The Shopify platform has a lot of features that make it the best choice for e-commerce business owners. One of those is Shopify test orders.
As a shopify store owner, you must place test orders on a regular basis in order to complete the purchase process just like your real customers.
You can preview any modifications before uploading them, but it’s sometimes unavoidable (and desirable) to look at the new order confirmation e-mail yourself or try out the post-purchase upsell offer.
But wait, how exactly to do the shopify test orders and what is the most elegant approach comes readily to mind.
That is why, in this article, we’ve compiled a list of four distinct methods for the Shopify test orders.
Table of Contents
What is a Shopify test order?
You’ve created your Shopify store and are ready to go. But, there’s something you need to do before you press the button that makes your shop live. A shopify test order!
To make things clearer, a shopify test order is nothing more than a “dummy” order that is never fulfilled and whose main aim is to see how the purchase process (or some portion of it) works.
How to do a Shopify test order?
When you create a test order, you may double-check that your checkout procedure and settings for order processing, inventory, delivery, email notifications, and taxes are correct.
A test order is not charged. During the setup of your store, you should create at least one test order, or whenever you alter your payment settings.
You may test your configuration using Shopify Payments test mode if you’re utilizing Shopify Payments. You can also simulate a transaction through the Bogus Gateway in Shopify’s Test Order screen.
You can also utilize a real payment method and then cancel and refund the purchase right away. You may be charged fees by the payment processor you use.
1. Use offline payment method like a bank deposit
This is generally the simplest technique to bring up a test order. Simply include any offline payment link bank deposit (wire transfer) or cash on delivery (COD) that will take you to the order confirmation page.
- To enable it go to your store admin > Settings > Payments > Manual payment methods
- From the list, choose “Bank deposit” or “Cash on delivery (COD),” and then confirm by clicking on “Activate.”
- You may also add a remark to indicate that this payment choice is only for testing.
When you select the bank deposit payment option in the checkout, you will be able to reach the order confirmation page and receive an order confirmation email. After paying by credit card, customers see what they would expect: a genuine customer would see after paying by credit card.
2. Use a real payment gateway and cancel the order
Checkout and pay as a real customer, of course. After that, you may cancel and refund the order if need be.
To make it even more convenient, you may develop a 100% off discount code that you will utilize and then delete after testing.
3. Use Shopify Bogus payment gateway
The Shopify Bogus gateway is a simple technique to go through the payment procedure without actually making a payment. The disadvantage is that it’s visible to all customers, not just you.
- To enable it to go to your store admin > Settings > Payments and deactivate your current third-party provider (if applicable)
- Then click on Choose third-party provider > See all supported providers > (for testing) Bogus Gateway > Activate (for testing) Bogus Gateway
Now go to your shop and you’ll see the Bogus gateway as a payment option. Enter “1” for a card number, any name, any future date, and any three numbers as a security code to reach the order confirmation page.
You may also attempt other card states with different card numbers. The number “2” denotes a failed transaction, and the number “3” denotes a provider error.
4. Use a Shopify Payments test mode
If your store is compatible with Shopify Payments, you may use test mode to go through the checkout. The disadvantage is that real consumers are unable to complete a payment while the test mode is on.
- To enable the Shopify Payments test mode go to your store admin > Settings > Payments
- Click on Manage in the Shopify Payments box
- Scroll to the Test mode section, check the box Enable test mode, and click Save
Now go to your checkout and enter the following credit card details to simulate a real transaction.
- Card number 5555555555554444 (Mastercard)
- Name Any two words
- Expiration date Any future date
- Security code Any three digits
You should be able to reach the last checkout step and view the order confirmation email once you’ve filled out the information. Just like any other real consumer should then go to Shopify Payments in your store admin and turn off test mode.
You may also utilize several credit card numbers to imitate different card networks.
How to do a Shopify test order manually?
1. Enter test mode
To begin, make sure you have a test environment. You cannot test payments in production (your live environment) since making a real payment is necessary. It’s really time-consuming to have to cancel and make reimbursements after testing many payments at once.
