FAQ
Verify the customer at the counter, in two minutes: ID or driving licence, payslips and bank statements, live face, sanctions. From your team's phone. Approved, in review or not approved, with the PDF that proves your diligence.
From $149 a month · Enterprise for chains and lenders
Form 8300, generated automaticallyCash above the limit, high-value pieces, passing buyers.
The buyer's driving licence, payslips and statements before financing or delivery.
Large purchases, suspicious returns, stolen cards.
The customer takes the goods today and pays over months.
Identity and licence verified before handing over the keys.
Mandatory identification of the seller and a record of the transaction.
The employee opens Counter on their phone and enters the customer, the amount and how they pay: cash, card, transfer, financing, instalments or deferred payment. Counter tells them at once whether that sale requires identifying the customer under the anti-money-laundering rules of your country, or whether it is wise to.
Cash above the limit, financing, deferred payment: the cases where the merchant is liable.
Photos with the phone, no app: ID card, passport or driving licence (driving licences from all US states and territories, every EU country and a growing list of countries worldwide), and for a financing or a deferred payment also the payslips, bank statements or proof of funds. Validento analyses each document against its country's genuine format, the fonts, the machine-readable zone, the file metadata and the figures against each other: do the payslip salary and the statement income match the instalment?
A fake driving licence or an edited payslip at a financing is caught here, before signing.
The employee shows a QR; the customer scans it with their own phone and does ValiD: a photo of their document, face match and liveness with three challenges. One minute. Validento also checks the sanctions and PEP lists.
No image is stored: only the report with the checks and the decision.
Approved, in review or not approved, with the reasons, on the employee's phone and in the merchant's dashboard. Anything doubtful goes to a Validento specialist. The outcome PDF stays on the case as proof of your diligence.
A fraud signal also produces the incident report for the police or the authority.
Photo from the phone · forensic analysis at Validento
On their own phone: document + face + liveness
Retail fraud does not look like fraud: a well-dressed customer, a document that looks right at first sight, a plausible story. The decision to sell, finance or take cash is made in minutes, and the merchant carries the risk.
A stolen or bought document with someone else's photo survives a quick glance. The financing is granted in the victim's name; the goods and the debt part ways for good.
Printed driving licences, ID cards with a retouched date, payslips edited for a financing: flawless on a phone screen, detectable in the forensic analysis of the file.
The payment is approved today and reversed within weeks. Without an identity record with date and time, the merchant loses both the goods and the amount.
Large cash purchases, or purchases split just under the limit, make your shop an obliged entity. The fine for not identifying is yours, not the customer's.
In instalments, with deferred payment or third-party financing: the goods leave with an identity nobody checked.
Fraudsters repeat: the same document at several dealerships or jewellers in town within a week. Validento recognises a document already presented on another case.
When a cash sale goes over $10,000, the IRS and FinCEN require Form 8300 within 15 days. Counter generates it from the check and the details the customer gives after ValiD: you review it and file it, printed or as an XML for BSA E-Filing.
Name, ID document, amount, item and date come straight from the check at the counter.
After ValiD, the customer enters their SSN or ITIN, date of birth, address and occupation on their phone. Stored encrypted; only you see it.
Missing fields show in red. Your business details are saved once for every report.
Print the data sheet, or download FinCEN's official XML to upload to BSA E-Filing. The 15-day deadline is always in view.
You remain the filer. Not legal or tax advice.
Two minutes while the customer waits. The employee's own phone, paired by the merchant with a link and removed in one click. No accounts, no passwords, no app to install.
Counter knows each country's cash thresholds and the duties when you finance or defer. It warns you on the sale that requires it and keeps the record the law asks of you.
Fake driving licences, edited payslips and statements, the same identity at several dealerships: forensic analysis of every document, income against the instalment, live face and the file's fingerprint against every earlier case.
When there are fraud signals, a PDF with date and time, the documents with their SHA-256 fingerprint, the identity check and the screening: the basis for a police report or for contacting the authorities.
What a photo cannot prove is reviewed by a Validento specialist: a doubtful face, a possible match on a list. Your team never decides alone.
ValiD images are analysed and forgotten. Document photos stay on your case, encrypted, for as long as you decide, and the customer can ask to see or delete their data.
