What is a SaaS Address Verification Service (AVS)?

SaaS Address Verification Service (AVS) is a service that confirms the security of billing addresses for online transactions. The customer’s billing address and the address linked to the person’s credit card issuer will be verified to determine if the card is a match. For online transactions, data is compared, and the cardholder’s details are verified against the issuer’s records.

AVS is an automated address verification service that allows an online business to validate an address. Here is a step-by-step explanation of how it works.

1. Data Submission: The AVS begins processing immediately when a customer enters billing details and clicks ‘Purchase’ on the checkout page.
2. Numeric Extraction: The AVS evaluates the address to extract numerical components, typically the house number та ZIP code.
3. Transmission: The payment gateway sends this numeric data, along with the credit card information, to the payment processor.
4. Bank Comparison: The request then passes through the card network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) to the issuing bank, which checks whether the digits match those in its internal records.
5. Response Generation: The bank sends an AVS response code to the merchant indicating whether the result is a full match, a partial match, or no match.
6. Automated Decision: The information received is then used to approve, review, or decline the payment transaction.

A SaaS Address Verification Service (AVS) is used in risk assessment activities and supports a range of standard business functions. Address comparison allows merchants to review information before processing payments in situations where physical cards are not used (deterring “card-not-present” (CNP) fraud).  

• Зменшення шахрайства: AVS examines billing data and designates orders based on address consistency.
• Lower Chargebacks: The verification process may change the number of transactions requiring resolution between buyers and sellers.
• Reduced Processing Costs: Some banks use separate interchange categories for AVS-verified transactions under their internal risk models.
• Customer Trust: Notifying customers that address verification is used describes aspects of the purchasing process.

SaaS AVS is highly effective but not a complete security solution, as it has certain technical constraints. The Service primarily focuses on numeric data, so its results are sensitive to how addresses are formatted and updated, which can sometimes flag legitimate customers for review.

SaaS AVS implementation usually involves a balanced configuration that supports transaction screening and maintains a consistent checkout flow. SaaS AVS rule settings influence match outcomes and determine how transactions are handled during checkout.

• Use Soft Declines: Send transactions with partial address matches to a manual or automated verification step instead of declining them immediately.
• Address Autocomplete: Introduce tools to streamline data entry and ensure consistency in the checkout process.
• Combine with CVV: Require Card Verification Value (CVV) and address data to provide more information for review.
• Analyze Response Codes: Perform ongoing evaluations of AVS results and make configuration changes as needed based on transaction review data.

A SaaS Address Verification Service (AVS) may be included as part of an organization’s approach to addressing PCI DSS (Стандарт безпеки даних індустрії платіжних карток) guidelines. AVS is not named as a required control in the standard, but it is related to protocol elements such as access validation and review of transaction activity. 

Using a SaaS provider for AVS means that some aspects of data handling and record-keeping can shift from the organization to the external service. These changes typically result in a modified structure for відповідності activities and data management related to address verification during обробкою платежів.