Address Verification Service (AVS) is a basic fraud prevention and verification tool for credit card processing. Address Verification Service checks the address provided by the customer with the issuing bank. Requiring the address to match helps prevent fraud, as it is less likely a criminal would know the address and zip code of the cardholder. Submitting a 5 digit zip code for each transaction also helps qualify for the best interchange rates.
For each transaction, the merchant will receive three separate AVS response codes. These single letter codes will indicate to what degree the street address matches, to what degree the zip code matches, and if there was an AVS error. Click here to view a complete list of these AVS codes.
By configuring AVS rules in the gateway, merchants can accept or decline transactions based upon the match or mismatch of the information submitted. When a transaction is processed using a Customer ID, the address information is checked against the merchant's AVS rules.
By default, no AVS rules are configured in the gateway when an account is set up. These are configured by selecting "Processing" in the control panel.
Merchants are able to fully customize the conditions under which they will reject transactions based on the AVS response. Merchants can choose to reject all transactions that return a particular AVS mismatch response, or only transactions that fall within a customizable set of conditions. Customizable conditions include:
Merchants can add multiple AVS rejection conditions to fully customize their AVS rules.
We recommend choosing to reject transactions only under the following conditions:
While some merchants who have a very low tolerance for fraud have chosen to require the street address to match, we generally do not recommend this. This is because many banks' AVS systems are not able to properly interpret complex street addresses such as PO Boxes, rural routes (40W560 Route 64) and street names with numbers in them (713 S. 4th Ave). Choosing to decline when the street address does not match may result in a significant number of false rejections.
International support for AVS is not consistent, therefore we only support AVS checking for domestic card types.
It is also important to note that transactions that do contain a five digit postal code are more likely to be processed at your lower, 'qualified' rate.
Because merchants receive the exact reason why a transaction has failed their AVS rules, each failed transaction can be handled uniquely. Referencing the specific code that indicates an AVS mismatch, the merchant can then prompt the customer to re-enter the specific information that caused an AVS rejection.
Additionally, the Braintree Gateway automatically passes any non secure customer data back to the merchant in the transaction response. Merchants can use this data to automatically re-populate the forms on their website. This eliminates the need for the customer to re-enter all non secure data after a failed transaction.
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