Age Verification Explained

Mistychest.com provides age verification solutions to ecommerce stores selling age-restricted products.

Age Gate vs Age Verification

• An age gate is the popup that you see when you enter an age-restricted website, such as a gaming website or one that sells tobacco products, alcohol, adult-related products, etc. The Mistychest.com age gate is not intended to be a replacement for our full age verification service as it does not does not check the validity of the information, but it does serve to notify users of the minimum age and comply with merchant age restriction policies when used in addition to our comprehensive age verification system.

Why is age verification required?

• Websites selling certain products must comply with federal and state laws. For instance, tobacco and alcohol products are subject to a federal 21+ age requirement across the U.S. Websites, just like retail shops, are required to make sure you are of legal age before you buy.

• Some websites use our service even if they are not required to verify your age by law and each website chooses their own policies.

• Mistychest.com may be used to comply with minimum age laws, blocking sales to locations a business is choosing not to ship to, screening applications, general identity confirmation to prevent fraud, and more. Requirements, and why they are in place, are up to each individual website. We offer a variety of settings businesses can choose from to enforce their own policies and/or help them comply with laws and guidelines from governing bodies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Why now? I'm a longtime buyer.

• We understand that some adult customers may have been purchasing tobacco products on a website for years without having to go through age verification. Legal pressure, general growth in ecommerce, new products hitting the market, and more, have spurred the implementation of age verification technology for websites. Proper age verification is not just a best practice, but a law that is being increasingly enforced for online businesses.

What information is collected?

• The age verification process coincides with checkout, when you start to enter payment and shipping details. Mistychest.com automatically pulls information such as name and address from your billing information, and asks for your date of birth through a pop-up or an email after you pay depending on how the website has our plugin set up.
• We use this information to verify your age through our databases of public records and previously verified customers. Over 90% of customers are verified instantly using just name, address, and date of birth, so it is important to enter accurate details. This is not just an age gate you see on the homepage! An accurate date of birth entry will help us verify you faster and complete your order.
• If we are unable to verify you instantly, you will be asked to submit a photo ID which is manually verified in under a minute. Photo ID submissions are automatically deleted after we verify you. If your photo ID is approved we will securely store your name, address, and date of birth to recognize you and skip the ID requirement in the future.
• Mistychest's customer support team may be reached for checkout assistance (as it relates to our age verification app) by phone at +57 310 677 6302 or email: [email protected]
• We strive to make online age verification a fast, painless process that makes as little a difference as possible to your typical checkout experience. Our customer service team is available 24/7/365 to both our website clients and their customers going through age verification.

How is my personal information protected?

• We take data privacy and security very seriously. Your personal information such as your name, address, and date of birth are only used to verify your age, and only stored in our secure database to verify you without ID in the future. Photo IDs are not automatically stored; they are deleted as soon as you are verified. In some instances you will be prompted for consent to store your Photo ID if the website is required to meet compliance requirements. For more information, see our privacy policy.