The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act governs online sales and delivery of tobacco products in the U.S. Vaping products (ENDS) were brought under the law via the 2020 Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act (effective 2021). Our lab recently completed three coordinated studies and found widespread violations of shipping-label rules, delivery age checks, and California’s e-cigarette tax and licensing requirements. We would like to summarize those findings for you.
What we did:
Conducted 156 purchase attempts (two per site) from 78 online vape retailers shipping to 16 buyers in San Diego County, CA.
What we found—and why it’s noncompliance:
1) Delivery age-verification & shipping practices (JAMA, 2024).
Findings: Only 1.0% of deliveries involved an ID scan and 78.1% had no interaction with delivery personnel whatsoever. Most completed deliveries (80.8%) arrived via USPS; 8.8% came via UPS/FedEx/DHL, which prohibit consumer tobacco shipments.
Why this is noncompliance: PACT requires adult signature at delivery with age verification. Deliveries with no ID check (or no contact) fail that requirement. The postal rule implementing the PACT Act also prohibits mailing ENDS to consumers via USPS (with narrow exceptions), so routine USPS delivery to consumers is inconsistent with the rule. Shipments via private carriers that themselves ban these consumer shipments further indicate attempts to bypass lawful delivery channels.
2) California e-cigarette excise tax (CECET) & licensing (Tobacco Control, 2025).
Findings: Among retailers providing receipts, 84.5% did not charge the required 12.5% CECET. Additionally, just 40.0% appeared to hold a California tobacco retail license and those without licenses were less likely to pay CECET.
Why this is noncompliance: PACT requires delivery sellers to comply with all applicable state tax and licensing laws (including registration, tax collection/remittance, and licensing). Failure to charge state excise tax and to maintain required licensing violates those incorporated state requirements.
3) PACT shipping label disclosures (Tobacco Control, 2025).
Findings: Only 8.6% of shipments were labeled as containing tobacco, as required. Among the noncompliant packages, 88.7% used an alternate business or individual name, and some mischaracterized contents (e.g., “phone case,” “essential oils”).
Why this is noncompliance: PACT requires that packages be clearly marked to indicate they contain tobacco products. Concealing contents or sender identity defeats the disclosure requirement and hinders enforcement (age checks, tax enforcement, and interdiction of restricted deliveries).
Why it matters:
Concealed contents, missing labels, and weak delivery age checks make youth access easier and enable evasion of other laws (flavor restrictions, delivery-sale bans, and taxes). We believe that routine e-commerce compliance inspections—akin to Synar checks for brick-and-mortar—could raise compliance across shipping, age-verification, licensing, and taxation.
These and other papers are available on our publications page.
For inquiries about these findings or access to our study data, please contact us at info@tobaccoecommercelab.com.
