Authorize.net can process any payment card with a major card brand's logo as if it were a credit card. However, if you are a merchant accepting gift cards and other prepaid payment cards, you may experience an Address Verification Service (AVS) decline. This is due to a default setting for your Authorize.net account.

AVS allows you to validate the customer's billing address before accepting a credit card transaction. However, for prepaid cards, the actual customer's billing address often will not be associated with the gift card, or will not exist on file at the issuing bank. With the default payment gateway AVS settings in place, this may result in a rejected transaction.

To allow for the smooth processing of prepaid cards, Authorize.net recommends that you take the following steps to turn off the appropriate default payment gateway setting:

1. Sign in to the Merchant Interface.
2. Select Account from the main toolbar.
3. Select Settings in the left side main menu.
4. Select Address Verification Service under the Security Settings.
5. Deselect the checkbox labeled "Address Information for cardholder is unavailable (U)".
6. Click Submit.

Your AVS settings are now updated to allow the processing of prepaid card purchases with unavailable address information.