Guide
Why the trial asks for a card
Nothing is charged when you start, and you can cancel before day 14 without paying anything. The card is there for a different reason: an ID scanner that anyone can open anonymously is most useful to the people it exists to catch.
Who wants a free ID scanner
Think about who benefits from a scanner they can open with an email address and no card. Someone selling fake IDs gets a test bench: feed a batch through, see which ones come back clean, fix the ones that do not, and ship a better product to every underage guest in your town. A teenager with a fake gets to find out, in private, whether it will survive your door.
That is the same check your staff runs, pointed the other way. It is the one part of this business where handing out free access does active harm, and the harm lands on venues like yours rather than on us.
We cannot stop someone determined. Somebody with a stolen card and a fake business can get in. The point is not a wall. The point is that the easy, anonymous, zero-cost version does not exist, and that whoever is at the other end of an account agreed to our terms under a name we can see.
What actually stands in the way
The card is one of four things, and it is the one people notice. None of them is dramatic. Together they make a throwaway account more trouble than it is worth.
A US-issued card
Checkout takes a card issued in the United States and nothing else. It is attached to a name and a billing address, and it is the same card at renewal, so an account is not an anonymous thing.
A verified email, first
The email address has to be confirmed before a trial can start. It is a low bar on its own. Stacked with the card it stops the throwaway signup.
One trial, one owner
The trial is for a new owner's first venue. Opening another venue, or archiving the first one and starting again, does not reopen it.
No subscription, no scanning
Until checkout completes, the venue has no subscription, and a venue without one cannot scan an ID at all. There is no way to sit inside the app quietly testing cards.
And we watch what happens next
Signing up is the start of it, not the end. We watch how accounts behave, at the account level: where a signup came from, what happened at checkout, how devices are enrolled, and whether the pattern of use looks like a venue running a door or like someone feeding cards through a test bench.
Using AgeShield for anything unlawful breaks the acceptable use section of our terms, and that ends the account. Where we believe a crime is involved, we can pass what we hold about that account to the appropriate authorities, and we will.
Your guest records are a separate matter, and the line there is drawn in your favor. Our privacy policy requires valid legal process, meaning a court order, subpoena or warrant, before patron information goes to law enforcement or any other government authority. The only exception is a good-faith belief that disclosure is needed to prevent an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury. Watching for misuse of our product and handing over your customers are not the same thing, and we do not treat them as if they were.
What you get with the trial
Fourteen days of AgeShield with the Pro features on and three devices scanning at once, and nothing is charged on the day you start. On day 14 the plan moves to Core Monthly at $49 a month plus applicable sales tax, unless you picked Pro or cancelled. We email you on days 7, 11 and 13 first, so there are no surprises, and if you cancel in the hub before then you pay nothing.
Your card is held by Stripe, and we only see the brand and the last four digits, the same as your billing page shows. We do not sell personal information, and billing details are included in that promise. The privacy policy has the detail.
Want to see it before you start? Follow a scan step by step in the scan walkthrough, look through the hub screenshots or ask us to walk you through it live.
Questions about the card and the trial
Will I be charged when I start the trial?
No. Checkout collects the card with nothing due that day. The trial runs 14 days with Pro features on three devices.
What happens on day 14?
The plan starts and the card is charged, at Core Monthly unless you picked Pro or switched during the trial. We email you on day 7, day 11 and day 13 before that happens, with the amount. Cancel any time before day 14 in the hub and nothing is charged.
Do you store my card details?
No. Checkout and billing run through Stripe, which holds the card. We see the last four digits and the card brand, which is what appears on your billing page. Our privacy policy says we do not sell personal information, and that includes anything from billing.
Why does it have to be a US-issued card?
AgeShield sells to venues in the United States, in 46 states and Washington, DC. A US-issued card is one more signal that there is a real US business at the other end. A card from elsewhere is declined at signup, and if that is wrong for your venue, write to us and we will sort it out.
Can I see the product without giving a card?
Yes. How it works walks through a scan, the hub pages show real screenshots of what your manager sees, and the pricing page has the full feature list. If you want a walkthrough before you sign up, email sales@ageshield.bar and we will show you around.
What happens if someone misuses AgeShield?
We watch how accounts behave, at the account level rather than in your guest records: where a signup came from, what happened at checkout, how devices are enrolled and whether use looks like a door or a test bench. Unlawful use breaks the acceptable use section of our terms and ends the account, and where we believe a crime is involved we can pass what we hold about that account to the appropriate authorities. Patron information is different: our privacy policy requires a court order, subpoena or warrant before it goes to law enforcement, with a narrow exception for an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury.
Other ID scanners offer a trial with no card. Why not you?
Because a card-free ID scanner is genuinely useful to the people this product exists to catch, and we would rather lose a few signups than run an anonymous test bench. That is a real cost to us, and it is a fair reason to weigh us against someone else.
Read on 2026-09-15. Trial terms are the ones in the terms, and prices exclude sales tax.
Keep reading
Answer the next guest question before it comes up: what gets stored, what staff can see and what state law allows.
ProductProductPrivacy controls
Choose what you keep and for how long: ID fields, visit retention and tighter data collection.
GuideGuideHow to spot a fake ID
See what staff can spot by eye, then what a scanner can catch that they cannot.
State lawState lawID scanning laws by state
Check the rules that matter at the door: when to check ID, what you can keep and what protection applies.
Start when you are ready
14 days with Pro features on three devices. Nothing is charged today, and cancelling before day 14 costs nothing.
Start your 14-day free trial