Every country sets a limit on the cash a shop may accept, and an amount from which it is an "obliged entity": identify the customer, keep the record and report what is suspicious. Financing, selling in instalments or deferring payment adds its own duties, and its own risk. Counter knows it for you, sale by sale.
Indicative figures (October 2026): the rule that applies to your shop prevails. Not legal advice.
| Country | Cash | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | € 1.000 | €1,000 (€10,000 for non-residents). Obliged entity from €10,000. |
| Italy | € 5.000 | Cap of €5,000 per transaction. |
| France | € 1.000 | €1,000 residents · €15,000 non-residents. |
| Belgium | € 3.000 | €3,000 and never more than 10% of the price. |
| Portugal | € 3.000 | €3,000 · €10,000 non-residents. |
| Netherlands | € 10.000 | Wwft: due diligence and reporting from €10,000. |
| Germany | € 10.000 | GwG: identification from €10,000 (€2,000 precious metals). |
| United Kingdom | € 10.000 | High value dealer: HMRC registration and due diligence. |
| United States | $ 10.000 | Form 8300 (IRS/FinCEN) within 15 days. |
| Rest of the EU | € 10.000 | Obliged entity from €10,000; EU-wide cap from July 2027. |
In your dashboard: Counter → Add a phone → the employee's name. A link (and QR) is created and shown once. The employee opens it on their phone and keeps it on the home screen.
Sale, document photo, QR for ValiD, run. The employee sees the outcome and its reasons; you see it at once in the dashboard, with the full report.
An outcome PDF on every case. On fraud signals, the incident report. Remove a phone in one click when someone leaves the team.
Validento Counter is a service of its own, apart from the Professional and Business plans. Every check includes the documents, ValiD and the sanctions screening. If you run out of checks for the month, you are never stuck at the counter: the extra check goes on your next invoice.
For jewellers, watch dealers and gold buyers with a few large sales a month.
For dealers, luxury retail and shops with a team.
For chains, dealer groups and lenders.
A free ten-minute video demo: a sale, a photo, a QR and the outcome. And the answer to how it fits your shop. No commitment.
Their own phone with a camera and a browser. The merchant creates a link in the dashboard (Counter → Add a phone), the employee opens it and adds it to the home screen. No account or password; the merchant removes it whenever they want.
Counter is a service of its own with its own plans: Counter Start, $149 a month with 10 checks and up to 2 phones; Validento Counter, $499 a month with 40 checks and unlimited phones. Within one check, the documents, ValiD and the sanctions screening come together. If you run out of checks for the month you can carry on: each extra check ($15 on Start, $12 on Counter) goes on your next invoice. Chains, dealer groups and lenders: Enterprise with volume pricing.
It does not replace it: it fulfils it. Counter identifies the customer, keeps the record with date and time and tells you on which sales the law requires it. Reporting suspicious transactions to the authority stays yours; the incident report makes it easy.
You can check only the document with the employee's photo; the outcome says so. For a cash sale above the threshold, or a financing, we recommend not closing without the identity verified.
A Validento specialist looks at it: a doubtful face or a possible match on a sanctions list. Usually within minutes, in office hours. The merchant decides whether to wait or ask for another payment method.
Yes. For each phone, the shop chooses whether the outcome appears on the phone or only in the back office. In back-office mode the employee sees the same neutral screen whatever the outcome; whoever is in the back office sees the full report, can consult colleagues, the authorities or Validento, and sends the phone the instruction: go ahead, or wait for a colleague. The shop also decides whether the employee may change this setting.
Yes. On a cash sale over $10,000 at a US shop, Counter prepares IRS/FinCEN Form 8300 from the check. The customer adds their SSN or ITIN after ValiD (stored encrypted), you complete anything missing in the dashboard, then print it or download the official XML for BSA E-Filing. You remain the filer, within 15 days of receiving the cash.
Counter works with nothing to integrate. For chains that want to create checks from their own system and receive the outcome by webhook, we build it to measure inside an Enterprise agreement.
For the document analysis: ID cards, passports and driving licences from any country, plus payslips, bank statements and proof of funds, checked against their country's genuine format. ValiD accepts passports and ID cards from any country and driving licences from all US states and territories, every EU country and a growing list of countries worldwide.