How to test your website with Paypal Sandbox account

Are you thinking of adding a Paypal buy now button in your website? Perhaps you already have a website ready to accept credit card payment using Paypal. It would be a good idea to test your website before you go public. There could be various reasons but I will point some of them bellow:

1. Make sure after user makes a payment they go to thank you page.

2. May be user is supposed to be able to download a file after he/she makes a payment.

3. What about storing transaction info in a database.

and so on.

You want to make sure all these work without doing a real transaction. In this blog I will show you how to do all the testing without making a real transaction using a Paypal sandbox account.

First of all you will need to create a Paypal sandbox accout from Paypal developer Center . Once you are at Paypal developer Center click on "Signup now" button.

It will take you to Signup page. Just fill in the info and click on Create button:

After this Paypal will send you an email to confirm.

Go ahead and click on confirm link. This will take you to Paypal developer center.

Just login using the sandbox account you just created.

Once you logged in Paypal developer center, we will create a seller account and a builder account. Click on "Create a preconfigured Seller and Buyer account" link. This will take you to "Create account page". Make sure you select "Seller" readio button for Account Type.

Now click on Create account. This will create a seller account. Let's create a buyer account as well. Click on " Create a preconfigured Seller and Buyer account " link again. This time choose "Buyer" as account type, then click on "Create account" button. Congratulations! Now you have a Paypal sandlbox seller and abuyer account. You are ready to test your website now. Go to you website where you have paypal button code. Replace the businessName field value with your email that you use to login to Paypal Developer Center. Save it. Now open up a Browser and Login to Paypal developer Center. Then open a second browser and go to your website. Click on Paypal button. This will take you to Paypal website. Enter your sandbox buyer email and password to proceed with the payment. Complete the payment. After the payment is complete, make sure your website is working as it should. That is it!