Risk Manager Payment FAQ

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What do the sections in the Risk Manager payment card mean?

Here is the payment card info you will see displayed in Risk Manager. 

What is a Billing/Shipping mismatch?

A billing shipping mismatch usually happens when the zip code entered by the buyer on an online payment card information form does not match the zip code for the shipping address entered on the form.

Here are the different possibilities that can cause bill/ship mismatches in Risk Manager:

Key:

Shipping form ZIP: Customer manually enters the shipping ZIP code in a form of the website. 

Payment information form ZIP: Customer manually enters the payment information, including the ZIP code attached to their card. This ZIP code is identical to what the bank has on file for the card. 

Billing same as shipping: Customer can check this optional checkbox that is (sometimes) shown on some eCommerce websites.

Billing info form ZIP: Customer manually enters their billing ZIP code in a form on the website.

Why does my payment say “match” on the website but not in Risk Manager?

When Risk Manager is analyzing online payments, it looks at two specific forms: the shipping form and the payment card information form. Risk Manager does not take into account the information filled in the billing form. This can sometimes cause a discrepancy between what Square views as a mismatch and what an eCommerce business would view as a mismatch.

To enter information in the billing form, sometimes a customer is given the option to select the ‘billing is same as shipping’ checkbox.

If the customer checks the checkbox to say that shipping and billing match:

• In this case, if the ZIP code on the customer payment card matches the shipping ZIP code, then Risk Manager will show a match.

• If the customer enters a different ZIP code on the payment information form than on the shipping information form, Risk Manager will show a billing/shipping mismatch, even if the customer checks “shipping and billing match.”

If the customer does not select the checkbox and manually enters their information:

• If a customer does not click the checkbox and manually enters a ZIP in the shipping form that matches the ZIP in the payment information form, then Risk Manager will show a match, even if the ZIP they enter in the billing form is different.

• If the customer does not click the checkbox, and manually enters matching ZIP codes in the billing and shipping form, but the ZIP is different than in the payment information form, then Risk Manager will show a mismatch, even though the eCommerce website might say “match.”

Why does Risk Manager not check the ZIP in the billing address form?

Risk Manager does not rely on the billing address form for several reasons, the most important being that the billing ZIP code entered on the payment information form is a better indicator of potential fraud. Whether or not a website has a separate billing form is dependent on the checkout experience of each website. 

While we do not use the billing address form to calculate risk match/mismatch, you can still see that information as appears in the customer details card. 

What is an AVS mismatch? 

An AVS match occurs if the customer entered ZIP for their billing address matches the ZIP that the bank has on file.

However, Square uses the ZIP in the payment information form as the billing ZIP (instead of the billing form). We then compare that information to what the bank has on file. If it does not match, then Risk Manager displays an AVS mismatch.

Here are the different possibilities that can cause AVS mismatches in Risk Manager: