Restricted items delivery

Available on request means that the feature is turned off by default. To turn on a feature, contact your Instacart representative.

Restricted products currently include alcohol and over-the-counter medication, but this is subject to change.

Restricted products are items with legal requirements, such as minimum age and maximum quantity limitations. These requirements vary by region. Your catalog can contain restricted products as long as they're not on the Instacart list of prohibited products.

When a cart contains a product that requires age validation, the checkout flow requests the customer's date of birth and includes it in the order sent to Instacart. If the date of birth is missing or the customer isn't old enough to purchase the item, the customer can't proceed to payment. sites automatically include this age validation during checkout.

Example journey

1. On the storefront, the customer selects delivery.
2. The customer adds restricted items to their cart and places the order.
3. Instacart creates the order.
4. If the customer opts in, the customer receives an SMS with a link to an order status page.
5. A shopper or store associate picks the order and checks out.
6. A shopper starts delivering the order.
7. The customer receives a notification that the shopper has checked out and the delivery is on its way.
8. The shopper arrives at the customer location.
9. The customer shows identification to the shopper.
   • If the identification is valid, the shopper delivers the order to the customer.
   • If the customer isn't available, refuses to show identification, or shows invalid identification, the order is returned to the retailer.