Scenario:
The payment was declined with the message: “The Transaction has been declined because of an AVS mismatch. The address provided does not match billing address of cardholder”.
The buyer, however, received the text message from their bank that the transaction has been completed but at the same Dryfta shows the payment for the Order as Declined.
Explanation:
If the card used is a debit/checking card and it fails the AVS checks, the bank will still deduct the funds since the bank approved the transaction. The Authorize.net payment gateway declines the transaction due to AVS failure but the bank does not know this.
The cardholder would have to wait for the authorization to expire (seems to vary bank to bank) before the funds are returned to their account.
Since the transaction never settles, the merchant has no way to “refund” or “void” the transaction.
Summary:
When you get a decline due to AVS mismtach the customer is not charged. What they are seeing is a pending authorization which will eventually drop off.
Solution:
Go to your Authorize.Net Merchant Interface (Fraud Detection Suite > Enhanced AVS Handling Filter) and turn off the fraud screening settings so it does not decline transactions when the address doesn’t match.