Test and go live with Subscriptions

You can run negative tests on your integration to manage the responses you give to your customers.

Know before you code

• Before you trigger a simulation, you'll need to you need to get an access token.

• Use Postman to explore and test PayPal APIs.

Test flow

Test a transaction to see the subscription created in the merchant account.

Test the transaction as a buyer

1. Select the PayPal button on the page.

2. Use the sandbox personal login information from the Developer Dashboard to log in and simulate the buyer making a purchase.

3. In the Checkout window, notice the purchase amount in the upper right corner. USD is the default currency. You can customize the PayPal JavaScript SDK with different currency codes.

   Availability: The JavaScript SDK onShippingChange, onShippingAddressChange, and onShippingOptionsChange functions are not compatible with Subscriptions.

4. Select the pull-down arrow next to the purchase amount. The subscription details are available for the buyer to review. It should appear similar to the following image:

5. Complete the flow.

Confirm funds move from the buyer account

1. Use the sandbox personal account you used to complete the purchase to log in to https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/myaccount/autopay/connect/. This URL takes you to the automatic payments page in the sandbox personal account.
2. Confirm the subscription appears in the active automatic payment list. Select the active automatic payment to see the details of the subscription.
3. Log out of the account.

Confirm funds move to the merchant account

1. Use the sandbox business account information from the Developer Dashboard to log in to https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/billing/subscriptions. This URL takes you to the subscriptions management page in the sandbox business account.
2. Confirm the subscription made by the test buyer appears on the Subscriptions tab. Select the subscription to see the details of the subscription.
3. Log out of the account.

Simulation methods

To trigger a simulation for the Subscriptions API, you can use either a JSON pointer in the request payload or a path parameter in the request URI.

Use a JSON pointer in the request payload

Request

curl -X POST \
  https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/billing/subscriptions \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer  <Access Token>'
  -d '{
        "plan_id": "ERRSUB033",
            "start_time": "2020-02-06T15:00:00Z",
            "quantity": "1",
            "shipping_amount": {
                "currency_code": "USD",
                "value": "12.00"
            },
            "subscriber": {
                "name": {
                    "given_name": "John",
                    "surname": "Doe"
                },
                "email_address": "customer@example.com",
                "shipping_address": {
                    "name": {
                        "full_name": "John Doe"
                    },
                    "address": {
                        "address_line_1": "2211 N First Street",
                        "address_line_2": "Building 17",
                        "admin_area_2": "San Jose",
                        "admin_area_1": "CA",
                        "postal_code": "95131",
                        "country_code": "US"
                    }
                }
            },
            "application_context": {
                "brand_name": "Walmart Inc",
                "locale": "en-US",
                "shipping_preference": "SET_PROVIDED_ADDRESS",
                "user_action": "SUBSCRIBE_NOW",
                "payment_method": {
                    "payer_selected": "PAYPAL_CREDIT",
                    "payee_preferred": "IMMEDIATE_PAYMENT_REQUIRED"
                },
                "return_url": "http://zoho.com/returnUrl",
                "cancel_url": "http://zoho.com/cancelUrl"
            }
        }'

Response

{
  "name": "NOT_AUTHORIZED",
  "debugId": "b1d1f06c7246c",
  "message": "Authorization failed due to insufficient permissions.",
  "details": [
      {
          "issue": "PERMISSION_DENIED",
          "description": "You do not have permission to access or perform operations on this resource."
      }
  ],
  "links": [
      {
          "href": "https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/v1/billing/subscriptions#PERMISSION_DENIED",
          "rel": "information_link",
          "method": "GET"
      }
  ]
}

Use a path parameter in the request URI

Request

curl -X GET \
  https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/billing/subscriptions/ERRSUB068/activate \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <Access Token>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
     "reason": "Reactivating the subscription"
  }
}'

Response

{
    "name": "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND",
    "message": "The specified resource does not exist.",
    "debug_id": "c2d1f06c7246c",
     "details": [
        {
            "issue": "INVALID_RESOURCE_ID",  
            "description": "Requested resource ID was not found",
            "value": "I-TT452GLLEP1G"
        }
    ],
    "links": [
        {
            "href": "https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/v1/billing/subscriptions#RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND,
            "rel": "information_link"
        }
    ]
}

Test values

Use the following test values to trigger positive and negative responses for these subscriptions actions:

Product

• Create product
• Get product
• List products
• Update product

Plan

• Create plan
• Activate plan
• Deactivate plan
• Get plan
• List plans
• Update plan
• Change plan pricing

Subscription

• Create subscription
• Activate subscriptions
• Get subscription
• Update subscription
• Revise subscription
• Suspend subscription
• Capture subscription
• Get subscription transaction
• Cancel subscription

Product

Note: Test values are case sensitive.

Create product

Negative response test values

Use the JSON pointer in the request payload to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/catalogs/products.

Get product

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at GET /v1/catalogs/products/{test_value}.

List products

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at GET /v1/billing/plans/?&total_required={test_value}.

Update product

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at PATCH /v1/catalog/products/{test_value}.

Plan

Note: Test values are case sensitive.

Create plan

Negative response test values

Use the JSON pointer in the request payload to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/billing/plans/.

Activate plan

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at POST/v1/billing/plans/{test_value}/activate.

Deactivate plan

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/billing/plans/{test_value}/deactivate.

Get plan

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at GET /v1/billing/plans/{test_value}.

List plans

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at GET /v1/billing/plans/?page_size=3&page=1&total_required={test_value}.

Update plan

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at PATCH /v1/billing/plans/{test_value}.

Change plan pricing

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/billing/plans/{test_value}/update-pricing-schemes.

Subscription

Note: Test values are case sensitive.

Create subscription

Negative response test values

Use the JSON pointer in the request payload to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/billing/subscriptions.

Activate subscriptions

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/billing/subscriptions/{test_value}/activate.

Get subscription

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at GET /v1/billing/subscriptions/{test_value}.

Update subscription

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at PATCH /v1/billing/subscriptions/{test_value}.

Revise subscription

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/billing/subscriptions/{test_value}/revise.

Suspend subscription

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/billing/subscriptions/{test_value}/suspend.

Capture subscription

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/billing/subscriptions/{test_value}/capture.

Get subscription transaction

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at GET /v1/billing/subscriptions/{test_value}/transactions.

Cancel subscription

Negative response test values

Use the path parameter in the request URI method to simulate the following error responses at POST /v1/billing/subscriptions/{test_value}/cancel.

Error handling

An error includes:

• The error name and description.
• A link to error-related documentation.
• A debug ID.
• Error details.

API errors

Sample error response

{
  "name": "INVALID_REQUEST",
  "message": "Request is not well-formed, syntactically incorrect, or violates schema",
  "debug_id": "6u3y6fca61718",
  "details": [{
    "field": "/plan_id",
    "issue": "MISSING_REQUIRED_PARAMETER",
    "description": "A required field is missing.",
    "location": "body"
  }],
  "links": [{
    "href": "https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/v2/payments/#INVALID_REQUEST",
    "rel": "information_link",
    "method": "GET"
  }]
}

Go live

1. Change the base URL for all your REST API calls from https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com to https://api-m.paypal.com.
2. Change the references to your sandbox API credentials to the live credentials. To get live API credentials, create a live REST API.