Placing a test order

By placing a test order, you can make sure that your checkout process and settings for order processing, inventory, shipping, email notifications, and taxes are all correct. You aren't charged for a test order. You should place at least one test order during your store setup or whenever you make changes to your payment settings.

You can place a test order by simulating a transaction through Shopify's Bogus Gateway, or if you're using Shopify Payments, then you can test your configuration by using Shopify Payments test mode. You can also use a real payment provider, and then immediately cancel and refund the order. You might be subject to fees from the payment processor you use. You can test a payment gateway only if you've chosen a paid plan.

Test orders and simulated transactions don't appear in your payouts or reports.

Note

Use an email address that ends with @example.com to place test orders. This domain is detected by Shopify's systems, is safe to use for test orders, won't trigger any spam detection, and will keep your inbox from being full. If you need to send test orders to your own email address as part of your testing, then make sure to send fewer than 100 test orders at a time to avoid any delivery issues with your inbox.

Place a test order by simulating a transaction

To simulate a transaction on your online checkout, you can set up Shopify's Bogus Gateway. Bogus Gateway is a payment provider that any store can use to create test orders. When Bogus Gateway is active, every order you create is a test order. The test purchase amount needs to be greater than the equivalent of $1 USD in any currency.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Payments.

2. If you have a credit card payment provider activated, deactivate it before continuing. Click Manage > Deactivate (this button also displays the name of your payment provider, for example Deactivate Shopify Payments), then confirm your deactivation.

3. Do one of the following:

   • If you have a third-party payment provider activated, deactivate it.
   • If you have Shopify Payments activated:
     • In the Shopify payments section, click Manage > Manage payment methods.
     • At the bottom of the page, click Switch to a third-party provider, and then click Switch to a third-party provider again to confirm.
   • If you don't have Shopify Payments activated, in the Shopify payments section, click See all other providers.
   • If Shopify Payments isn't available in your country, in the Payment providers section, click Choose a provider.

4. Select (for testing) Bogus Gateway from the list.

5. Activate (for testing) Bogus Gateway.

6. Click Save.

7. Go to your online store and place an order as a customer would. At checkout, enter the following credit card details instead of genuine numbers:

   Test payment details for bogus gateway simulation during checkout

   Field name	Details to enter
   Name on card	Enter Bogus Gateway
   Credit card number	Enter each of these in turn to simulate different types of transaction: Enter 1 to simulate an Approved Transaction Enter 2 to simulate a Declined Transaction Enter 3 to simulate a Gateway Failure
   CVV	Enter any 3-digit number (for example, 111.)
   Expiry Date	Enter any date in the future.

8. After you're done testing, click Manage next to (for testing) Bogus Gateway in your Shopify admin.

9. Click Deactivate (for testing) Bogus Gateway to remove this gateway from your checkout.

Using Shopify Payments test mode

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Payments.

2. In the Shopify Payments section, click Manage.

3. To simulate different types of transactions, you can use the following test card numbers:

   Test card numbers for Shopify Payments test mode

   Card Type	Test Number	Purpose
   Visa	4242424242424242	Successful payment
   Mastercard	5555555555554444	Successful payment
   Declined	4000000000000002	Failed transaction
   Disputed	4000000000000259	Chargeback simulation

   In the Expiry date field, enter any future date. In the CVV field, enter any 3 digits.

Place a test order with a real transaction

Note

Not all test orders can be deleted. For example, orders placed through payment gateways other than Shopify Payments aren't considered test orders, even when the third-party gateway was in test mode, and so can't be deleted.

You can place a test order using a real payment provider, and then immediately cancel and refund the order. You might be subject to fees from the payment processor you use. Some payment processor fees and credit card third-party transaction fees aren't returned to you when you issue a refund.

Caution

Before you test a payment gateway with a real transaction, refer to the terms of service for your payment provider. If you use Shopify Payments, then refer to the Shopify Payments Terms of Service for your region.

If you're using a development store, then you can't test using real transactions. For more information, refer to Testing orders in development stores.

Steps:

1. Make sure that you've set up the payment provider that you want to test.
2. Make a purchase from your store as a customer would, and complete checkout using genuine credit card details.
3. If you're using a third-party payment provider, then log in to your payment provider and make sure that the funds were processed.
4. Cancel and refund the order as soon as possible to refund yourself. Any third-party transaction fees that have been charged aren't refunded.

Test order checklist

When testing your order flow, you should test as many scenarios as possible to ensure that your shipping settings, notifications, and fulfillment flows work as expected.

Creating a test order

Consider the following scenarios when you create a test order:

• Add a discount code to your order.
• Try placing an order when logged into a customer account, and logged out.
• Test different payment methods.
• Verify that the shipping rates you offer display correctly.
• Test different shipping addresses, with particular attention to how the tax is calculated.
• Place test orders on multiple devices, such as desktop and mobile devices.
• Simulate a failed transaction.

After your test order is placed

After an order is placed, check the following parts of the order:

• Verify that you're satisfied with the order notification. Learn more about customizing your email templates from your Shopify admin.
• Test the fulfillment flow, whether it's manual or through an app or enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.
• Add tracking information to the order, and then check the shipping notification.
• Test a partially fulfilled order.
• Try to issue a full or partial refund.
• You can archive test orders from Orders > More actions > Archive.