How to Accept Online Payments with AVS

AVS (Address Verification Service) is a widely utilized fraud prevention tool that enables merchants to accept online payments in a way that enables them to verify the billing address provided by the customer by matching it to the one on file with the card issuer.

How Accept Online Payments with AVS

Using the AVS is very simple, provided your credit card processing company has set up the service for your company. First ask that the consumer provides his billing address and submit the data, along with the other needed payment data, to your acquirer for authorization approval. If you support AVS, the cardholder's address will be sent on to the issuer for verification. The issuer will then compare it to the one it has on file for its own cardholder and will respond by routing back an AVS Response Code.

AVS and transaction authorization are processed simultaneously and, within just a few seconds, the retailer will receive the two results.

AVS Responses and Explanation

AVS Response Code	Explanation
X - Exact Match	The address and the 9-digit ZIP match. So if all other fraud results raise no suspicion, just process the transaction.
Y - Match	The address and the 5-digit ZIP match. Again follow the instructions above.
A - Partial Match	The address is the same, but the ZIP is not. This is a sign of a possible fraud. You may want to do some additional investigation before reaching a decision.
Z - Partial Match	The ZIP matches, but the address does not. This is again a sign of a possible fraud, so just follow the instructions stated above.
N - No Match	Neither the address nor the ZIP are the same. This is a solid sign of possible fraud. You will have to take additional verification steps.
U - Unavailable	The issuer's verification system is not reachable and the address cannot be verified. You will need to make a decision without the AVS result.
R - Retry	The issuer's system is unresponsive. You need to try again later.
U - no AVS Support	If the issuer does not support AVS, you will need to reach a decision on whether to go forward with the transaction or not based on the other data you have available.
G - Global	The address is not in the U.S. where the AVS service cannot be used. You will have to take additional steps to verify the legitimacy of the transaction, provided you accept payments from abroad.

Remember that if a payment was authorized and the AVS Response Code was "U" (no AVS support) and the transaction is charged back to you, your processor can re-present it again. In the U.S. issuers are required to support AVS or else they simply lose their right to fraud-related chargebacks for virtual transactions.