Help CenterA critical stage in every card-not-present sale is address verification. You face a considerably larger chance of accepting a fake card whenever you accept a card without really viewing it. You want to do all in your power as a merchant to lower that risk. Although there are no assurances, the AVS (Address Verification System) can be extremely helpful.
The bank that issued each credit card is connected to it. The issuing bank is contacted and "asked" if the card may run while processing any credit card in real time. They then give a yes/no response. Nevertheless, if you give further information, they can "check" the information for you so you can be sure the person you're working with is who they say they are. When you use a terminal or gateway to provide the customer's address information, the issuing bank can reply with a "match" or "no match," giving you the option of accepting the sale or declining it depending on the mismatch. The majority of payment gateways let you create strong restrictions.
The AVS system not only gives you more control at the point of sale, but it also lowers rates. Visa/Mastercard is aware that using this mechanism lowers the risk associated with a sale. Also, they pay you for it! Using AVS will result in lower underlying interchange rates. To get lesser prices, you don't even need a "match." You will receive better rates simply for checking, which demonstrates to Visa/Mastercard that you are being diligent.