Age-Restricted Products in the UK: The List and How to Sell Them Online

Who it is for

UK stores selling age-restricted goods

Time needed

A day to set up checks and delivery

What you need

A verification app and a carrier with ID checks

Selling a bottle of gin or a chef's knife online is legal. Selling it without a working age check is where UK stores get into trouble, because the law puts the burden on you to show you took all reasonable steps. A pop-up that asks "Are you over 18?" doesn't do that, and neither does a date-of-birth field at checkout.

This guide starts with the list of age-restricted products in the UK, then shows how to build real age checks into a Shopify store, from product setup to delivery. The ages and rules come from Business Companion, the government-backed trading standards guidance, and GOV.UK, as checked on 7 November 2026. Shopify rules come from its help center on the same day.

List of age-restricted products in the UK: 18 and over

Products with ages of 16, 15 and 12

Energy drinks have no legal minimum age, though some retailers set their own. If your product isn't on these lists but feels borderline, ask your local Trading Standards service before you launch, which is what Business Companion itself recommends when you're unsure.

What counts as a real age check online

The legal defence for most age-restricted sales is due diligence: you have to show you took all reasonable precautions. Business Companion's guidance for online retailers is specific about what is unlikely to be enough:

• A tick box or button confirming the buyer is over 18.
• Asking for a date of birth on its own.
• A general disclaimer, such as "anyone ordering from this site is deemed to be 18".
• Accepting only credit cards, because payment systems can't reliably tell card types apart.

What it does accept is a real check, either before the order is confirmed or at the point of hand-over:

• Online verification: credit card checks, facial age estimation (a live camera image used to estimate age) or digital identity services.
• Offline checks: asking for valid proof of age before dispatch or at the door.
• Click and collect: staff check ID at your shop as they would in a face-to-face sale.

Whatever you use, review it regularly. The guidance expects systems to be monitored and updated, and you should keep records of each check.

Delivery rules

An age check at checkout doesn't end your responsibility. The goods also have to reach an adult.

• Ask for proof of age at the door. Drivers should request valid proof of age. Business Companion warns that third-party couriers may not accept responsibility for this, so check your carrier's terms and choose a service that includes an age check on delivery.
• No lockers. Age-restricted products must not be delivered to self-service lockers.
• Knives and corrosives. The package must be clearly marked as containing a bladed article or corrosive product when it's dispatched, and it must be handed to a person aged 18 or over.

New rules for knives and crossbows

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 tightens online knife and crossbow sales in England and Wales. According to the Home Office factsheet I checked:

1. At purchase, online sellers must check a photo ID document, such as a passport or UK driving license, and a current photo of the buyer.
2. At delivery, the courier must check the recipient's photo ID to confirm they're 18 or over and are the buyer. Collection points must run the same checks.
3. Crossbows can't be delivered to a locker, left on a doorstep or given to a neighbor.
4. Bulk sales of six or more bladed articles to the same buyer within 30 days must be reported to the police. Pocketknives with a non-locking blade of three inches or less, cutlery knives and razor blade cartridges are exempt.
5. The maximum penalty for selling a knife to someone under 18 rises from six months to two years in prison, with an unlimited fine.

The factsheet didn't give a start date for these measures when I checked. If you sell knives, plan for them now, because building a two-step ID check into a Shopify store takes time.

Tobacco and vapes

The Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 creates a "smokefree generation". From 1 January 2027, selling tobacco, herbal smoking products or cigarette papers to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 is prohibited, so an 18-year-old buyer is no longer automatically legal. Your age check needs to confirm date of birth, not just "over 18".

Vapes stay at 18 and over. Single-use vapes are banned in England whether or not they contain nicotine, and nicotine vapes must be listed with the MHRA. Persistent offenders can face orders that ban sales for up to a year.

How to set up age checks on Shopify

1. Check Shopify allows the product. Shopify Payments' eligibility page lists tobacco and weapons among prohibited categories and links a list for each country. Check the UK list and Shopify's Acceptable Use Policy before you build, because you may need a different payment provider.
2. Get your license sorted. Selling alcohol in England and Wales needs authorization under the Licensing Act 2003. Shopify's own guidance tells alcohol sellers to hold every license they need and to use effective age verification, and suggests PAS 1296:2018 as a standard to follow. Ask your council's licensing team how it applies to online sales.
3. Group the products. Tag every restricted product with its age, for example age-18, and build a collection from the tag. Apps, delivery rules and messages can then target that collection.
4. Remove them from Shop. Shopify prohibits age-restricted products such as alcohol, tobacco and gambling on the Shop channel, so make sure those products aren't published to it.
5. Install a real verification app. Pick one that verifies age with a third-party check, such as ID document checks or facial age estimation, before the order is fulfilled. An age-gate pop-up on its own is the tick box the guidance warns about.
6. Hold orders until they pass. Don't fulfill a restricted order until the check is complete. Write that into your process, so staff know a failed check means a canceled order and a refund.
7. Set up delivery. Put restricted products in their own shipping profile under Settings > Shipping and delivery, use a carrier service with an age check at the door, and remove locker and pickup point options.
8. Tell customers before they buy. Add a line on the product page and in the cart explaining that ID will be checked at purchase and delivery. It reduces failed deliveries and complaints.
9. Keep records. Save the verification result against each order. If Trading Standards ask, that's your due diligence.

Common mistakes

• Relying on an age-gate pop-up. It's a self-declaration, which the guidance says is unlikely to be enough.
• Checking at checkout but not at the door. A parcel handed to a 15-year-old at the door is still an underage sale.
• Offering locker delivery. Not allowed for age-restricted goods.
• Forgetting the Shop channel. Restricted products published there break Shopify's rules.
• Only checking "over 18" for tobacco after 1 January 2027.
• Using the England rules for a Scottish customer. Some ages and checks differ, for example Scotland requires checks on anyone who appears under 25 when selling alcohol, tobacco or vapes in person.

Age-restricted products checklist

• I know the legal minimum age for every product I sell, in every UK nation I ship to.
• My payment provider and Shopify's policies allow these products.
• I hold any license I need, such as for alcohol.
• Restricted products are tagged, grouped and removed from the Shop channel.
• A third-party age check runs before fulfillment, and results are saved with the order.
• My carrier checks age at the door, and lockers are switched off for these products.
• Knife and corrosive parcels are marked when dispatched.
• I review the process at least once a year and when the law changes.

Next steps

List every product you sell against the tables above, then test your own store as a buyer: can you order a restricted item with only a tick box? If yes, fix that first. If you run a spirits brand, my notes on Shopify for gin and craft spirits cover the rest of the setup, and product safety and labeling rules covers what has to appear on the product page.

Some verification flows need custom work, such as holding fulfillment until a check passes or adding ID checks for knife sales. That is the kind of thing I build as a custom Shopify app, and you can start with a free store review.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Underage sales, Business Companion
2. Online sales of age-restricted products, Business Companion
3. Tobacco and vapes, Business Companion
4. Crime and Policing Act 2026: knife crime and crossbows factsheet, GOV.UK
5. Selling alcohol, Shopify Help Center
6. Prohibited products on Shop, Shopify Help Center

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Written by Ashraf Siddik

I'm a Shopify developer and CRO specialist. I have built and improved Shopify stores since 2018, completed more than 1,000 projects, and hold a 4.96 average rating across 719 client reviews.

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