Sandbox Testing Guide

DocsDeprecated


Important: PayPal Here is deprecated. PayPal doesn't accept new integrations but continues to support existing integrations.

The PayPal sandbox mirrors the features on the PayPal production servers. While some PayPal features do not apply to the sandbox, such as closing an account, issuing monthly statements, storing shipping preferences, and PayPal Shops support, the sandbox has the same PayPal API feature set as the live environment. You can test your PayPal processes in the sandbox. Processes behave the same in the sandbox environment as they do on production servers.

When you initiate a transaction through a sandbox account, PayPal creates a mock transaction that behaves exactly like a transaction in the live environment. By using fictitious sandbox accounts with their associated authentication credentials in your PayPal API calls, you can test and debug your apps without referencing any real PayPal users or live PayPal accounts.

The sandbox lets you operate your application in a safe environment and provides a way to fine-tune your PayPal routines before you move your product into production.

The PayPal sandbox is made up of these components:

Component Access through
Sandbox test site https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/
Sandbox > Accounts page https://developer.paypal.com/developer/accounts

Just as you track live transactions on the PayPal live site, you track your sandbox transactions on the sandbox test site.

During the test phase, use the sandbox endpoints and your sandbox account details in each PayPal API request that you make. Create and manage your set of sandbox accounts from the sandbox Accounts page. Use the Sandbox test site to review the transactions associated with the calls you make using your sandbox accounts.

Tip: To review the status of the mock transactions associated with a sandbox account, log in to the sandbox test site with the credentials from any of your sandbox accounts.

To use the sandbox:

  1. Test accounts - Create the accounts you need to run sample transactions in the sandbox environment.
  2. Test transactions using either the iOS, Android, or Web sample applications.
  3. Log into the Sandbox with the username and password from one of your test accounts and review the status of the mock transactions associated with an account.

Note: Some rules for processing credit cards are not triggered in the sandbox. Therefore, some credit card transactions that are successful in the sandbox may be unsuccessful in production.

Test payment cards

PayPal doesn't provide a set of test payment cards. Many developers obtain and test with prepaid credit cards. However, if you would like to test keyed entry payments, you can use test cards that are generated at step 4 of this support page.

Next

Configure sandbox accounts.