| Ebayorbust | 10-10-2014 04:34 AM |
What is and what isn't an AVS VCC
There seems to be a lot of confusion around these terms so I have outlined below exactly what these terms mean and how they relate to Paypal & Ebay.
VCC = Virtual Credit Card
AVS = Address Verification Service
AVS tends to only be used by card issuers in US, Canada and UK. It's use outside of these countries tends to be fairly limited.
A card either provides an AVS code with a transaction or it doesn't. There is no "in between".
An AVS check tries to match the house number and post / zip code given to the merchant with the details registered on the card. Codes are issued by the card issuer to the merchant as either a FULL MATCH, A PARTIAL MATCH, FULL MISMATCH or NO DATA. The merchant then decides (usually automatically) whether to accept the transaction. The card issuer does not decline a transaction based on AVS data.
Many cards do not provide AVS codes at all (the "NO DATA" response). Entropay is the most widely known of these. It is also why many VCCs issued by Eastern European & Asian banks can be added to Paypal and Ebay.
Paypal and Ebay allow cards to be added that do NOT provide AVS codes however when Paypal accounts are hit with a "Confirm Location" limitation, an AVS card must be used. Visa & Mastercard gift cards available in many supermarkets are proper AVS cards as they need to be registered in the stealth name and address before they can be added to Paypal / Ebay.
Whilst non-AVS cards can be used to confirm an address on Paypal, an actual AVS card will clearly provide more security for the account as the house number and postcode have been properly matched as opposed to a "no data" response. | 
