If you sell wine online in Switzerland, you have to make sure no bottle goes to a young person under the minimum age. In a shop, staff check the ID. An online shop has no counter to look across, and that is exactly where test purchases have shown gaps for years. This guide sums up what the law requires, which approaches the authorities accept as sufficient, and how Vinosoft handles it in the checkout.
The minimum sale age
- 16 for fermented alcoholic drinks: wine, sparkling wine, beer, cider and fruit wine. The basis is the Food Act (LMG).
- 18 for spirits and mixed drinks containing distilled spirits, which includes liqueurs, spirit-based aperitifs and alcopops. The basis is the Alcohol Act (AlkG, Art. 41 para. 1 let. i).
The ban covers every handover, free samples included. Cantons and sellers may apply stricter rules. Ticino, for example, allows no alcohol at all to be sold to anyone under 18.
What counts as a sufficient age check online
In July 2025 the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO/BLV) set out in an information letter to the cantonal enforcement authorities: anyone who sells alcohol through an online shop must have an effective age-check system and make sure it works. How it works technically, and whether the check happens at registration, at checkout or on delivery, is up to the seller.
Sufficient, for example:
- at registration or checkout: a copy of an official ID, a check against the ID number, or an age-verification system from a third party
- on delivery or collection: an ID check by your own instructed staff, at collection in the shop, or through a carrier add-on such as "signature by an adult"
Not sufficient:
- an "I am over 18" checkbox
- entering a date of birth
- assuming that anyone paying by credit card is an adult
- a line in the terms such as "No sales to minors"
The shop must also state, for alcoholic drinks, that selling them to children and young people is prohibited, with the minimum age under food and alcohol law (Art. 42 para. 2 and Art. 44 of the Food and Utility Articles Ordinance, LGV). Alcoholic drinks must be offered so that they are clearly distinguishable from non-alcoholic ones.
How the Vinosoft checkout checks age
The Vinosoft shop asks for a photo of an ID, not a checkbox:
- Minimum age from the product category. Every article has a product category. Wine, sparkling wine, beer, cider and fruit wine require 16; spirits, liqueur, aperitif, liqueur wine, alcopops and hard seltzer require 18. Alcohol-free beer and de-alcoholised wine are exempt. If the cart holds articles with different age limits, the highest applies.
- Photograph the ID. If the order contains age-restricted articles, the buyer takes a photo of their ID or uploads one. Vinosoft reads the date of birth from it. The photo is checked and discarded at once, never stored.
- Too young or not checked: no order. The check also runs on the server. An order without a valid age check is not accepted, even if someone gets around the step in the browser.
- Check once, then skip. Signed-in customers can save the verified date of birth in their account and skip the scan next time.
- Audit trail. Every check is logged, without the date of birth in the log.
If you know a customer in person, say from the farm shop, your staff can record their date of birth by hand under Shop → Users after checking an ID. This is logged with the user who entered it and can be withdrawn with Revoke verification.
What to set up
- Set the product category on every alcoholic article. Without a category, Vinosoft knows no minimum age and the article is not checked. This is the most important step.
- Under Shop → Configuration → Checkout compliance, section Age verification:
- Always require 18 for alcohol — for businesses that only sell from 18 as a rule, or for deliveries to Ticino.
- Age-verify every order regardless of category — if you only sell alcoholic products and don't want a forgotten category to slip through.
- A minimum-age notice on product pages or in the shop footer, for example: "No sale of wine and beer to anyone under 16, or of spirits to anyone under 18."
What Vinosoft does not do
- The check applies to deliveries to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. For other countries, Vinosoft sets no minimum age today.
- The checkout does not detect cantonal rules from the address. For Ticino, switch on Always require 18 for alcohol.
- An ID check on delivery is something you book with your carrier.
- If you build your own shop on the Vinosoft Storefront API, the age check there is your responsibility. A checkbox is not enough there either.
Checklist
- Product category set on every alcoholic article
- Checkout compliance settings reviewed
- Minimum-age notice visible in the shop
- Test order placed with an alcoholic article
- Staff know how to record an ID check from the farm shop in Vinosoft
The bigger picture: Building a wine webshop in Switzerland.
Sources: Food Act (SR 817.0), Food and Utility Articles Ordinance (SR 817.02), Alcohol Act (SR 680), FSVO information letter 2025/2.1 "Alterskontrolle bei der Alkoholabgabe im Onlinehandel" of 7 July 2025. As of October 2026. This guide is no substitute for legal advice.
