9 online electronic cigarette sellers to pay Vermont $157K

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Nine online sellers of electronic cigarettes will pay Vermont a total of more than $157,500 to resolve claims that they violated Vermont’s ban on selling those and related vaping products over the internet to individual Vermonters, Attorney General T.J. Donovan said Wednesday.

The sellers also violated Vermont’s Consumer Protection Act, he said. It became illegal to sell these products over the internet to Vermonters on July 1, 2019.

“Online sales of electronic cigarettes, or any tobacco products, to individual Vermont consumers are illegal,” Donovan said in a written statement. “I am pleased that these websites will no longer be shipping products to Vermont.”

The sellers will pay civil penalties to the state, Donovan said. They also are required to notify Vermont consumers that they do not ship to individual consumers in the state, he said.