Identity verification for e-commerce and marketplaces

What marketplaces ask of identity checks

On a marketplace the buyer trusts the platform, and the seller is someone the platform may have met only through a form. The platform has to be able to say who a seller is and to stop a banned seller from coming back under a new storefront. These checks run for thousands of sellers, so invitations and reviews have to scale.

• Invite many sellers at once, each with a link that works on a phone.
• Verify the seller with an identity document, a proof of address and a live face.
• Recognise a banned seller who registers again.
• Review mismatches in the dashboard and export the record.

The flow

1. Invitation. Your system creates single-use links, from 1 to 1,000 at once, and sends one to each seller. A seller who starts on a desktop can finish on a phone with a QR code.
2. Questionnaire. The seller enters name, birth date, contacts and the custom fields you define before the KYC starts.
3. Document and address. The seller photographs an identity document, and a utility bill, bank statement or lease is added to the same session as an extra document.
4. Face. The selfie is matched to the document portrait, and active liveness confirms a live person.
5. Banned and duplicate sellers. Repeat-user search looks for the same face among earlier verified users, and your own person lists and blocklists are checked in the same flow.
6. Review. Sessions that your rules do not settle go to a person in the dashboard, who decides manually and can export the session log.

Modules used

• Web SDK and widget: one-time links, QR hand-off and 29 interface languages, which suit a seller base in many countries.
• Document verification with proof of address as an extra document.
• Face verification and liveness.
• Repeat-user search, person lists and blocklists, described on the face verification page.
• A returning user is compared with a stored reference face.
• Dashboard and scenario editor and webhooks.

Regulatory frame

What two European Union texts say about knowing the seller on an online platform. The first four statements are from the Digital Services Act. The last three are from the tax-cooperation rules for platform operators, which Member States apply from 1 January 2023.

• Under Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, the section on additional provisions for online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders, which includes Article 30, does not apply to providers that qualify as micro or small enterprises as defined in Recommendation 2003/361/EC, or that previously qualified for that status during the 12 months following their loss of it, except when they are very large online platforms; it does apply to designated very large online platforms irrespective of whether they qualify as micro or small enterprises.
• Article 30(1) requires providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders to ensure that traders can only use the platform to promote messages on or to offer products or services to consumers located in the Union if, prior to the use of its services for those purposes, the provider has obtained the following information, where applicable to the trader: name, address, telephone number and email address; a copy of the identification document of the trader or any other electronic identification as defined by Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014; the payment account details; where the trader is registered in a trade register or similar public register, the trade register and registration number or equivalent means of identification; and a self-declaration by the trader committing to only offer products or services that comply with the applicable rules of Union law.
• Under Article 30(2), upon receiving that information and prior to allowing the trader to use its services, the provider makes best efforts to assess whether the information is reliable and complete, through any freely accessible official online database or online interface made available by a Member State or the Union or through requests to the trader to provide supporting documents from reliable sources.
• Under Article 30(3), where the provider has reason to believe that information from the trader is inaccurate, incomplete or not up-to-date, it requests the trader to remedy that, and if the trader fails to do so it swiftly suspends its service to that trader.
• Annex V to Directive 2011/16/EU, added by Council Directive (EU) 2021/514, requires a reporting platform operator to collect, for each seller who is an individual and not an excluded seller, the first and last name, the primary address, any tax identification number issued to that seller, including each Member State of issuance, and in the absence of a tax identification number the place of birth, the VAT identification number where available, and the date of birth (Section II, paragraph B(1)).
• The operator is not required to collect the primary address, the tax identification number or, in its absence, the place of birth, the VAT identification number or the date of birth where it relies on direct confirmation of the identity and residence of the seller through an identification service made available by a Member State or the Union, and it is not required to collect the tax identification number where the Member State of residence of the seller does not issue one or does not require its collection (Section II, paragraph B(3) and B(4)).
• It also requires the operator to determine whether the information collected is reliable, using all the information and documents available in its records and any electronic interface made available at no charge by a Member State or the Union to check the validity of the tax or VAT identification number (Section II, paragraph C).

This block describes the texts, not our service. For information; not legal advice.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Single Market For Digital Services (Digital Services Act), Official Journal text, fetched 27 October 2026.
• Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 of 22 March 2021 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation, Official Journal text, fetched 27 October 2026.

Next

Try the interactive tour, see the gig and staffing flow or read about one-time links.