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 that you use.

You can test a payment gateway only if you've chosen a paid plan.

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 that you create is a test order. The test purchase amount needs to be greater than the equivalent of $1 USD in any currency.

To create an order, you need to enter test payment information at checkout. You can simulate different types of transactions, depending on what information you enter.

Steps:

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

  2. If you have a credit card payment provider activated, then 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:

    1. If you have a third party payment provider activated, then deactivate it.
    2. 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.
    3. If you don't have Shopify Payments activated, then in the Shopify payments section, click See all other providers.
    4. If Shopify Payments isn't available in your country, then in the Payment providers section, click Choose a provider.
  4. Select (for testing) Bogus Gateway from the list.

  5. Click 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 nameDetails to enter
Name on cardEnter Bogus Gateway
Credit card number

Enter each of these in turn to simulate different types of transaction:

  • Enter 1 to simulate a successful transaction
  • Enter 2 to simulate a failed transaction
  • Enter 3 to simulate an exception (this generates a message indicating that an error has occurred with the provider)
CVVEnter any 3-digit number (for example, 111.)
Expiry DateEnter any date in the future.
  1. After you're done testing, click Manage next to (for testing) Bogus Gateway in your Shopify admin.
  2. Click Deactivate (for testing) Bogus Gateway to remove this gateway from your checkout.

Place a test order with a real transaction

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.

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:

After your test order is placed

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

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