Age Verification Policy

Vapepie uses age verification solutions for our e‑commerce website, for the sale of age‑restricted vaping hardware.

Age gate vs. age verification
An age gate is the pop‑up that appears when you enter an age‑restricted website, such as sites selling vaping products, tobacco, alcohol, or other adult‑restricted goods. Vapepie’s age gate is not intended as a replacement for our full age‑verification service, because it does not validate the authenticity of the information you submit. It serves only to notify visitors of the applicable minimum age requirement and supports our internal age policy when used alongside our comprehensive age‑verification system.

Why is age verification required?
Websites selling vaping hardware in Canada must comply with applicable provincial and federal laws. The legal minimum age to purchase vaping hardware varies across Canada: 18 years of age in Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut; 19 years of age in most other provinces and territories. Just like physical retail stores, we must confirm you have reached the legal age before completing your purchase.

Some merchants choose to run age verification even where not strictly mandated by law, and each website sets its own policy.

Our age verification system helps us comply with Canadian minimum‑age rules, block shipments to jurisdictions where we do not deliver, reduce fraud, and verify identity for order processing. The specific requirements are set by Vapepie. We offer configurable settings so we can enforce our sales policy and meet applicable Canadian regulatory guidance.

Why am I being verified if I have ordered before?
We understand that returning adult customers may have previously placed orders without this check. Stricter regulatory expectations, the growth of online e‑commerce, and evolving enforcement practices mean age verification is now a standard requirement for online sales of vaping hardware in Canada. Proper age verification is not merely a recommended best practice; it is subject to increasing regulatory enforcement for online retailers.

What information is collected?
Age verification runs during checkout, as you enter your billing, shipping and payment details. Our verification system may pull your name and address from your billing information and will request your date of birth, either through an on‑site pop‑up or a post‑checkout email, depending on our plugin configuration.

We use this information to confirm your age through trusted identity and verification datasets, including records of previously verified customers. More than 90% of customers complete instant verification using only their name, address and date of birth, so it is important to submit accurate details. This is different from a simple home‑page age gate. Providing your correct date of birth helps us verify you quickly and move your order forward.

If instant verification cannot be completed, you will be asked to submit a photo of valid government‑issued photo ID for manual review. Photo ID images are automatically deleted once verification is finished. If your ID is approved, we may securely store your name, address and date of birth so we can recognise you on future visits and skip the manual ID check.

If you need help with age verification during checkout, please contact our customer service team at [email protected].

We aim to make age verification fast and low‑impact, so it interferes as little as possible with your normal checkout flow. Our support team is available to assist with the age‑verification process.

How is my personal information protected?
We take privacy and security seriously. Your personal information, including your name, address and date of birth, will only be used for age and identity verification and will be held in our secure system solely to facilitate future verification without requiring repeated ID uploads. Photo identification is not retained automatically; it is deleted immediately after verification. In limited circumstances, we may ask for your explicit consent to retain a copy of your ID if required to satisfy Canadian legal or record‑keeping obligations. For full details, please review our Privacy Policy.