Many credit card terminals will allow you the ability to use the Address Verification Service (AVS). This is a service provided by the payment brands that determines the match or partial match of the consumer’s address information. The responses are will be returned to you during the authorization process via your transaction processing software/hardware. After the you receive a response you can determine whether you will release the product. Below are the AVS response codes for Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.
Code | Visa | MasterCard | Discover | American Express | |||
Y | Address & 5-digit or 9-digit ZIP match | Address & 5-digit ZIP match | Address only matches | Address & ZIP match | |||
A | Address matches, ZIP does not | Address matches, ZIP does not | Address & 5-digit ZIP match | Address only matches | |||
S | AVS not supported | AVS not supported | AVS not supported | AVS not supported | |||
R | System unavailable, retry | System unavailable, retry | Not applicable | System unavailable, retry | |||
U | Information not available | Information not available | System unavailable, retry | Information not available | |||
Z | Either 5-digit or 9-digit ZIP match, address does not | 5-digit ZIP matches, address does not | 5-digit ZIP matches, address does not | ZIP code only matches | |||
N | Neither ZIP nor address match | Neither ZIP nor address match | Neither ZIP nor address match | Neither ZIP nor address match | |||
W | Not applicable | For U.S., 9-digit ZIP matches, address does not. For non-U.S., ZIP matches, address does not | Information not available | Not applicable | |||
X | Not applicable | For U.S., all digits match. For non-U.S., ZIP and address match. | Address & 9-digit ZIP match | Not applicable | |||
B | Address matches, ZIP not verified | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | |||
T | Not applicable | Not applicable | 9-digit ZIP matches, address does not | Not applicable | |||
P | ZIP matches, address not verified | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | |||
C | Address and ZIP not verified | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | |||
D | Address & ZIP match (International only) | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | |||
G | Address not verified for International transaction (International only) | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | |||
I | Address not verified (International only) | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | |||
M | Address & ZIP match (International only) | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | |||
F | Address & ZIP match (UK only) | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |