Is it legal for a 16 year old to verify payment in Shopify?

[ethanll3706]

Hello, I am just wondering if I have to use an 18+ Year old to verify payment, As I do have a legal guardian willing to do so but as Shopify stated, "(ii) at least the age of the majority in the jurisdiction where you reside and from which you use the Services to open an account", does this mean as the UK Government states a 16+ Year old can Legally run/own a "business" I can provide my provisional license or do I still have to use an 18+

[Rick]

Hi there @ethanll3706 

Thanks for reaching out here, and welcome to Shopify!

I understand you have some questions about the age requirements for operating a Shopify store - I would be happy to help!

You are correct in saying that a section of the Shopify Terms of Service does indeed mention the 'age of majority in the jurisdiction where you reside' which you have suggested is 16+ in the UK. However, it also says that you must be 'the older of ' either 18 years or the age of majority. What this essentially means is 18 years old is the minimum required age and Shopify Payments firmly requires you to be 18 or older, regardless of your country's age of majority.

By the sounds of it, you may not be 18 years old? That doesn't mean that you cannot work on and build a Shopify store, it just means that you cannot be the Account Owner/Shopify Payments representative and cannot submit verification documents. Staff members and employees are allowed to be minors, however Account Owners must be over 18.

What you could do here, is appoint the store ownership to your legal guardian and have them submit the relevant documents for Shopify Payments verification. You can have a staff account with basically full access to the store, so you can still run the day to day business. Once you reach the age of 18, you can then have the owner transfer the store ownership over to you, and you can also change the Shopify Payments setup to reflect your own details.

I'd love to hear more about your plans on Shopify. Do you already have the store open, or are you doing some research before doing so? What kind of products will you be selling on the store?