Address Verification Service
The Address Verification Service (AVS) is a solution offered by Visa and Mastercard. Its purpose is to verify whether the billing address and postal code provided by the cardholder during a card transaction match the information associated with the card account in the issuing bank.
AVS serves to reduce fraudulent transactions and prevent unnecessary chargebacks for both merchants and issuers. A mismatch detected by AVS may suggest the use of stolen or counterfeit card information.
It’s important to note that AVS is only accessible for cards issued in specific countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
How it works – AVS in API Request
Parameters which identify transaction with AVS in POST /v1/transactions
Request:
| Field | Type | Description |
| paymentSpecificData.avsCheck | boolean | Inform if AVS check should be made |
| billingAddress.street | String | Cardholder’s street name |
| billingAddress.buildingNumber | String | Cardholder’s building number |
| billingAddress.roomNumber | String | Cardholder’s room number (apartment number) |
| billingAddress.postcode | String | Cardholder’s postal code |
In Response is present field meta.avsResult
It’s a field with one digit value which indicate result of AVS check.
AVS Result Values:
| Value | Description |
| A | ADDRESS: Address matches, ZIP code does not match |
| N | NO: Address and ZIP code do not match |
| R | RETRY: System unavailable or timeout |
| S | SERVICE NOT SUPPORTED: Issuer does not support address verification |
| U | UNAVAILABLE: Address information is unavailable |
| W | WHOLE: 9-digit ZIP code matches, address does not match |
| X | EXACT: Address and 9-digit ZIP code match |
| Y | YES: Address and 5-digit ZIP code match |
| Z | ZIP: 5-digit ZIP code matches, address does not match |
| 0 | ZERO: Address verification was not performed |
| b | SPACE: Address verification was not performed |