Digital identity technology is technology that can authenticate that someone is who they say they are. This helps to protect users and businesses when selling age restricted goods. Using digital identity technology as part of your online user journey means that verifying someone is in fact over 18, becomes much easier as identity technology is designed to work as quickly yet effectively as possible.
In Amazon’s case, they have taken strong measures to help stop age restricted products such as knives, blades or corrosive substances falling into the hands of anyone underage within the UK, by implementing an Age Verification service. This protects sellers by mitigating many of the risks surrounding mis-selling to underage buyers that can result in fines and prosecution if that business cannot prove that they have taken effective measures to verify age.
The laws around online age verification
One of the pieces of Government Guidance within the UK which deals with the selling of knives and blades online is the Offensive Weapons Act Statutory Guidance. This states that:
"The seller has a system in place to verify the age of the purchaser and that they are not under 18, and that the system is likely to prevent purchases by under 18s;"
There is no doubt that more secure laws and regulations around age verification for other products are pending and will be more intense than before. This is vital to making the online world as safe as possible.
Recent publications have quoted industry experts and thought leader comments on this, such as Ian Corby, who is executive director of trade body the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), who stated at an Open Identity Exchange Identity Trust 2022 event in London recently:
"There's just a whole host of legislation either in place now or about to come into force, which is essentially saying that if you are online you are going to need to demonstrate your age".
Regulations are expected to tighten up around online age verification and will affect a number of platforms and industries such as e-commerce, search engines, social media and, of course, the consumers who will be expected to prove their age online. Digital identity is a quick, secure and effective way of verifying a customer's age online. It helps customers to prove their age online in a way that is seamless and provides minimal disruption to the customer journey.
What key steps can you take to make your customer journey more secure
Amazon's commitment to keeping their customers safe sets an example and should be reflected across all online sales of age restricted goods. Age verification technology can help to do things like corroborate a user's date of birth and their name to ensure that the person buying is within the legal age to do.
The online world is open to a lot of risk when it comes to young people and by embracing digital identity you can help to protect them.
How can OneID® help?
Our age verification process is simple: before buying age-restricted products or services online, your customers verify themselves by logging into their online banking. Once verified, your customers are brought straight back to checkout. This ground-breaking technology can authenticate the identity of over 52 million people in the UK in a way that is secure, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and certified by the DCMS Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework.
Conclusion
Digital identity age verification products are a vital solution to making the online world a safer one for younger users and businesses as we advance into a more immersive online world. The time to act is now to protect our youngsters as we aim to enable them to navigate the online world in a way that is safe, secure and risk free. We would encourage any business to follow in Amazon’s footsteps before the laws become more vigilant and before more young people gain access to dangerous products that they shouldn’t be able to online.
We are passionate about making online a safer place to be which is why we have created this free guide to help protect your business and customers. Download our free Guide to Selling Knives, Blades and Corrosive Products Online here. Additionally, we have also made an easy step by step guidance page here.
You can also find out more about our own age verification solution and how it can help your business by booking a free, no-obligation call with one of our digital identity experts, by clicking this link here: