AVS checking on Authorizenet

I have a client that is having problems with credit cards being
declined, primarily by AMEX, through Authorizenet because he and
authorizenet and AMEX contend the address does not match what the credit
card company is looking for. What is happening is that if all the
numbers are not at the beginning of the address, then the card is
rejected, and if they are it is accepted.

For example

PO Box 400
123 N. 3rd street

will be rejected but

400 PO Box
1233 N. rd Street

will be accepted. Obviously if a customer enters the second choice, the
card is accepted, but the address is so screwed up it might not be
deliverable. According to our client he spoke with AMEX and they
confirmed that the number(s) has to be at the beginning. He even sent
me some reports from Authorizenet that show that a card rejected with a
po box and the number at the end was declined, yet simply moving the
number to the beginning it was approved. This is despite my records
showing that transactions have been approved by authorizenet for Amex
with the po box number at the end and every document I can find
indicating that all the alpha are stripped out before sending to AMEX or
the banks anyway.

I am totally confused by this issue. Has anyone else seen it? The only
thing I can think of is that authorizenet is sometimes only taking
numbers in addresses for the AVS if they are at the beginning of the line.

Thanks,

Marshall

On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:21:14 GMT, in alt.ecommerce you wrote:

>I am totally confused by this issue. Has anyone else seen it? The only
>thing I can think of is that authorizenet is sometimes only taking
>numbers in addresses for the AVS if they are at the beginning of the line.

Howdy Marshall,

The problem has nothing to do with Authorize Net or the credit card
companies. People who won't type carefully and won't check what they have
typed are very common.

Your card processing software or shopping cart should have an option to send
only the credit card number, expiration date, and (optionally) the CVV. The
card companies are quite happy with that.

You can also set your Authorize Net options to ignore addresses, just use
the zipcode, or do no address verification at all. That is not recommended
and there are better ways to handle it.

Thanks, Chris www.bizynet.com and www.bizycart.com
BIZynet Coordinator cgunn.DeleteThis@bizynet.com - (505) 586-1225