Can You Ship Vaping Products in the US?

When you ship something from a USPS Post Office or a private carrier’s location, an employee will tell you if the items you’re shipping are subject to restrictions or prohibitions. However, if you prefer to print shipping labels yourself and ship packages from home, it’s up to you to research which products can and cannot be shipped. For example, can you ship vaping products in the US? Let’s figure this out!

Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes or vapes, have become quite popular since their invention over two decades ago. A vape is a device that simulates tobacco smoking, consisting of an atomizer, a power source, and a container for a nicotine-containing liquid solution, often flavored, called e-liquid. The atomizer heats and vaporizes the e-liquid, and the resulting vapor is inhaled by the user.

To understand whether you can ship vapes and vape-related products such as e-liquids within, from or to the United States, you need to understand how they are regulated. The sales and shipping of tobacco products in the United States are regulated on the federal level by the Preventing All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act of 2009.

The original text of the PACT Act did not include vaping products, which created some confusion. This changed in 2021, when the Congress amended the Act to include new regulations regarding the sales and shipping of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), in other words, vapes and other vaping products.

According to these regulations, sellers of ENDS products must register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), as well as get licensed by every state that they ship their products into. In addition, they must verity the age of recipients before shipping their products, as it is prohibited to ship vaping products to individuals under 21 years of age.

It is also worth mentioning that states may have their own laws and regulations regarding vaping products on top of the PACT Act, which complicates the shipping of such products across the state lines. For example, Massachusetts and Rhode Island ban the sale of all vaping products, whereas California and New York ban the sale of flavored vaping products (keep in mind that these are just general examples, and state regulations may change at any point).

The 2021 amendment to the PACT Act also bans the United States Postal Service (USPS) from mailing vaping products. This means that you cannot mail e-cigarettes, e-liquids, and other vaping accessories via the USPS: not within the United States, not internationally. The ban includes hybrid shipping services that use the USPS for the last leg of delivery. If you try to ship vaping products via the USPS, your shipment won’t be accepted at the Post Office, and if you print a shipping label yourself and leave the package at a drop-off location, it will be returned to sender or even confiscated.

But what about private courier companies, such as UPS and FedEx? Unlike the USPS, they are not explicitly banned from shipping vaping products, but they do have to comply with the PACT Act and have their own rules and regulations regarding the shipment of tobacco products, including vapes.

For example, UPS does not accept vaping products, regardless of their nicotine content, for United States shipments, which includes domestic shipments and international shipping to and from the United States. Similarly, FedEx does not accepts e-cigarettes and related products for domestic or international shipping. Some regional carriers may ship vape products to consumers, but even they are highly unlikely to accept such shipments from private individuals. Besides, they may have additional regulations regarding the shipment of batteries and liquids.

The bottom line is, if you’re a private individual who wants to ship a vape or e-liquids to a friend, you cannot do it in the United States. If you are a business owner in the vaping industry, you can ship such products to customers via a limited number of carriers (which, sadly, does not include the USPS, UPS and FedEx), as long as you adhere to all the rules and regulations, but you probably already know that.