What are AVS and CVV and should I use these on my site?

Andrew Hedden · June 2007

AVS - Address Verification Service

AVS stands for Address Verification Service. This code will tell you whether or not the address given in the order actually matches that of the cardholder. While this change will make fraudulent attempts more difficult, we do have to say that it can be frustrating for actual donors, too, and can result in lost donations.

There are four different ways that your site can be configured to do an address check:

1. PARTIAL_STREET - Street number matches will be marked as successful.

2. PARTIAL_ZIP - ZIP code matches will be marked as successful.

3. PARTIAL - Both street number and ZIP code partial matches will be marked as successful.

4. FULL - Only exact street number matches and zip code matches will be marked as successful.

For street matching (PARTIAL_STREET), the match is only on the numbers at the beginning. So if your address is "123 Main St", the street matching will only look for "123". The tricky part then is with apartment letters. If the apartment letter is attached to the number, the various things will fail. For example, if the bank has "123 A Main St" and the constituent enters "123A Main St", that will be marked as a failure.

For zip code matching (PARTIAL_ZIP), the zip code at the bank can create a false failure if the bank has the zip+4 and the constituent does not enter in the +4 at the time of donating.

For either matching (PARTIAL), the matching is the same as the other partial matches but it will accept either. So if I type in the wrong street number but the correct zip code, the transaction will be accepted and vice versa.

For complete matching (FULL), the matching is the same as the partials, but everything has to be correct. So if I type in either my street number or my zip code incorrectly, the transaction will fail.

CVV - Card Verification Value

We can also put in place CVV on your site. CVV is a new authentication procedure established by credit card companies to further efforts towards reducing fraud for internet transactions. It consists of requiring a card holder to enter the CVV number in at transaction time to verify that the card is on hand.The CVV code is a security feature for "card not present" transactions (e.g., Internet transactions), and now appears on most (but not all) major credit and debit cards. This new feature is a three- or four-digit code which provides a cryptographic check of the information embossed on the card, usually on the back of the card.

Note that Visa calls this code "Card Verification Value" (CVV), MasterCard calls it "Card Validation Code" (CVC), and American Express Discover calls it "Card ID" (CID). For more information on this technology, click here.

Which to use

Of the 2 technologies, we recommend CVV; however, most non-profit organizations stick with the basic credit card/expiration date matching, since fraudulent activities to non-profit causes are pretty rare. The use of these two measures can result in a hold being placed on a donor's credit card because of how payment processing networks work. Check out the related article about why your donor's may see multiple charges on their account.

What are AVS and CVV and should I use these on my site?

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