You may have heard the term AVS or encountered a situation when buying something online where your shipping address needed to match the address on your credit card. In this article we will explain what AVS is and how it could be affecting your online event registration.
AVS (Address Verification System) in a nutshell is a system used to verify your identity as the owner of the credit card you’re using to pay for something online. Essentially it protects you if you’re card is stolen and someone tried to use your card but does not know your address.
However, AVS can become frustrating when you’re trying to pay online with a credit card and for one reason or another are entering a shipping or contact address that does not match the address that is on file with your credit card company.
For instance, I was trying to purchase a product online recently, and my credit card was rejected each time I tried to submit my order. The reason was that I was trying to purchase a product with my credit card and have it shipped to my office.
So what? AVS can increase the potential for transactions to be declined when using online registration. Transactions that would normally be approved might be declined because the registrant is using an address to register that is different than the credit card billing address.
Since AVS is mostly used to make sure merchandise is being shipped to the proper person (ex: Amazon or eBay), it may not be necessary to use for online event registration since there is no merchandise being shipped (ie: the person committing online fraud cannot receive anything from the registration and most likely won’t turn up at your event!)
Then what? You’ll probably want to check your AVS settings if you are receiving a lot of declined credit cards for your event and you aren’t also using the merchant account for selling merchandise. Talk to your online registration provider for more details on your settings and if you want to change your AVS settings you will need to contact your gateway company.
If you are concerned about your settings or would like more information about AVS feel free to contact us and we will help to point you in the right direction.
Written by Katie Laughlin
Labels: address verification, credit card fraud, internet scams, Online event registration