Do You Need to Consider Age Verification for Your Website?

Unless you’re selling ‘adult’ products, age verification may not be a primary concern for you, but should it be? Here are some key reasons you may want to consider age verification for your site.

Consider Age Verification

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While offering online products and services is a practical, high-tech, and forward-thinking, understanding privacy, security and safety can’t be overlooked. Don’t forget to consider age verification during the development of your online business.

 

This post is going to dive into the issue of preventing specific products and services from attracting young people. This is the reason online age verification is so important. Even if business owners use basic age verification such as ‘tick boxes’ to allow consumers to confirm their age before reaching a site or checking out with a product, that may not be enough to keep your customers safe and you out of hot water. Let’s take a look at this in a little more detail.

Why Is Age Verification Important for Businesses?

Identity verification can be carried out for a variety of purposes. It relies on the company’s business strategy seeking to use this type of service.

 

A social networking website can use age verification for teenagers to weed out users under the 13–19 age range. Businesses can use age verification systems to enable consumers to sign up for age-specific organizations, such as:

  • Retirement fund registration
  • Old-age health-care plans
  • Other comparable packages
  • Banking
  • Insurance agencies etc.

 

To avoid dealing with online trolls and unnecessary user traffic, a business that only registers or sells products to a particular type of customer may find age verification services helpful. This type of identity verification solution is also good for businesses that do not wish to prevent people over a certain age from registering for their services. They, instead, want to categorize their users into age categories. 

4 Essential Factors to Use Age Verification for Online Business

According to Sage Journals research, about 93% of teenagers aged 12 to 17 have access to the internet. With such a large number of teenagers using the internet regularly, online businesses have begun to accept responsibility for preventing children from viewing explicit information.

 

As a result, they do so by instituting age identity verification on business websites. Online age verification is necessary to prevent minors from accessing age-restricted materials. Here we will explain the factors of using age verification for online business.

1. False Identity Risk

Children use their parents’ or elders’ identification cards to purchase online. Suppose a company refrains from using identity verification for such circumstances. It can lead to losing trust and incurring penalties.

 

On the other hand, when an identity thief steals other people’s identities to get free services and advantages, it risks some businesses.

 

Individuals in need receive benefits like pensions and old age funds. False identities could be used by criminals to get these benefits. Every business must have an identity verification system to eliminate all these risks.

2. Filtering the Visitors

Online businesses can exclude website users who are eligible to buy your product. It is by putting up an age verification method on your online store. Users are informed that the content they are attempting to see is age-restricted when requested to confirm their age. An intelligent teen would realize this and walk out of your online shop.

3. Social Responsibility for Businesses

A corporation’s social responsibility refers to company activities and procedures that do not result in monetary benefit. Yet, they assist it in improving its trade value and brand picture among the general public.

 

Businesses that offer age-restricted items could use age-verification software to show their dedication to the greater good. Every day, children die due to their harmful use of drugs and alcohol. From 2015 to 2017, 442 children died in the United States due to a drug overdose. Alcohol dealers should put in place age verification to help reduce deaths caused by excessive alcohol consumption.

4. Adherence to the Law

Suppose you sell products only consumed by people of a specific age. In that case, regulatory compliance is one of the main justifications for businesses needing to confirm their client’s ages. For some enterprises or products, age verification is now required by regulations in various nations.

 

Legal sanctions, including jail time, may occur from disregarding the identity verification system. So it is the right time to use an identity verification system to avoid such circumstances.

 

Online Businesses That Need Age Verification

Today, the majority of businesses understand the necessity of online age verification software. Increasing mobile traffic over most platforms raises concerns about underage use and selling products with age restrictions to children. Let’s look at a few businesses that must demand age verification.

1. Alcohol and Tobacco

These two products are regulated on a global scale. The FDA ( food and drug administration) forbids the selling of cigarettes to children. A further limitation on the sale of alcohol to individuals in the US is that the buyer must be 21-year-old age. Internet age verification for selling tobacco and alcohol has become a top priority.

 

If you are running such a business, age verification software is necessary for your online business. This will categorize your suitable customers.

2. Gaming

Online gaming is an open platform where youngsters can communicate with players from all around the world. Aside from online abuse and harassment, the circumstance puts kids at risk of falling for fraud. As a result, to protect minor gamers, online gaming companies must need identity verification.

3. Gambling

Gambling and cigarette smoking are regulated around the world. As websites are so simple to access, children can access them and become addicted to gambling. Underage is prohibited from participating when identity verification is required during registration on online gambling platforms.

4. Dating Websites

Online dating services have exploded in popularity over the last decade. These sites have very few admission requirements. That is why any underage user can use them without any restriction.

 

Many countries consider underage dating to be a crime leading to legal consequences. Dating service companies can prevent underage access to their services by enforcing tight age requirements and using verification systems.

Final Thought

The age verification system will support the business in establishing a reputation as a regulatory-compliant and beneficial firm. The immediate need to alert users well about the site’s content and services is vital to internet safety.

 

Some firms that feature explicit content on the internet don’t follow the identity verification process on their online stores. They may face severe consequences for granting underage access to age-restricted content.

 

It will cause legal issues and harm your store’s reputation. Finally, every business can categorize its customers using the age verification system. It’s time to set up an identity verification system for your online business.