How To Open A Vape Shop: A Guide To Online Vape Selling

Because tobacco products are federally regulated, opening a vape shop in person or online requires a little more planning and care than any other type of store. Before you start to sell vape, you need to make sure you comply with all federal and state laws, including tax laws and shipping restrictions.

The FDA provides extensive resources to help you learn how to sell vape online legally. Be aware that vape products can be considered “tobacco products” and may be subject to regulations even if they do not contain any tobacco. We suggest you read through the FDA’s list of frequently asked questions about selling tobacco products to familiarize yourself with the legal requirements for selling e-liquid.

It’s important to note that, in some circumstances, vape shops can be considered both retailers and manufacturers. If your business plan involves mixing e-liquids or making or modifying vaporizers, you may be subject to manufacturer regulations in addition to retailer requirements.

Above all, when you’re selling age-restricted products online, you must make sure your buyers are legally allowed to make purchases, even for online sales. Fortunately, there are tools available, like the FDA’s age calculator and other free apps, that can help you stay in compliance. It’s smart to start with the FDA’s tobacco retailer training program, which you can download and review online.

Finally, if your plans for selling vape online include sales of JUUL products, you’ll need to comply with special efforts to combat underage use of those products. Every transaction that involves JUUL products must comply with automated electronic age verification and bulk-purchasing limits outlined in the Retail Access Control Standards (RACS) Program.

Fortunately, the platforms we will cover in this post include tools that will help you comply with these regulations and help you learn how to sell vape online the right way.

Shipping Vape Products

In 2021, restrictions that limit shipping options for vape went into effect. Designed to protect young people from the long-term health effects of using tobacco products, the updated PACT Act puts new requirements and restrictions on tobacco and tobacco product sellers. These include:

• Compliance With State, Local, & Tribal Laws Involving Excise Taxes
• Registration With The Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms
• A Postal Ban On Shipping Vapes

What does this postal ban mean for vape sellers? As of October 2021, the US Postal Service is banned from transporting vapes and other smokeless tobacco products. Other prominent carriers, including UPS and FedEx, have followed suit and announced that they will end shipping for vaping devices and parts. This is true even of vaping products that do not contain tobacco.

This ban applies also to hybrid services that rely on USPS for last-mile delivery. That means your vape shipments may not be as easy to ship as you’d like — but it’s still possible to sell vape online and ship to customers. You may need to comply with additional shipping requirements, such as shipping only in original packaging, using two boxes for every shipment, and providing internal cushioning.

Look for integrations with shipping software like ShipStation and Easyship that have recognized these difficulties and have committed to supporting online vape sales by partnering with regional carriers that will deliver vape products to your customers.

We frequently recommend Shopify as an easy and relatively affordable way to start selling online. However, when you want to sell vape online, you can expect problems with Shopify.

The most important reason is that the platform’s in-house payment processor, Shopify Payments, does not allow sales of any smoking-related products. Unfortunately, e-cigarettes and e-liquid are expressly prohibited. That means you’ll be stuck using an outside processor and paying Shopify’s added transaction fees, decreasing your profits.

For this reason, we don’t think Shopify is the best choice for online vape sales.

Korona’s point-of-sale system supports vape sales with specialized features supporting high-risk businesses such as vape retailers, cannabis dispensaries, and liquor stores. Unfortunately, Korona POS has some unfortunate holes in its systems that keep it from our list of the best platforms for selling vape.

Most important, Korona does not have built-in eCommerce functionality. So, while Korona can be a good choice for in-person vape sales, we don’t recommend it for online vape sellers.

In general, we like WooCommerce a lot because it’s flexible and free. However, if you use WooCommerce to build your online vape store, you will need developer knowledge, and you’ll have to pay for hosting and security with no vape-specific resources to help you out.

If those conditions don’t faze you, WooCommerce is worth looking into. However, for the average seller looking for a simple way to sell vape online, WooCommerce won’t be your best bet.

Best known for its POS tools supporting in-person selling, Clover offers an online option, in partnership with BigCommerce, that lets you operate a simple, one-page online store or add Clover to an existing website. That makes Clover seem like a good choice for merchants who sell primarily in-person and want to add a simple online option.

However, while Clover is RACS-compliant, age verification tools are included only for in-person selling. That means it’s not the best choice for online sales unless you add Clover as a payment option to an existing store with built-in or added age-verification capabilities.

While Square does support payments for electronic cigarettes and vape products, such sales must be processed as card-present transactions. That means online sales are not allowed.

Square is still a good POS choice for in-person vape sales.

Vend is a great POS system to sell vapes, online and in person. However, if you use Vend, you’ll need to connect it as a payment processor to an existing online store, because Vend does not come with a website builder.

However, if you’re looking for a POS system to support your vape business, Vend POS could be a great choice.

You can sell vape online! Because vape products are considered tobacco products (whether or not they contain tobacco), you’ll need to comply with some special legal requirements in order to sell e-liquids online, including age verification. You’ll also need to pay special attention to rules limiting shipping options for vape products.

It is legal to sell vape online as long as you comply with legal requirements, such as age verification. You’ll also need to work with a high-risk payment processor, and you may need to work a little harder to find shipping options that will work for vape products.

While the easiest place to sell vape may be in person, you have some good options for selling vape online. You can set up your online vape shop using software from Lightspeed, Shift4Shop, BigCommerce, and Franpos, for example. These platforms welcome vape sellers and offer tools to support you in your business.

Online sales of e-cigarettes are legal in the US. Because these sales are highly regulated by the federal government, you’ll need to be extra careful to comply with the rules. And while not all online sales platforms allow e-cigarette sales, you will need to make sure you pick a platform that does. Our top choices: Lightspeed, Shift4Shop, BigCommerce, and Franpos.

Because vape is considered a high-risk product, not very many eCommerce platforms allow vape sales. Fortunately, you can find some great platforms that not only allow but actually welcome online vape selling. Check out our top four picks: Lightspeed, Shift4Shop, BigCommerce, and Franpos.