Like it or not (and you wonât like it), credit card processing comes with a bewildering variety of small, nickel-and-dime fees that add to your costs in ways you might not even be aware of. One fee that you might have seen on your credit card processing statement is the AVS Fee. If youâre an ecommerce merchant, you probably already know what this is, but if youâre in retail, you most likely donât see it very often and may not understand how it works. Well, weâre here to help. In this article, weâll explain what AVS is, how to use it, and how much it might cost you in additional processing charges.
AVS is an acronym for the Address Verification Service, a feature thatâs used to compare the address given to you by your customer and the billing address on file with the cardholderâs issuing bank. AVS serves two primary functions: (1) to deter fraud by confirming that the customer is the legitimate cardholder, and (2) to help prevent chargebacks by giving you additional information to verify your customerâs identity. AVS is provided by MasterCard, but is used by all major credit card brands in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
As youâre probably already aware, card-not-present fraud is a growing problem in todayâs ecommerce-driven world, and it can come in many forms. Using AVS wonât eliminate CNP fraud, but it will lower the chances of it happening to you. Likewise, chargebacks are also becoming more common. If the address the customer provided and the address on file with the issuing bank matched when you processed the transaction, this provides additional evidence to improve your chances of successfully defending against the chargeback. Better yet, effective use of AVS can lower the chances of a chargeback occurring in the first place.
How Address Verification Works
Use of the Address Verification System isnât necessary for all credit/debit card transactions. In fact, the only time youâll need to use AVS is for card-not-present transactions and situations where you need to key in a customerâs card information manually. This can happen if for some reason your credit card terminal is unable to read the customerâs magstripe or EMV chip. Note that while itâs fairly common for the magstripe on an old card to wear down over time and eventually become unreliable, the chance of this happening with an EMV card is very small.
If your business is retail-only, youâll only rarely need to use AVS, and the impact on your processing costs will be minimal. On the other hand, ecommerce-only, mail order, and telephone order businesses will need to use AVS for every transaction. If youâre in one of these types of businesses, the cost of using AVS can be very substantial, depending on how (and whether) your credit card processor charges you for using it. If you process a lot of B2B transactions, you should also be aware that some processors require the use of AVS to process Level II and III credit card data.
Using AVS is actually very simple. In addition to their credit card information, your customer also provides a billing address. This information is submitted to your credit card processor, which queries the AVS system to determine whether the customer-provided address matches the billing address on file with the credit cardâs issuing bank. AVS can be set up to run automatically through a payment gateway or virtual terminal, or you can manually query the system through your credit card terminal. The Address Verification System will compare the submitted billing address with the one on file with the issuing bank, and return a code that tells you how closely the two addresses match. Hereâs an overview of the most common codes returned by the AVS, and what they mean:
Common AVS Codes (for Visa, MasterCard, and Discover)
| AVS Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| B | No address information submitted, AVS check could not be performed |
| E | AVS data provided is invalid (or AVS is not allowed for the card type submitted) |
| R | AVS unavailable at the time transaction was submitted. Retry transaction |
| G | Credit card issuing bank is of non-U.S. origin and does not support AVS |
| U | Address information is not available for the customer’s credit card |
| S | U.S. card issuing bank does not support AVS |
| N | Neither street address nor 5-digit ZIP code matches address and ZIP code on file for card |
| A | Street address matches, but 5-digit ZIP code does not |
| Z | First 5 digits of ZIP code matches, but street address does not |
| W | 9-digit ZIP code matches, but street address does not |
| Y | Street address and first 5 digits of the ZIP code match perfectly |
Note that there are additional codes that you might see. However, theyâre far less common than the codes listed in the table above.
Okay, so youâve got a code from the AVS system. Do you approve the transaction or not? In some cases, your credit card processor will automatically decline a transaction if certain AVS mismatch codes are returned. If this happens, your only recourse is to ask the customer for an alternative billing address and try again. There are legitimate reasons why a customer might inadvertently supply an incorrect billing address. For example, your customer might have recently moved, but hasnât updated their new billing address with their credit card company. Or perhaps the customer simply doesnât remember their address correctly. However, if the customer doesnât provide the correct address on the second try, thereâs a very good chance that itâs because the card is stolen, and the customer has no idea where the actual cardholder lives. In this case, you should decline the transaction.
In a retail setting, a merchant will have to decide whether to accept a transaction if the Address Verification System returns a code indicating something other than a perfect match. Different AVS codes present varying levels of risk in accepting the transaction, as summarized here:
AVS Risk of Transaction Approval
| Transaction Approved If: | AVS Codes: | Risk Level: |
|---|---|---|
| ZIP code or street address do or do not match | None | High |
| Street address matches | B, N and Z | Medium |
| 5-digit ZIP code matches | B, N and A | Medium |
| Either 5-digit ZIP code or street address match | B and N | Medium |
| Both 5-digit ZIP code and street address match | B, N, A and Z | Low |
| Both 9-digit ZIP code and street address match | B, N, A, Z, W and Y | Extremely Low |
Again, retail merchants will have to make a decision based on the level of risk if a partial mismatch occurs. We recommend that you set specific policies regarding which AVS codes will be approved and which will be declined, and that you ensure your employees are trained to recognize AVS codes that will require them to reject a customerâs card. Mail order and telephone order businesses will also have to set similar policies to ensure consistency in accepting or declining transactions.
