MANcheck Closes ... AVS Is Now Officially Dead

Webmaster Discussion
#1

Sometime earlier this month, the owner of MANcheck pulled the plug on the server and closed his CCBill account.

Launched in 1997, MANcheck continued to exist for a number of years after VISA passed their then-new regulations in 2003 saying that sites could not use any language about verifying age or implying that any card holder was an adult. That effectively killed off much of the AVS (Adult Verification Service) overnight. A few companies survived, and MANcheck was one of them.

I got my start in this business when MANcheck hired me as a junior web designer in 2001. I worked for them on and off for five years. There were fun years. I learned a lot and we thought that train was going to keep on chugging forever.

#2

Isn’t it amazing how fast the years have rolled along? I remember you being a big AVS site builder. I didn’t know why the AVS stuff took a nose dive (or if I did, I’ve forgotten).

#3

VISA suddenly realized that people were using their credit card to verify age, except the card was the only data required to prove you were old enough. So now birth certificate or driver’s licence and they weren’t comfortable with that. Back in 2003 anyway.

#4

Ironic that age verification in a new form is on its march back…