If you sell age-restricted products on Shopify, we’ve got good news. It’s now easier than ever to add secure, seamless age checks to your online store.
Yoti has now officially integrated with Shopify – one of the biggest ecommerce platforms in the world. That means Shopify merchants can now offer fast, privacy-preserving age checks for their customers.
If you’re selling alcohol, vapes, knives or other age-restricted items, this integration helps you meet legal requirements without adding unnecessary friction to your customers’ journey.
Why does this matter for Shopify merchants?
Shopify powers millions of online businesses, including both independent sellers and global brands. But if you sell age-restricted products, you know how tricky it can be to strike the right balance between regulatory compliance and customer experience.
In the past, online age checks have often been intrusive or required too much effort from your customers, leading to basket abandonment or support headaches.
With Yoti now available on Shopify, you can give your customers a variety of smart, user-friendly ways to prove their age.
How can your Shopify customers prove their age?
When customers enter your store, they’ll be asked to complete an age check. Alongside credit card and mobile provider checks, you can let your customers prove their age with the following methods:
1. Facial age estimation
Our facial age estimation is one of the fastest ways to prove age online. Customers simply take a quick selfie, and our technology estimates their age and performs a liveness check (to make sure they’re not trying to trick the technology with a photo, video or mask). The whole process takes just a few seconds and the image is deleted immediately after the check is complete.
No documents are needed and no personal details are shared. It’s anonymous and privacy-preserving for your customers. It’s also a great fit for mobile shoppers where convenience is key.
2. Digital ID
For those customers who have a Yoti Digital ID, age checks become even easier. With a scan of a QR code and a few taps, they can share an “Over 18” credential to prove their age. This allows them to only share what’s needed (like proof they’re over a certain age), and nothing more.
Over 7 million people in the UK and 20 million globally have already downloaded a Yoti Digital ID, making it a trusted and widely used way to prove how old you are. Your Digital ID can be reused across any site that accepts Yoti, so customers can prove their age once, and use it again and again. It’s private, secure and designed for today’s privacy-conscious consumer.
3. Identity documents
Your customers can also prove their age by scanning a valid identity document such as a passport or driving licence. We perform additional checks to make sure the document is authentic and being submitted by the legitimate owner. We take just the date of birth from the document to perform the age check – no other personal details are extracted, as they’re not needed for the check. All data is deleted after the check is complete and no database is ever created.
We recognise over 12,000 types of identity documents from more than 200 countries and territories, allowing you to sell to people from all around the globe.
4. Yoti Keys
This is the fastest and most seamless way for returning customers to prove their age. Once someone has completed an age check with any of the above methods, they can choose to create a Yoti Key. This is a passkey that holds the customer’s age.
When the customer visits another site or store that accepts Yoti Keys, they can securely reuse their previous age check result without needing to re-verify their age each time.
What’s in it for Shopify merchants?
Here’s why adding Yoti to your Shopify store is a smart move:
- Stay compliant with age verification laws and regulations
- Protect young people from accessing age-restricted goods
- Streamline your checkout and reduce friction for customers
- Build trust by giving shoppers control over how they prove their age
With online sales of age-restricted goods coming under increased scrutiny from regulators, now’s the time to make sure your age checks are fit for purpose and future-proofed. The Yoti Shopify plugin gives you full control over how and where your age checks are applied. You can either:
- Check everyone’s ages before they can access your store
- Selectively apply age checks just on the pages that require it
- Only check age at the checkout (if someone adds age-restricted items to their cart).
Alongside this, you can shape your customers’ verification experience according to their location’s age-checking requirements. You can also customise the messaging and tailor how you explain the age verification process. This is all controlled from your Shopify admin page.
Simple to set up and easy to use
Getting started with Yoti on Shopify couldn’t be easier. Simply install the app directly from the Shopify App Store, choose where in your checkout flow you’d like the age check to appear and customise the look and feel to match your brand. We also provide full support during setup and our team is on hand to help you get the most out of the integration.
Shopify businesses around the world are already using Yoti to modernise their age verification processes and now you can too. Go to the Shopify App Store to get started.
