Compliance Dashboards Now Available

We’re excited to share our new Dashboards page, which currently features an interactive dashboard that displays the data that resulted from our e-commerce compliance research among online vaping retailers in 2023.

Flavor Tobacco E-commerce Audit Dashboard

What it shows: This tool visualizes findings from our flavor tobacco e-commerce audit conducted in San Diego, California in 2023 where we purchased flavored vaping products from over 50 retailers that sent us products from Southern California and around the globe. Users can explore retailers by location and click through to see metrics such as whether they paid required taxes, complied with shipping disclosures, or used particular couriers for online orders. Users can also identify the number of visitors to the website or have a license to sell products in California.

These compliance results are generated from several peer-reviewed papers that are also available on our Publications page.

Why it’s useful: This data brings transparency to key compliance indicators across online sellers, including tax compliance, shipping practices, and label disclosures, allowing us to examine where noncompliance is concentrated and how different practices vary among sellers.

What’s next: We are currently in the midst of a California statewide audit of online vaping retailers. As results come in, we will update the dashboard to make the results available.

This dashboard is available on our Dashboards page.

In other news, we have recently rebranded to The E-commerce Lab, as we are now studying other substances such as alcohol. You will notice this change throughout our site.

For inquiries about these findings or access to our study data, please contact us at info@ecommercelab.health.

Are Online Vape Retailers Complying with the PACT Act?

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.

Widespread Tax Evasion Among Online Vape Retailers Undermines California’s E-cigarette Excise Tax Laws

A recent study published by our lab in Tobacco Control (2025) reveals extensive noncompliance by online vaping retailers with California's 12.5% Electronic Cigarette Excise Tax (CECET) and related tobacco licensing regulations. Despite explicit state and federal mandates—including the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act—we found that most online retailers are not adhering to the law.

In October 2023, we attempted 156 purchases from 78 online vape retailers shipping to San Diego County, California. Our findings were alarming: 84.5% of retailers did not charge the mandatory 12.5% excise tax, with compliance rates similarly low across intrastate, interstate, and international transactions.

Additionally, only 40% of these retailers held the required California tobacco retail license. Licensed retailers showed slightly better tax compliance (27.3%) compared to unlicensed retailers (9.1%), yet overall adherence remained exceptionally low.

Improving compliance with existing tax regulations could significantly enhance California’s tobacco control efforts, potentially recovering millions in tax revenue. Strengthening oversight and enforcement of the online market could also help ensure vaping products are priced appropriately, reducing youth access and supporting effective public health initiatives.

One packing slip from our study where $0 was paid in tax.

For more detailed information or access to our study data, please contact us at info@tobaccoecommercelab.com.