If you’re a Shopify Plus member, Test Mode in Shopify Payments is an option. Non-premium clients can use Bogus Gateway as a workaround, according to Shopify.
To use the Bogus Gateway, go to Settings > Payment Providers and select Add a Provider. Select (for testing) Bogus Gateway from the Third-Party Credit Card Provider drop-down menu. From here, Shopify provides you with instructions on how to use this method.
2. Add items to the basket and check out
To get started, go to the previewed website, add at least one product to your basket, and then proceed.
Once you’ve confirmed your order, click checkout, then fill in the necessary information for a customer. If you’re using an application that pre-populates data, remember to turn it off first.
Select a shipping option before making a payment.
3. Payment
Now that you’ve completed the form, you need to provide your credit card information.
If you’ve already set up the Bogus Gateway and want to test it out, just do the following: Select the yellow B option as your payment method and fill in 1, 2, or 3 for your credit card information, depending on what you’re trying to prove (this is again explained when you activate the Bogus Gateway).
If you’re in test mode, you’ll need test credit card data. To verify that the communication to customers following payment is correct, you should check both successful and failed transactions.
You can use the simulation data provided by Shopify to do this:
For successful transactions:
- Name on card: Enter at least two words.
- Expiry date: Enter any date in the future.
- Security code: Enter any three digits.
- Card number: Use any of the following numbers:
For failed transactions:
Error message | Test credit number
Card declined | 4000000000000002
Incorrect number | 4242424242424241
Disputed transaction | 4000000000000259
Invalid expiry month | Expiry month: 13 (any invalid month)
Invalid expiry year | Expiry year: 2028 (any past year)
Invalid security code | Security code: 99 (any two digits)
4. Exit test mode
Once you’ve finished your tests, turn off test mode or shut off the Bogus Gateway approach to ensure that money can be sent as usual again.
Why Automate Your Shopify Test Orders?
The most essential step in your online shop’s operation is placing an order. This procedure, which generally entails adding items to a shopping cart, checkout, and payment, is critical for generating income.
Because of this, you must ensure that customers can always traverse the procedure with ease. Testing an order placement before going live, or perhaps on a regular basis, isn’t sufficient.
It isn’t enough to test an order placement every so often.
A simple static website will not be able to handle the growth in traffic that your business may experience.
Why?
Because there are a number of factors that might negatively impact your site and its fundamental functionality:
Shopify pushes out updates on a regular basis, and you’ll need to introduce new features and functions from time to time, which can have unpredictable Shopify.
Internal and external elements may have an influence on your website, and a lack of testing can result in increased expenses for your company.
Automating the process involves significant time investment. Manual testing for every update takes hours. For most organizations, it’s impossible to check enough in time for each release. This puts the company at risk.
In addition to business-critical processes, you should also make it a priority to test:
- Plugins/integrations
- Cross-browsers (Chrome, IE, Safari)
- Cross-device (mobile, tablet, and desktop)
- Cross-platform (Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, and Linux)
- User influx (load testing)
- Page load time (performance testing)
It’s time to start thinking about which tests you can automate to make quality assurance more efficient over time because manually performing all of this isn’t possible.
How to automate your shopify test orders?
You’ll need a web automation tool to automate your Shopify orders.
Selenium is a popular choice since it’s free and open-source. However, because it needs advanced coding abilities, it isn’t always the best alternative.
Instead, you may use Leapwork, which is a browser automation tool that uses Selenium under the hood but offers a user-friendly interface and doesn’t require any code. Here’s where to obtain a free demo.
Leapwork provides a record-and-play feature, which means that all you have to do to automate is browse your site and enter your data with test data, just as if you were manually testing it.
The amount of time saved by automating is one of the most significant distinctions between Selenium and Leapwork.
Conclusion
If you pick a method outlined above, remember to deactivate it when done testing. Also, cancel and refund any created orders so they do not occupy any of your inventory.
