AVS stands for address verification system; AVS is a credit card processing security feature. It is implemented to assist with merchants in preventing fraudulent credit card purchases. It is also used commonly used in conjunction with the CVV2 feature when conducting non-face-to-face transactions (also known as card-not-present or CNP) such as those made online, through mail/fax or over the phone.

How does AVS work? When you process a credit card transaction online or over the phone, you or the customer will input the card billing address; after doing this, the information is sent through the system to check if there is an address match’s with the address the cardholder supplied to the issuing bank of the card; if there is an address discrepancy, the transaction will be declined or delayed based on your fraud software or POS settings.

This address verification is an important tool to use in order to ensure you reduce the risk of fraudulent transactions. It can assist with reducing the likelihood of chargebacks as well. At Group ISO Merchant Services, we require that when merchants use our virtual terminal/payment gateway, they must input the billing address in order to run the card through the AVS system as a safety measure for the merchant and actual card holder.

If you’re a business owner interested in economical credit card processing for your online business or for card-not-present transactions, call a knowledgeable representative  here at Group ISO at 1-800-722-4476 to learn more on how to get started.