FAQ: What is Address Verification Service?

The only effective way to stop true fraud chargebacks is to prevent fraud in the first place, and one of the most often recommended anti-fraud tools is Address Verification Service, or AVS. It works by matching the address provided by the customer against the cardholder’s address on file with the card issuer, where a discrepancy would indicate possible fraud. This can work well as a frontline defense against stolen cards, but it won’t catch every fraudster, and using it too restrictively could block out some legitimate transactions. How should merchants use AVS in their strategy to fight fraud and chargebacks?

Merchants and customers are quite accustomed to various degrees of AVS matching. We’re used to entering our full billing address at the online store, but the gas pump just gets our ZIP code. Who decides how much address needs to be verified? The merchant—although the banks may try to influence things in a “safer” direction with higher processing fees for unverified transactions.

If you’re dealing with a high rate of chargebacks resulting from true fraud, it’s worth taking a look at how your AVS is set up to see if it could be doing a better job of filtering out the fraudsters.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/avs-address-verification-service

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Courtney Freeman 
Narration: Phil Claffey