AVS (Address Verification Service)

AVS (Address Verification Service) compares the billing address a customer enters at checkout with the address the issuer has on file for the card. It is a fraud check for online payments. Someone using a stolen card number often doesn't know the cardholder's address.

How AVS works

The merchant sends the street number and postal code with the authorization request. The issuer replies with a full match, a partial match (postal code only or street only), or no match. In Stripe, the results are on the charge in payment_method_details.card.checks.address_line1_check and address_postal_code_check, with values such as pass, fail, or unavailable.

AVS works mainly with cards issued in the US, Canada, and the UK. Cards from other countries often return unavailable, so a missing result is not a fraud signal by itself.

Why it matters

• AVS pairs with the CVC check. A stolen number without the address or the code fails both.
• Passing AVS can qualify some online payments for lower interchange rates.
• A full match, a postal-code-only match, and no match each count differently in a fraud tool's risk score.

Handling the result

A mismatch doesn't force a decline. The issuer may still approve the payment, and the merchant decides whether to accept it. Real customers mistype addresses, and banks keep old ones, so blocking every mismatch turns away good buyers. Most teams treat AVS as one signal among several. Rules that are too strict are a common cause of a declined payment for a real customer.