Shopify Test Order – A Comprehensive Guide

There are multiple ways you can place a test order on your own Shopify store. Whatever method you chose to go with, you won’t have to pay for the order.

It’s important as a store owner that you ensure your order processing and management works smoothly. The best way to do that is by placing a test order.

Shopify is an eCommerce store builder that lets sellers present their products and handle orders smoothly.

Before jumping into how you can place a Shopify test order, let’s see what it is.

 

What’s a Test Order?

Shopify recommends placing a test order after you’ve set up your online store on the platform. This way, you make sure your customers won’t face any problems while placing their orders.

The elements of a Shopify order you want to check are:

• • Order processing
  • Inventory
  • Email notifications
  • Taxes
  • Shipping

A Shopify test order doesn’t cost you anything. There are a few ways to execute a Shopify test order. The right way would be the one you are most comfortable with.

 

How Do I Do a Test Order on Shopify?

As a Shopify store owner, you should go through the order management regularly to ensure everything works well for your customers.

When you get in the shoes of your customers, you are better able to see the shortcomings or potential improvements.

Thankfully, Shopify allows a store owner to test and experience post-purchase events. There are multiple ways you can do that.

Let’s talk about each one of them.

 

Using an Offline Deposit Method

This one is probably the simplest way to experience post-purchase events as a store owner. All you have to do is place your order and select an offline payment method like a wire transfer or cash-on-delivery.

After you place your order, you’ll then be redirected to the order confirmation page.

Here is the procedure. Go to:

• • Store admin
  • Settings
  • Payments
  • Manual payment methods

Select cash-on-delivery or bank deposit and click on activate for confirmation. You can also add a small note stating that the order is just for testing.

You’ll then receive an order confirmation email in your inbox.

 

Placing an Order with a Real Payment Gateway

This method requires a genuine payment method from you. You’d be placing an order on your own store and then canceling it later, getting the refund.

Just act like any of your customers that would be paying you while buying a product in your store. Of course, you wouldn’t want them to return it.

To make things easier, what you can do is, slash 100% from the product price. Use the discount code while purchasing and deactivate it after you are done.

 

Using Shopify Bogus Payment Gateway

Shopify’s bogus payment gateway is a way to place an order without going through the actual payment method.

But, a disadvantage to this method is that your customers can also see it. So, it’s not just visible to you.

Follow the below procedure to use this method.

Go to:

• • Store admin
  • Settings
  • Payments

Deactivate the third-party provider.

Then click on:

• • Choose third-party provider
  • See all third-party providers
  • Select Bogus Gateway

And, activate it.

Now, when you go to your store, you’ll be able to see the Shopify Bogus payment gateway listed. You can use it to place an order now.

For order confirmation, just enter “1” as your card number, any future date, any name, and any numbers as a security code.

 

Using a Shopify Payments Test Mode

This is yet another way to checkout on your own Shopify store, making sure that everything runs smoothly.

But, there is a condition. Your store should be eligible for Shopify payments. If so, you can then enable the test mode and checkout.

Probably the only drawback to this method is that your customers won’t be able to place an order while you are in the test mode.

In order to enable the Shopify payments test mode, go to:

• • Store admin
  • Settings
  • Payments

Then, click on “Manage” in the payments box and navigate to the Test Mode Section. Finally, enable test mode and click on the Save button.

You can now go to the transaction page and enter dummy information to complete the Shopify test order.

• • Card number
  • Name
  • Expiration date
  • Security code

You’d then receive a confirmation email just like any of your customers would.

Note: Don’t forget to deactivate the test mode after you are done with the Shopify test order no matter which method you use.

 

Test Your Shipping Settings with a Shopify Test Order

As a store owner, you need to keep a check on every aspect of your eCommerce store. Your shipping settings are important, so double-check them by placing a test order.

For instance, if you are offering a shipping discount on your Shopify store, you can place an order and check whether it applies or not.

 

Test Your Email Notifications

You can also make sure that your customers receive order confirmation emails. Just place an order through any of the methods discussed above and see if you receive an email confirming your order.

 

Why it is Important to Test Orders?

Shopify is a big deal in the eCommerce world. One important aspect of Shopify store creation is the Shopify test order.

It is possible that your order form or payment form won’t work sometimes. And, if you are not aware of that, you can’t take any action to fix it. You’d be missing out on potential sales.

Fortunately, Shopify allows sellers to test-run their order placement process. This way, as a store owner, you make sure that your prospects won’t face any problems after they have decided to purchase your product.

The Shopify test order is important because it tells you if your tax, order processing, delivery, and shipping information is correct.

Again, you are just placing a test order and so, don’t have to pay anything for it. Even if you are going through the route of placing and canceling your order with a real payment method, you don’t lose your money.

 

How Do I Turn Off Test Mode Shopify?

Turning off the Shopify test mode is straightforward. If you are a Shopify payments user, you can go to “Settings” and then “Payments”.

On the top of the payment section, you’d see a yellow banner stating “Shopify payments is running on test mode”.

You will see an option “Turn off test mode”. After clicking on it, just make sure the “Enable test mode” box is unchecked.

If you are using any third-party payment providers, you’d need to check their requirements.

 

Conclusion

As a store owner, you need to make sure everything works the way it is supposed to. Shopify store owners can easily do that through a test order.

It works like any other order. The only difference would be that instead of your customers, you’d be experiencing the whole purchasing process.

There are essentially four ways to place a test order on Shopify. You can go with whichever one suits you:

1. 1. Using offline deposit method
   2. Placing an order with a real payment gateway
   3. Using Shopify Bogus Payment gateway
   4. Using Shopify Payments Test Mode

Placing a test order is important to ensure that all information and settings on your store are correct.