Some Important Information About the Age Verification Process

Many of you may have noticed that for the past year we have been requiring you to pass something we call “Age Verification”. Well, I have noticed that there is a lot of confusion in the vape world as to what exactly this process is, what information we require in order to pass you, and how the information is stored thereafter. While reading through some forms I noticed that this is currently a big topic, which is surprising since, by now, the process has been around for so long. For those of you that complain that you shouldn’t have to give your SSN or DL number, you’re absolutely right. You should never need to give that to any shop for Age Verification reasons.

Here at Vixen Vapors we use a system called Veratad. Now, I do understand that there are different programs that companies may use for verification purposes, and I will only be able to speak for the program we use. According to FDA regulations, a person must be of legal age to purchase vape products in the United States and must show ID to prove so; meaning that we must be able to match the information that you provide to us with the information that is “public knowledge” to verify that you are legally of age to purchase the merchandise. Public knowledge simply means any information that is readily available to the public, like your date of birth, billing address, and name. Over the past year of doing probably hundreds of age verifications I have never personally needed any information beyond this from our customers. I have never, and will never, ask for a SSN. Using Veratad if I am unable to obtain a positive match with the name and address originally provided I have the option of providing a previous address, generally this works. So, lets clarify at this point, the only information I would have asked for is your name and two addresses’. That’s it. Once we obtain a positive match a PDF is created by Veratad and saved to our database. This PDF will ONLY include your name and address information, nothing else. If we are still unable to obtain a positive match our next step is to ask for a picture of your DL. Now, I know earlier I said you shouldn’t have to give out your DL number, please understand that you still don’t. All we need is the picture of you, and the address on it. Any other information on there we will inform you that you can/should blackout prior to sending it to us. Once we receive the picture we file it away in our database. With Vixen Vapors, once you have been verified you will never have to worry about it again. When orders are flagged for verification we check our database before we do anything else, if you’re in there, we pass your order through.

The next big issue I’ve noticed is wondering what the companies do with the information after you give it to them, and why they need to retain it in the first place. According to FDA regulations, all companies that sell vape related products are subject to audits. Meaning that at any time an FDA goon can walk through our doors, ask to see our Age Verification database, and penalize us as necessary if it does not meet their requirements. All shops are required to keep all Age Verifications, whether it’s in the form of a DL or a PDF from verification software, on file for audit purposes. If we don’t do this, we could be shut down. It’s important to us here at Vixen that you, our customers, know and are comfortable with how we handle this process. All information that we keep on file falls into the “public knowledge” category, and cannot be used for mischief. Generally, here at Vixen, we will attempt to verify you before we even contact you, if we fail then we e-mail and call you. We do everything we can to verify you via current and previous addresses over the phone, and if we can’t our last resort is to ask for a DL picture. It is paramount to us at Vixen Vapors to ensure the security of our customers while doing online business with us. I hope this clears up some of the confusion going on with Age Verification, but as always, if you have any questions or concerns you can always give us a call at 1-888-544-3462 Ext 2 and we will be more than happy to ease your mind.