Implementation Guide for Oracle Self-Service E-Billing > About Payment Processing > About Credit Card Processing >

Address Verification Service

Address Verification Service (AVS) reduces the risk of fraudulent transactions by verifying that the credit card holder's billing address matches the one on file at the card issuer. The address is optional and does not affect whether the payment is accepted or rejected. However, using an address might get a lower rate from the card issuer.

A merchant (also known as the biller) submits the AVS request through the payment process directly to the specific credit card association (for example, PayPal Payflow Pro) for address comparison. If AVS is turned on by the System Administrator, address information is passed into PayPal Payflow Pro as part of the PayPal Payflow Pro request. PayPal Payflow Pro then contacts the credit card issuing bank and passes along the address information.

The credit card issuing bank verifies the credit card address information on record matches the address information from PayPal Payflow Pro. The credit card issuing bank then replies back to PayPal Payflow Pro whether information matched (address and zip code are checked during AVS). Y means yes, N means no, and X means a match cannot be determined. PayPal Payflow Pro then accepts or rejects (voids) the transaction based on the filter set through Oracle Self-Service E-Billling Payment (for both street address and zip code).

There is also a filter option to set the international AVS code to determine if the AVS response was international, U.S. or could not be determined. Some credit card issuing banks require city and state verification as well. Oracle Self-Service E-Billling Payment does not handle these by default, but the pmtCreditCardSubmit job has a plug-in to allow custom code to pass in the AVS values.

If Oracle Self-Service E-Billling Payment does not send the address information to PayPal Payflow Pro, or the system administrator did not turn on AVS, and the AVS check level is set to Full, the transaction fails. If the card issuer address is sent to the payment gateway but the address does not match the information on the gateway, then the gateway can send an AVS code. If an AVS code is received, Oracle Self-Service E-Billling Payment logs the AVS code in the audit tables.

Turning AVS On or Off by Transaction

PayPal Payflow Pro supports turning AVS on or off by transaction. However, the lower capability Payflow Link can perform this function. You also must set up the AVS level as part of your PayPal Payflow Pro agreement. When setting up the account with PayPal Payflow Pro, the merchant must specify the level of AVS check: full, medium or light. For additional information on setting up PayPal Payflow Pro, see the PayPal Payflow Pro documentation.

When Oracle Self-Service E-Billling passes the address information, PayPal Payflow Pro accepts or rejects the transaction based on the AVS check level. Note that the AVS check level is specified once during merchant account setup and applies to all transactions for that merchant. During setup, the customer (merchant) also must specify to PayPal Payflow Pro that he or she uses AVS (through Oracle Self-Service E-Billling) for transactions.