Delivery of age restricted products on Amazon

Knives, booze, fags, glue… if you’ve ever purchased any of these you’ve probably heard of Challenge 25, a retailing strategy that encourages anyone who is over 18 but looks under 25 to be asked for ID. Whilst the legal age may be lower, by asking anyone who may look under 25 to prove their age is intended to ensure only responsible adults make purchases of age restricted items and a sixteen year old that looks 22 can’t.

It’s not so easy online however – yes some sites will ask for credit card as a means of age verification but what happens when someone under age signs for the parcel? Well 92 year old granny Louise found out when grandson Carl purchased a bottle of Harveys Bristol Cream as her Christmas present and had it shipped direct from Amazon. She was asked for proof of age.

Certain products on Amazon are Age Restricted and their policy requires Photo ID. Delivery to a neighbour, locker, Pickup point or nominated safe place location is not available for age restricted items. If the recipient is not over the age of 18 and has not been able to show valid photo identification, the item will be returned to Amazon for re-delivery the following day.

The problem is that the only ID this granny had was her bus pass and that’s not on Amazon’s list of approved Photo ID for age restricted items which are:

• A passport
• A European Union (photocard) driving licence
• Ministry of Defence Form 90 (a defence identity card issued to serving military)
• National Identity card issued by European Union Member State (other than the United Kingdom), and Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland
• A biometric immigration document (issued by The Home Office to individuals going through different stages of the immigration process as a residence permit.).
• A photographic identity card bearing a national Proof of Age Standard Scheme (PASS) hologram

If you do order age restricted products on Amazon, in reality you may not be asked for Photo ID, I once was simply asked for my date of birth but I’ve also had to show my driving licence which is probably what drivers should be asking for.

If you sell age restricted products, be aware that buyers will (or should) be asked for proof of age on delivery, even if they do look like they are nearly 100 years old!