How to improve Address Verification Sysytem

[snook789]

Been in the eCommerce business for 6 years, and one of the most fustrating things is how the address verification works with credit card processors (we use Authorize.Net)

 

The customers funds are 1st held (authorized) and then the address is checked to see if it is the billing address. (if it does not match or is not available, we have it decline)

If it could be done the other away around, it would be so much better.

 

Customers often repeatly try with the same info (or try to edit it some to make it pass) then they have a bunch of authorizations on their account, and call their bank, and come screaming back at us.

 

I have been wanting to write a script that 1st charges say $1, just to check AVS, and then if it matches (or is available to match - often its not available), then authorize the rest.

 

Just wanted to check if anyone has done this, or if they come up with another way to combat this problem.

 

Thanks!

[Guest]

I haven't study the exact protocol with AVS and authorizenet. But what happens with other gateways that I've seen, the AVS is processed first the actual order amount. But it is down to the gateway how to process the info and the kind of error to return to the store. Usually the documentation includes a flow diagram that sometimes indicate the order of events between the gateway and the store.

[kewler]

I have the same problem.

I would like to know if Authorize.net is sending any return codes to the store, so that we can inform the buyer as to why they were declined?

I wish I had the time to dig into this.

[Guest]

I have the same problem.

I would like to know if Authorize.net is sending any return codes to the store, so that we can inform the buyer as to why they were declined?

I wish I had the time to dig into this.

yes it does. The authorizenet documentation shows the description for each error id. And the brief description of the error is also there. But the osc default module for authorizenet displays a generic error. (good for security in my opinion) For debugging you can set it though to see what's wrong. These are the 3rd and 4th elements on the response array that describe it.

[kewler]

yes it does. The authorizenet documentation shows the description for each error id. And the brief description of the error is also there. But the osc default module for authorizenet displays a generic error. (good for security in my opinion) For debugging you can set it though to see what's wrong. These are the 3rd and 4th elements on the response array that describe it.

I will take a look, thanks for the quick feedback.