Peaces]

Here's the deal... there is no way to keep anyone from lying about their age when entering a site that provides cigars, cigerettes, alchohol or pornography, etc... however in the US and many other countries (and states have guidelines for retailers) the retailer must verify age before selling to a person.

So if you go to a site today that sells cigars... you will be forced to acknolodge your age at least once and sometimes twice (in the cart).

The scripting creates a cookie and in some cases the site owner gets the user's IP address or even email address if a sale is created.

I am looking for anyone in this affiliate forum that has worked in this environment and has some experience (and scripting) to share.

[bradk]

If you're just an affiliate and aren't doing the actual selling, not sure it's your responsibility to do this, so I wouldn't go nuts over it.

I know this comes into play a lot with COPA and I've seen either asking for birthdate or bluntly asking if someone is 13 and up. Either way doesn't prove anything, but again, not sure you're the one accountable for it.

It could be as simple as having your homepage ask the question and if yes, link to the real homepage or as complex as creating a form for birthdate entry, javascript/php/asp to verify the age and respond appropriately. With PHP, probably use the PHP session ID to validate the age for a period of time so it prompts the next time the user visits the site, or set a cookie so it only prompts once (per computer).

[Convergence]

Originally Posted by bradk

If you're just an affiliate and aren't doing the actual selling, not sure it's your responsibility to do this, so I wouldn't go nuts over it.

Good point...

[Peaces]

Thanks for all the information... I am an affiliate marketer with over 100 sites and figure I would not need this for an affiliate site.

The site I am building is not an affiliate site but because this community is such a diverse group with great experience I wanted to pose the question and see what people thought.

Thanks again for all the input.

[Convergence]

Can only offer this:

+Age verification for tobacco website - Bing

[Peaces]

Thanks... been there.