# Take a test order > Check your checkout end to end before real customers do. Click Place a test order, buy something in your own shop, and approve or decline the test payment. No money moves, and test orders stay out of your reports. Help Centre / Getting started - Updated 28 October 2026 Before you open your shop to customers, place an order yourself to see exactly what they will see: the cart, the checkout, the payment step, the confirmation and the emails. Shoprocket has a built-in test payment method for this. You decide whether the payment goes through or is declined, and no money moves. A test order behaves like a real one. It sends the order emails, holds stock and delivers downloads, so you can check all of it. It is marked as a test everywhere and left out of your sales and reports, and you can delete it in one click when you are done. ## Before you begin - Add at least one product and set its **Status** to **Active**, so there is something to buy. See [Add your first product](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/add-your-first-product.md). - Use an email address you can open when you check out, so you receive the order emails. ## Step 1: Open your shop in test mode Click **Place a test order**. You'll find it in three places: - **Orders**, at the top of the page. - **Settings > Payments**, in the **Test payments** card on the right. - Your **Overview**, under **Try your checkout** in the **Set up your store** checklist, while your store is being set up. Your shop opens in a new tab. Only a shop opened this way offers the test payment method, and the test session lasts 30 minutes. If it runs out, click **Place a test order** again. If nothing opens, your browser may have blocked the new tab. Allow pop-ups for the dashboard and click the button again. ## Step 2: Check out like a customer 1. In the new tab, add a product to your cart and go to checkout. 2. Fill in your details. Use your own email address and a US delivery address, for example `1200 SW Main St, Portland, OR 97205`. 3. Under payment, choose **Test payment** (Simulated payment - no money moves). It is listed last, after any payment methods you have connected. ## Step 3: Approve or decline the payment With **Test payment** chosen, the pay button at the bottom of checkout becomes **Approve test payment**, with **Decline** under it: - **Approve test payment** places the order. You see the confirmation screen, just as a customer would, and the order emails are sent. - **Decline** shows what a customer sees when their payment fails: they are taken back to checkout with a message by the pay button, and can try again. ![The checkout with Test payment chosen under Payment, a note that no money moves, the Approve test payment and Decline buttons, and the order summary beside it](https://v3.shoprocket.io/img/help/take-a-test-order/test-payment-approve.webp) Try both if you like. Only an approved payment creates a paid order. Your connected payment methods, such as Stripe or PayPal, always take real payments, even in this tab. Choosing one of them charges real money, so use **Test payment** for test orders. ## Step 4: Find your test order The **Orders** list shows live orders only to start with, so a new test order doesn't appear there straight away. 1. Go to **Orders**. 2. Set the **Mode** filter to **Test** (or **All** to see live and test orders together). Test orders carry a **Test** badge. Opening one shows a note at the top: **Test order - no money moved.** Otherwise it looks and works like any other order. ![The Orders list filtered to Test mode, showing a test order with a Test badge and the Delete test orders button](https://v3.shoprocket.io/img/help/take-a-test-order/orders-test-mode.webp) ## Deleting test orders When you are done testing, you can clear test orders away: - **All at once:** in **Orders**, with **Mode** set to **Test**, click **Delete test orders** and confirm. Every test order in the store goes, along with the test customers, gift cards, download links and discount uses they created. Live orders are never touched. - **One at a time:** open the test order and click **Delete test order**. Deleting can't be undone. You don't have to delete them: test orders stay out of your sales and reports either way. When you go live, the **Go live?** box also offers to delete your test orders for you. You can still place test orders any time after going live. ## Before you go live While your store is still being set up and has no payment method connected, the test payment method is also what your shop's checkout offers. Connect a payment gateway before you go live, so customers can pay you for real. ## Related - [Add your first product](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/add-your-first-product.md) - [Choose a payment gateway](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/choose-a-payment-gateway.md) - [Connect Stripe](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/connect-stripe.md) - [Go live](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/go-live.md) [Open Orders in your dashboard](https://app-v3.shoprocket.io/go/orders) --- - HTML version: https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/take-a-test-order - Language: English (en) - Also in: [العربية](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ar/help/take-a-test-order.md), [Deutsch](https://v3.shoprocket.io/de/hilfe/testbestellung-aufgeben.md), [Ελληνικά](https://v3.shoprocket.io/el/help/take-a-test-order.md), [Español](https://v3.shoprocket.io/es/ayuda/hacer-un-pedido-de-prueba.md), [Français](https://v3.shoprocket.io/fr/aide/passer-une-commande-de-test.md), [עברית](https://v3.shoprocket.io/he/help/take-a-test-order.md), [हिन्दी](https://v3.shoprocket.io/hi/help/take-a-test-order.md), [Bahasa Indonesia](https://v3.shoprocket.io/id/bantuan/buat-pesanan-uji.md), [Italiano](https://v3.shoprocket.io/it/aiuto/effettuare-un-ordine-di-test.md), [日本語](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ja/help/take-a-test-order.md), [Lietuvių](https://v3.shoprocket.io/lt/pagalba/pateikite-bandomaji-uzsakyma.md), [Norsk](https://v3.shoprocket.io/nb/hjelp/legg-inn-en-testbestilling.md), [Nederlands](https://v3.shoprocket.io/nl/hulp/een-testbestelling-plaatsen.md), [Polski](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pl/pomoc/zloz-zamowienie-testowe.md), [Português](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pt/ajuda/fazer-um-pedido-de-teste.md), [Română](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ro/ajutor/plaseaza-o-comanda-de-test.md), [Русский](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ru/help/take-a-test-order.md), [ไทย](https://v3.shoprocket.io/th/help/take-a-test-order.md), [Türkçe](https://v3.shoprocket.io/tr/yardim/test-siparisi-verme.md), [中文](https://v3.shoprocket.io/zh/help/take-a-test-order.md)