Address Verification System

The Address Verification System (AVS) verifies credit card data. It compares the billing address sent in the transaction with the issuer’s billing information of the cardholder.
You can use AVS if your Wirecard provider account is configured connector.avs.data.store=true.
For details contact Merchant Support.

If AVS is active, you either process the response codes stand-alone or you combine AVS with the Wirecard Fraud Prevention Suite (FPS). FPS, then, offers the possibility to react to specific AVS response codes.

AVS and FPS

Verify Address Data

The consumer must provide the full billing address. Otherwise AVS cannot be performed.

AVS applies to cardholder addresses from the U.S., the U.K., and Canada.
Field M/O Datatype Size Description

street1

M

String

50

Line 1 of the street of the consumer’s address.

street2

O

String

50

Line 2 of the street of the consumer’s address.

street3

O

String

50

Line 3 of the street of the consumer’s address.

city

M

String

50

City of the consumer’s address.

country

M

String

2

Country of the consumer’s address.

postal-code

M

String

16

ZIP/postal code of the consumer’s address.

state

M

String

3

State/province of the consumer’s address.
Format: Numeric ISO 3166-2 standard.

While the consumer must provide a complete address for an address verification, the issuer verifies only the numeric portion of the address. Typically, the issuer compares only the house number and ZIP/postal code.

Let’s assume the consumer sends this billing address:

121 W Houston St
New York City
NY
10012
U.S.

AVS compares 121 and 10012 from the transaction with the issuer’s billing information of the cardholder.

AVS and FPS Interaction

With a post-authorization check FPS either accepts the transaction or rejects it in case AVS does not match.

In case of rejection FPS initiates a void-authorization.

If you are based in the United States, we recommend to use the default FPS setting. This setting declines a transaction if the AVS response does not contain an exact match.

Contact Merchant Support to customize your FPS setting with a different logic.

Card Scheme’s Chargeback Rules

Visa and Mastercard have specific AVS rules and guidelines for chargeback processing in the United States.

Mastercard grants liability shift if
  • the authorization response message includes a positive AVS response of X or Y.

  • the address to which the merchandise was sent was the same as the AVS-confirmed address.

Visa grants liability shift if
  • AVS sends you a positive Y response in the authorization message if billing and shipping addresses are the same. You will need to submit proof of the shipping address and signed proof of delivery.

  • you submit an AVS query during authorization and receive a U response from a card issuer. This response means the card issuer is unavailable or does not support AVS.

Look at the complete list of the card scheme’s response codes and their Wirecard mapped values.

AVS Values and Responses

Each card scheme maintains an own set of response codes. To facilitate the implementation Wirecard maps those codes to a uniform set of scheme independent response codes.

AVS in Payment Response

If you use AVS you receive the AVS result as additional part in the payment response and notification.

Response with AVS Data
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<payment xmlns="http://www.elastic-payments.com/schema/payment" xmlns:ns2="http://www.elastic-payments.com/schema/epa/transaction" self="http://127.0.0.1:8080/engine/rest/merchants/dfc2a910-036f-4363-af06-e482af0f4ef4/payments/ae58735e-0792-4fab-b584-5a3e8f2531aa">
    <merchant-account-id ref="http://127.0.0.1:8080/engine/rest/config/merchants/dfc2a910-036f-4363-af06-e482af0f4ef4">dfc2a910-036f-4363-af06-e482af0f4ef4</merchant-account-id>
    <transaction-id>ae58735e-0792-4fab-b584-5a3e8f2531aa</transaction-id>
    <request-id>{{$guid}}</request-id>
    <transaction-type>authorization</transaction-type>
    <transaction-state>success</transaction-state>
    <completion-time-stamp>2019-04-04T07:52:10.000+02:00</completion-time-stamp>
    <statuses>
        <status code="201.0000" description="3d-acquirer:The resource was successfully created." severity="information"/>
        <status code="200.1083" description="3d-acquirer:Cardholder Successfully authenticated." severity="information"/>
    </statuses>
    <avs-code>U</avs-code>
    <csc-code>P</csc-code>
    <requested-amount currency="USD">1.00</requested-amount>
    <parent-transaction-id>d45ef252-487a-4b34-b162-9a0d7df00b79</parent-transaction-id>
    <account-holder>
        <first-name>John</first-name>
        <last-name>Doe</last-name>
        <email>john.doe@wirecard.com</email>
        <phone/>
        <address>
            <street1>123 anystreet</street1>
            <city>Brantford</city>
            <state>ON</state>
            <country>CA</country>
        </address>
    </account-holder>
    <card-token>
        <token-id>4781015870131003</token-id>
        <masked-account-number>401200******1003</masked-account-number>
    </card-token>
    <ip-address>127.0.0.1</ip-address>
    <descriptor>demo descriptor</descriptor>
    <custom-fields>
        <custom-field field-name="provider.response.avs-provider-result-code" field-value="I"/>
        <custom-field field-name="provider.response.status.type" field-value="Y"/>
    </custom-fields>
    <payment-methods>
        <payment-method name="creditcard"/>
    </payment-methods>
    <authorization-code>792818</authorization-code>
    <three-d>
        <cardholder-authentication-status>Y</cardholder-authentication-status>
    </three-d>
    <api-id>elastic-api</api-id>
    <avs>
        <result-code>U</result-code>
        <result-message>AVS Unavailable.</result-message>
        <provider-result-code>I</provider-result-code>
        <provider-result-message>Address information is unavailable, or the Issuer does not support AVS. Acquirer has representment rights.</provider-result-message>
    </avs>
</payment>
Wirecard Response Codes

