From a merchant statement
Also billed as Address verification fee.
What is an AVS fee?
A small per-transaction charge for the address verification service, the check that matches a cardholder's billing address on keyed and online transactions. It is a fraud-prevention step you generally want running.
Who charges it and why
The card networks charge a genuinely small amount for the check; the processor rebills it, frequently at several times the underlying cost. Because the unit price looks tiny, the multiplication hides in plain sight on high-transaction accounts.
What fair looks like
Fair looks like the network's own charge passed through at cost, or absorbed into the rate. A security check that protects the processor's own risk book should not be a profit line.
Can you get rid of it
Turning AVS off to dodge the fee is the wrong trade, since it raises fraud and downgrade risk. The right move is pricing: on an interchange-plus account the check should cost what the network charges, and a statement review will show whether yours does.
See what this line is costing you
Upload a statement and Rate Check reads every line, this one included, against what the same profile costs on Payzium.
Prefer to talk it through first? Request a rate review and we call you back.
Back to the Statement Fee Decoder for every other line on your statement.
What is an AVS fee?
A small per-transaction charge for the address verification service, the check that matches a cardholder's billing address on keyed and online transactions. It is a fraud-prevention step you generally want running.
Who charges the AVS fee and why?
The card networks charge a genuinely small amount for the check; the processor rebills it, frequently at several times the underlying cost. Because the unit price looks tiny, the multiplication hides in plain sight on high-transaction accounts.
Can you get rid of an AVS fee?
Turning AVS off to dodge the fee is the wrong trade, since it raises fraud and downgrade risk. The right move is pricing: on an interchange-plus account the check should cost what the network charges, and a statement review will show whether yours does.