End of the month

Time to check the final sales figures for the month of April and check off the expenses and wouldn't you know the last sale I had for April, I ran the card and the Address Verfication Service returned "address does not match the billing address of the card".

I am amazed that how many people do not understand that the "bill to address" may not be the same as the "ship to address".  When I notify them that the billing address did not match the usual response is "it has never happened before."  Our policy is if the billing address does not match the one held by their bank or credit card company we will not complete the transaction.

Why?  The reason we do not complete the transaction without address verification is that of trying to reduce identity theft and fraud.  Since our transactions are done without the physical card in hand we need address verification and the cvv number (three digits usually found on the back of the credit card-exception is that of American Express-four digits on the front of the card); if you use PayPal or another processor this is done automatically.  If you have an additional merchant account (we have one of our own (Quickbooks) in addition to PayPal) this are factors you must be aware of to help you avoid charge backs and/or fraud.

Bill