For ecommerce businesses, things are a little easier. In most cases, you can set up your payment gateway to automatically accept or reject transactions based on the returned AVS code. Popular gateways such as Authorize.Net (see our review) allow you to configure your gateway to automatically accept only transactions where specified AVS codes are returned. Youâll want to exercise extreme caution in selecting which codes to approve based on the overall level of risk. Accepting too many partial mismatch codes can leave you vulnerable to fraud and chargebacks. At the same time, you might lose a lot of sales if your AVS code acceptance policies are too restrictive. Although youâll obviously want your gateway to be able to process transactions automatically 24/7 without input from you, we suggest that you set up a system to automatically email a customer notifying them that their transaction was declined due to an AVS mismatch. This gives the customer a chance to either correct the billing address information or submit an alternate payment method, and keeps you from losing a sale.
Address Verification Fees
Regardless of how frequently you use the Address Verification Service, youâre almost always going to have to pay for it one way or another. For starters, MasterCard charges an automatic AVS assessment fee whenever AVS is used, regardless of the circumstances. This fee is currently $0.01 for card-not-present transactions and $0.005 for card-present transactions. Your processor has to pay this fee to MasterCard when they process your transaction, and theyâll usually pass it on to you in one form or another.
If you use Square (see our review) or a similar payment service provider and are on a flat-rate pricing plan, you wonât pay a separate AVS fee. Instead, Square incorporates this fee into their processing rates, so youâll never see it. Note that Square, along with almost all other providers, charges a higher rate for ecommerce and keyed-in transactions. While a lot of this increased rate reflects the higher risk associated with card-not-present transactions in general, use of the AVS service is also included.
If your processor uses a tiered pricing plan, you may or may not be charged a separate AVS fee for each transaction where the Address Verification Service was used, depending on your processor. However, using AVS for a card-not-present transaction is usually a requirement for placing that transaction in the qualified tier. Conversely, failure to use AVS will often result in the transaction being downgraded to nonqualified, and youâll pay a much higher fee for processing it. Because the nonqualified rate will cost you up to two or even three times the qualified rate, youâll save money using AVS â even if you have to pay a fee for it.
Merchants on an interchange-plus pricing plan may or may not be charged a separate AVS fee, but use of AVS will give you a lower interchange rate, thus reducing the cost of processing your transaction. Again, in most cases, the savings from the lower interchange rate will more than offset the cost of the AVS fee.
Subscription-based pricing works the same way as interchange-plus, with the exception that you usually donât pay a percentage markup on your transactions. Once again, youâll save money overall by using AVS for your card-not-present transactions. Note that most providers offering subscription pricing usually donât tack on extra fees like the AVS fee, as youâre already paying a monthly subscription fee thatâs intended to combine these and other costs associated with maintaining your merchant account.
To find out how your provider handles the AVS fee, youâll have to wade through the fine print in your contract. Although some of the more transparent providers disclose this information on their website, most do not. Most providers that impose a discrete AVS fee will charge anywhere from $0.01 to $0.25 per transaction where AVS is used. These fees can add up quickly, especially if you process a high number of small-ticket transactions. Other providers might simply include this extra cost in their rates for card-not-present transactions, as you will be using AVS for 100% of these types of transactions.
Because of the potential for AVS fees to add significantly to your processing costs, some providers will permanently waive the fee if your business is ecommerce-only. Businesses with both a retail and an online presence probably wonât be so lucky.
Final Thoughts
The Address Verification Service provides valuable protection for your business from both fraud and the possibility of a chargeback. While it isnât foolproof, itâs far better to use it rather than simply accepting all transactions without it. In this sense, AVS is worth paying a little extra for and is in no way a âjunkâ fee.
At the same time, youâll want to make sure that your provider isnât ripping you off by charging an AVS fee thatâs much higher than what they have to pay to MasterCard for the use of the service. Your best defense is to discuss the AVS fee with your sales representative when negotiating the terms of your merchant account. And, by all means, read your contract documents thoroughly before signing to ensure that what your sales representative told you is reflected in your legally-binding contract.
eCommerce merchants are particularly vulnerable to overpaying for the Address Verification Service, and youâll want to choose a provider that will either waive the AVS fee entirely or merely charge you the pass-through cost. Paying significantly more than this will add up quickly if youâre assessed an AVS fee on every single transaction that your business processes.
We also recommend that ecommerce merchants set the automatic rejection policies on their payment gateways to balance the risk of fraud against the possibility of lost sales from legitimate customers. Your provider can help you select automatic rejection policies that will meet this goal.
Each provider treats AVS fees differently, so youâll want to research this issue before considering a particular provider for your business. For example, one of our highest-rated providers, Dharma Merchant Services (see our review) charges a flat $0.05 per transaction to use AVS. However, they disclose this fee on their website, and they also point out that the lower interchange costs from using AVS will still, in most cases, result in a lower overall cost to process the transaction.
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