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Purchasing Age-Restricted products

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eoff

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Has anyone else had problems purchasing certain products?

I am now unable to purchase kitchen scissors from Amazon.co.uk (the exact item I purchased in December) without supplying date of birth and possibly other information.
I'm trying to minimise how much personal information I provide to retailers.

I have had an account with them and used a credit card for purchases for more than 18 years.

Customer services claim it is a legal requirement and they have to ask for extra personal details.
 
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PeterY

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At the opposite end of the spectrum, I needed my passport to purchase my senior rail card on my 60th birthday. :lol: :lol:
 

The exile

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Has anyone else had problems purchasing certain products?

I am now unable to purchase kitchen scissors from Amazon.co.uk (the exact item I purchased in December) without supplying date of birth and possibly other information.
I'm trying to minimise how much personal information I provide to retailers.

I have had an account with them and used a credit card for purchases for more than 18 years.

Customer services claim it is a legal requirement and they have to ask for extra personal details.
The hardware shop it is then!
 

WelshBluebird

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Don't see the problem tbh, it is an age restricted item and given the retailer can't physically see you, asking your age isn't that out of the ordinary is it? If you are that worried how about altering it slightly so you aren't giving them the actual date, just something close to it?

Maybe they could have a checkbox that you can tick to state you are over 18 instead, but I guess actually making people put in a date is more accurate (similar tactic to asking a 17 year old who has fake ID what their date of birth is - quite often they will still say their actual DoB making them under 18).

Worth knowing that for most age related products, most online retailers (including but not limited to Amazon and most of the supermarkets) will say you need ID for the delivery too (although that often isn't actually checked).
 
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hexagon789

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Has anyone else had problems purchasing certain products?

I am now unable to purchase kitchen scissors from Amazon.co.uk (the exact item I purchased in December) without supplying date of birth and possibly other information.
I'm trying to minimise how much personal information I provide to retailers.

I have had an account with them and used a credit card for purchases for more than 18 years.

Customer services claim it is a legal requirement and they have to ask for extra personal details.
It's not really different to Think 25 in Supermarkets but as they cant see you they prompt for your DOB. I don't really see the issue other than the personal data thing, but that should be protected and not accessible anyway.
 

eoff

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Trading standards advice on the regulations from one of the London boroughs:

"The prohibition is not intended to apply to articles such as scissors or compasses."

The strange thing is that I have tried adding other more pointed scissors to my Amazon basket and I don't get trapped by Age Verification.

Don't see the problem tbh, it is an age restricted item and given the retailer can't physically see you, asking your age isn't that out of the ordinary is it?

My annoyance is that a customer who has had an account for >19 years (as far back as order history goes), used the same address and used credit cards in their name registered at that address is not going to be under 18.
 
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superjohn

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Delivery will be a pain as well. They aren’t allowed to just dump age restricted products somewhere vaguely near your house. If you aren’t there to receive within ten seconds of the bell ringing it will just go round in circles between you and the depot.
 

nlogax

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No real issues other than needing to be at home when taking delivery of items ordered online - single malt whisky for example. Needs an age check from the delivery person before handing over the goods to me.
 

Mcr Warrior

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No real issues other than needing to be at home when taking delivery of items ordered online - single malt whisky for example. Needs an age check from the delivery person before handing over the goods to me.
Wasn't aware of this policy when some scruffy looking Amazon courier attempted to deliver an unexpected item (a coffee mug as it happens!) and asked for a date of birth. Sent him on his way and the item was then re-delivered by the Royal Mail a day or two later.
 

PeterC

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No real issues other than needing to be at home when taking delivery of items ordered online - single malt whisky for example. Needs an age check from the delivery person before handing over the goods to me.
Had a case of wine left on the doorstep before now.
 

LSWR Cavalier

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I should not give a false date of birth, it might be spotted as an inconsistency and you could lose points or even be banned from ordering.
 

CarltonA

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I've had to enter my car registration to get a part in Halfords. They made it very difficult to look stuff up on line or in store without entering the vehicle number. When I went to pay they tried getting my email address "for the receipt". I pointed out that the till could print a receipt. They had me down as a weirdo for paying cash as well.
 

