Testing that your store is working correctly is something that every shop owner or ecommerce manager will need to do at some point. It’s important that you regularly test your checkout process to ensure there are no errors or bugs preventing your customers from purchasing.
Most WooCommerce stores use Stripe, which easily connects to WooCommerce through its WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway plugin.
To place a WooCommerce test order, set Stripe to test mode and then place an order as you usually would by adding a product to cart and completing the checkout process. Ensure that you have your Stripe test API keys configured in your Stripe settings beforehand.
Placing your WooCommerce store into test mode
Stripe makes placing test orders easy with a built in test mode. Enabling test mode will allow you to make purchases on your store, without any money changing hands.
It emulates the live checkout process, but using dummy card data, so that no money is actually debited.
To activate test mode navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > Stripe.
Click the option to ‘Enable Test Mode’. The next step is to copy and paste the publishable key and secret key from within your Stripe account.
Finding your test publishable and secret keys
Log into your business Stripe account and click on Developers, which is found in the left hand navigation menu.
Then click on API Keys to access the keys unique for your account. In the top right corner of this screen you will see a toggl button that allows you to switch between test data or live data.
You need to ensure that you are getting your test keys for test mode to work. There is a clue in the name. A test key will have _test_ in the name.
Copy and paste these keys from your Stripe account into the WooCommerce fields shown in the step above. Make sure to save your changes and that you also have test mode enabled in WooCommerce.
Placing a test order
Now the easy part. Add something to your cart and proceed to the checkout page as a customer would. You should see your checkout page as it usually displays, with a few small differences.
The Stripe checkout box should display that it is in test mode and prompt you to use the test card number which is – 4242424242424242. You can use any expiration date from the current date, and any security code.
If you have followed the steps above correctly, you should then be able to complete your order and either see an error message that you need to resolve, or can confirm your checkout process is working as intended.
Remember to switch back to live mode once you are done testing which can be done by un-toggling test mode in the Stripe settings area we accessed earlier.
