Address Verification Service (AVS)

The Address Verification Service (AVS) is a system, that could help companies to prevent frauds and decrease the number of chargebacks.

It helps to ensure that the customer enters a real address data associated with a credit card account. AVS is a widespread solution but its origin belongs to MasterCard.

The issuing bank compares the entered address with the address it has in a database while the checkout process.

Online transactions are commonly related to online fraud. AVS systems assist in preventing undesirable influence that could cause, data losses, chargebacks.

What happens next, after the client enters payment data on the webpage:

When the customer completes the transaction, the store automatically sends a request for user confirmation to the payment provider. The client provides the address in advance. The processor compares the entered address and the address that is in the issuing bank. The transaction will be rejected if the addresses are different. If the addresses match, the bank approves the transaction and sends the response code.

This process takes only a few seconds and is invisible to your customers.

Too intrusive use of Address Verification Service can cause decreasing the number of transactions. It could affect customer loyalty and the company’s profits. At the same time, loosening the audit increases the risk of fraud.