Wirecard uses the following uniform set of response codes. This set should be the preferred source for decisions related to AVS.

Response Code Message Description

0

Reserved

Reserved.

F

Exact Match

Street address and zip code match.

P

Partial Match

Either street address or zip codes do not match.

U

AVS unavailable

Address information is unavailable or the Issuer does not support AVS.

E

Error

AVS not performed due to an error or insufficient data.

N

No Match

Neither address nor zip code match.

Authorization Entity

The authorization entity defines the party responding to the AVS request.

Authorization Entity Message

2

Response provided by Intermediate processor.

5

Response provided by issuer processor.

Card Scheme’s Response Codes

The card scheme returns a response code, together with a human readable response message. The following tables list the current set of codes which the card schemes use. The tables map the card scheme’s response code with the uniform Wirecard response code.

Each card scheme can change or extend the response code list. It may differ from the table below. Wirecard recommends to preferably use the uniform Wirecard response code.
American Express
American Express Code Wirecard Response Code Response Message

A

P

CSC and Address Matched.

F

F

All Data Matched.

N

P

CSC Match.

U

U

Data Not Checked.

Y

F

All Data Matched.

Z

P

CSC and Postcode Matched.

F

Exact Match

Street address and zip code match.

American Express AAV (enhanced AVS)
American Express Code Wirecard Response Code Provider Response Message

Y

F

Yes, Billing Address and Postal Code are both correct.

N

N

No, Billing Address and Postal Code are both incorrect.

A

P

Billing Address only correct.

Z

P

Billing Postal Code only correct.

U

U

Information unavailable.

S

U

SE not allowed AAV function.

R

E

System unavailable; retry.

L

P

CM Name and Billing Postal Code match.

M

F

CM Name, Billing Address and Postal Code match.

O

P

CM Name and Billing Address match.

K

P

CM Name matches.

D

P

CM Name incorrect, Billing Postal Code matches.

E

P

CM Name incorrect, Billing Address and Postal Code match.

F

P

CM Name incorrect, Billing Address matches.

W

N

No, CM Name Billing Address and Postal Code are all incorrect.

Mastercard
Mastercard Code Wirecard Response Code Provider Response Message

A

P

Address matches, postal code does not.

N

N

Neither address nor postal code match.

R

E

Retry. System unable to process.

S

U

AVS currently not supported.

U

U

No data from issuer authorization system.

W

P

For U.S. addresses, nine-digit postal code matches, address does not. For addresses outside U.S., postal code matches, address does not.

X

F

For U.S. addresses, nine-digit postal code and address match. For addresses outside U.S., postal code and address match.

Y

F

For U.S. addresses only, five-digit postal code and address match.

Z

P

For U.S. addresses only, five-digit postal code matches, address does not.

Visa
Visa Code Type Wirecard Response Code Provider Response Message

A

Domestic

P

The address information matches. The postcode does not match.

B

International

P

Street address matches, but postal code not verified. Returned only for non U.S.-issued Visa cards.

C

International

N

Street address and postal code do not match. Returned only for non U.S.-issued Visa cards.

D

International

F

The match is exact: both the address and the postcodes match. No representment rights.

E

Domestic

E

AVS data is invalid or AVS is not allowed for this card type.

G

International

U

Address information is unavailable, or the Issuer does not support AVS. Acquirer has representment rights.

I

International

U

Address information is unavailable, or the Issuer does not support AVS. Acquirer has representment rights.

P

International

P

Postal code matches, but street address not verified. Returned only for non U.S.-issued Visa cards.

R

Domestic

U

System unavailable.

S

Domestic

U

U.S.-issuing bank does not support AVS.

M

International

F

The match is exact: both the address and the postcodes match. No representment rights.

N

Domestic

N

The match is not exact, either because the postcode and/or the addresses do not match.

U

Domestic

U

Address information unavailable. Returned if the U.S. bank does not support non-U.S. AVS or if the AVS in a U.S. bank is not functioning properly.

W

Domestic

P

Street address does not match, but 9-digit postal code matches.

X

Domestic

F

Street address and 9-digit postal code match.

Y

Domestic

F

Street address and 5-digit postal code match.

Z

Domestic

P

The postcode information matches. The address information does not match.