Mcr Warrior

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I've had to enter my car registration to get a part in Halfords. They made it very difficult to look stuff up on line or in store without entering the vehicle number.
That's kind of fair enough, so as to try to ensure that you get the right piece of kit for your particular make and model of car.
When I went to pay they tried getting my email address "for the receipt". I pointed out that the till could print a receipt. They had me down as a weirdo for paying cash as well.
That's a different matter entirely! :rolleyes:
 

PeterY

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I've had to enter my car registration to get a part in Halfords. They made it very difficult to look stuff up on line or in store without entering the vehicle number. When I went to pay they tried getting my email address "for the receipt". I pointed out that the till could print a receipt. They had me down as a weirdo for paying cash as well.
I always ask for a till receipt. I never give my e-mail to shops. To be honest, I don't really like giving it out for on line purchases .
 

Dai Corner

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I always ask for a till receipt. I never give my e-mail to shops. To be honest, I don't really like giving it out for on line purchases .
I have three email addresses; one for emails I want to get (friends, relatives etc), one for emails I need to get (e.g. online shopping, pension, Council etc ) and one for those I don't want to get get (anything else).
 

52290

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It's still Morrisons policy to ping would be purchasers of Viz magazine on the self service machines. I don't know whether this is because of Eight Aces penchant for moderate lager drinking, Fru T Buns appreciation of young gingerbread girls or Major Misunderstandings anti-wokeness that bothers them. Nor do I know if I'm suspected of being too old or too young for the magazine. Perhaps Viz itself could invent a comic strip on the subject?
 

Dai Corner

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It's still Morrisons policy to ping would be purchasers of Viz magazine on the self service machines. I don't know whether this is because of Eight Aces penchant for moderate lager drinking, Fru T Buns appreciation of young gingerbread girls or Major Misunderstandings anti-wokeness that bothers them. Nor do I know if I'm suspected of being too old or too young for the magazine. Perhaps Viz itself could invent a comic strip on the subject?
My public library provides online access to a range of magazines. Alongside innocuous titles such as Radio Times, Woman's Own and Railway Magazine I was surprised to find Viz.

I've no idea if they have age restrictions, or indeed whether any of the librarians has ever read it.
 

superjohn

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It's still Morrisons policy to ping would be purchasers of Viz magazine on the self service machines. I don't know whether this is because of Eight Aces penchant for moderate lager drinking, Fru T Buns appreciation of young gingerbread girls or Major Misunderstandings anti-wokeness that bothers them.
No problems with buying in Tesco or Sainsbury’s though. Viz is a bit of a grey area, it does state “Not for sale to children” on the cover but it seems to be down to the retailer to enforce that.

Some of the strips are very near the knuckle, George Bestial springs to mind although the worst elements tend to happen ‘off screen’’. He is a creation of Farmer and Healy who are responsible for some of the funniest (and darkest) humour in Viz. “The Male Online” is one of theirs and a true work of genius.
 

PeterC

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I have three email addresses; one for emails I want to get (friends, relatives etc), one for emails I need to get (e.g. online shopping, pension, Council etc ) and one for those I don't want to get get (anything else).
Same for me
 

eoff

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Just discovered Amazon Age verification now applies to a purchase of a garden trowel and fork set.
Just the impetus I needed to find the same product elsewhere at a better price.
 

45669

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They all want your e-mail address so that they can bombard you with future marketing material, special offers and the like. I knew of someone who was on a stand at an exhibition and came away boasting that during the exhibition she'd got 1,500 e-mail addresses!
 

DelayRepay

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Just discovered Amazon Age verification now applies to a purchase of a garden trowel and fork set.
Just the impetus I needed to find the same product elsewhere at a better price.

I had an age check on the self service checkout at Tesco, triggered by a packet of teaspoons!
 

GatwickDepress

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I had an age check on the self service checkout at Tesco, triggered by a packet of teaspoons!
There is a reason for this! While main bank checkouts store the individual restrictions of each product, self-service checkouts usually have products sorted into various categories instead, so a packet of teaspoons is classified as 'cutlery'. This category includes knives and any other bladed culinary implement that could be used for nefarious shenanigans, hence why it triggers an age check.
 
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