VerifyNowVerify shoppers, protect margins
Age-gate alcohol and tobacco, approve BNPL applicants, harden delivery handover and cut refund and chargeback fraud — with South African ID, biometric and bank verification that drops into your checkout via API.
Built for retail fraud
Five real services that map cleanly to retail and e-commerce decisions — age-gate, BNPL KYC, delivery handover, refund fraud and dispute resolution.
SA ID Verification
Validate a South African ID at checkout or sign-up. Returns DOB for age-gating and name for BNPL / high-value KYC.
Face Match
Selfie-to-ID biometric match for account-takeover defence and high-risk doorstep handovers.
Bank Account Verification (AVS)
Confirm refund and payout accounts belong to the shopper before money leaves — fewer chargebacks, fewer mule refunds.
Consumer Trace
Resolve a disputed buyer or address by looking up recorded contact details tied to an ID number.
Phone Trace
Reverse-lookup the mobile number on a suspicious order to confirm the subscriber before you ship.
How retailers use VerifyNow
Four concrete checkout and post-purchase flows our retail and e-commerce customers run every day.
Age-gate alcohol or tobacco at checkout
- Shopper adds an age-restricted item and reaches checkout.
- Capture their SA ID number inline.
- SA ID Verification returns DOB and status in seconds.
- Reject under-18s and flag invalid IDs before payment is taken.
BNPL or instalment application
- Applicant selects a Buy Now Pay Later option.
- SA ID Verification confirms the applicant is real, alive and of age.
- Bank AVS confirms the debit-order account is in the applicant’s name.
- Combined signal feeds your credit decisioning engine.
High-value or high-risk delivery handover
- Order is flagged high-risk (new account, high basket, prior ATO signal).
- Courier app prompts recipient for SA ID + live selfie at the door.
- Face Match compares the selfie to the Home Affairs photo on the ID.
- Parcel is only released on a successful biometric match; otherwise returned.
Chargeback or refund dispute
- Dispute or refund request lands in your ops queue.
- Bank AVS confirms the refund account is held by the ID on the order.
- Consumer Trace pulls the recorded contact history tied to that ID.
- Attach the bundled evidence to your representment or reject the refund.
Retail frameworks we help with
POPIA is the governing framework for any shopper data you process — name, ID number, selfie, bank account, delivery address. Our verification endpoints are built to be embedded into lawful-basis flows (contract performance, legitimate interest for fraud prevention) and we return only the fields needed to make a decision.
For age-restricted goods, the Liquor Products Act and the Tobacco Products Control Act require you to confirm the buyer is 18+. SA ID Verification returns the DOB that is encoded in the 13-digit South African ID number, so you can enforce the gate at checkout rather than relying on a self-declared tickbox.
For BNPL, instalment and credit-at-till products, obligations under the National Credit Act and the Consumer Protection Act apply. SA ID Verification plus Bank AVS give you the identity and payout-account signals that typically sit at the front of an NCA-aligned affordability and onboarding workflow administered by the NCR.
Retail and e-commerce questions
Do you support age-verification for online alcohol and tobacco sales?
Yes. SA ID Verification returns the date of birth encoded in the 13-digit South African ID number, which lets you enforce an 18+ gate at checkout for alcohol and tobacco in line with the Liquor Products Act and the Tobacco Products Control Act. You can capture the ID, confirm it is valid, and reject or step up the order if the customer is under age — all before the payment is authorised.
Can I verify a customer without them leaving checkout?
Yes. Our verification endpoints are designed to be embedded into your checkout or account flow via API, so the shopper never leaves your site. You collect the ID number (and a selfie, if you are running Face Match), submit it in the background, and make an accept / review / decline decision in seconds.
How do I prevent delivery fraud on high-value orders?
For high-risk or high-value deliveries, you can require the recipient to present their SA ID and a live selfie at the door. Face Match compares the selfie to the Home Affairs photograph tied to the ID, so couriers can confirm the parcel is being released to the person who placed the order rather than an address-farmer or ATO fraudster.
Does this help with chargebacks and refund fraud?
Yes. Bank Account Verification (AVS) confirms that the bank account you are about to refund to is actually held in the name of the ID number on the order — which blocks the most common refund-diversion scam. Combined with Consumer Trace, you can also rebuild a clear audit trail on the cardholder when you respond to a chargeback representment.
Which frameworks apply to retail KYC in South Africa?
POPIA governs how you process customer personal information, the Consumer Protection Act governs refund and delivery conduct, and BNPL / instalment credit offerings generally fall under the National Credit Act and are regulated by the NCR. Age-restricted goods add the Liquor Products Act and the Tobacco Products Control Act on top.
Ship safer checkouts
Plug SA ID, Face Match and Bank AVS into your funnel and stop under-age, delivery, refund and BNPL fraud at the door.