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Fraud & risk · Glossary

AVS

Also called: Address Verification Service

AVS (Address Verification Service) matches the cardholder's billing address (or its numeric component) against the issuer's record during a card-not-present transaction. Mismatches typically result in higher interchange (downgrade) and elevated fraud risk.

Why this matters to merchants

AVSsits inside the broader system of U.S. payment processing economics that determine a merchant’s effective rate. Most operators encounter this term on their merchant statement without understanding what it controls, which is how the four hidden fees covered by our methodology slip past unnoticed.

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