What is Payment Gateway Testing? With Example Test Cases

Payment Gateway testing ensures an intermediate path between transaction channels such as net banking, debit, credit cards, and merchant acquired banks are working as they are supposed to be guaranteeing utmost security.
Payment gateway passes the information of the transaction channel to the merchant bank and then check the response received from the respective bank.
There are so many payment gateways available these days. Some of them are PayPal, Braintree and Citrus Payments.
Let’s first check out the flow of any transaction which happens on e-commerce and then we will dig into details of testing the payment gateway flow.
payment gateway working

What is Payment Gateway Testing

Payment gateway integration is a must for any business. It has to be highly secure, highly functional and must offer high UX.  To check all this you need payment gateway testing.

Payment Gateway transaction flow

Payment-gateway process
The transaction starts with the customer who places an order for a product on an e-commerce website.
After confirming for a product, the customer is being redirected to some website where the customer is asked to enter payment details.
On this page, the customer clicks on the pay now button and then the payment gateway sends this entered information to the acquiring bank.
This information is sent in the form of encryption data and then the acquiring bank sends the data to the issuing bank to verify the details.
If the issuing bank verifies the transaction, then the payment is approved, and the successful response code is sent to the payment processor.
While if the issuing bank does not approve the transaction then the issuing bank sends a failure response code and at last, failure message is displayed to the customer.
Payment gateway testing
 

Types of testing required on payment gateways

The below types of testing are required for testing the payment gateway.

  • Functional Testing

Whenever a new payment gateway integrated into your system, functional testing is required to see if the application behaves the way it behaves with other payment gateways.
It should handle the calculation as it is mentioned in the contract shared with you. For some gateways who are well renowned in the market such as PayPal, functional testing can be avoided.

  • Integration Testing

Integration testing very important testing that must be performed on any payment gateway. You need to verify that your application behaves the way you want to be even after integrating a payment gateway.
You need to check if the customer is successfully able to place an order and then after successful payment, you need to make sure that the funds are successfully received in the merchant’s bank.
Also, you need to verify if the transaction is void or refunded.

  • Performance Testing

Performance testing is critical for testing a payment gateway. You need to have a maximum number accessing the payment gateway at the same time and see if the payment processor fails.
You need to increase users above a threshold level to check the performance of the payment gateway.

  • Security Testing

Security testing must be done on any payment gateway on priority because of the sensitive information provided while filling the payment details.
It is very important to check if the payment details entered by the user are encrypted properly and to check if any kind of tweaks is not possible.
Read also: How to test a banking software

Important Test Cases for Payment Gateway

Let’s see some of the important test cases which you should write for a payment gateway.

    1. Test payment gateway with different card numbers – credit and debit. You should have dunny card numbers to test this flow.
    2. Verify the flow when there is a successful response from the issuing bank.
    3. After a successful transaction from the issuing bank, the successful payment message should be displayed to the user.
    4. When the payment is successful on the payment gateway, the update must be sent to the customer email or phone number.
    5. Verify the flow when there is a failed transaction.
    6. Verify the flow when the payment gateway stops responding.
    7. Verify the transaction flow with fraud protection or security settings.
    8. For testing purposes, after the successful transaction, an entry must be made in the database. That entry must be checked according to the architecture designed.
    9. Checking the flow in case the session expires while doing transactions.
    10. Verify if the payment gateway operates on the currency of the country in which the customer is doing the payment.
    11. If the application allows payment through various options, then each option should be tested individually.
    12. Verify that refund is of the same amount the transaction has been canceled or void. There should be any discrepancy in the amount as it can cause loss of business.
    13. Verify that the refund initiated to the customer account is credited within the stipulated time period mentioned by the applicable terms and conditions.
    14. Verify the refund time period is different for different payment modes. For example, refund initiation time for Paytm is less as compared to credit or debit cards.
    15. Verify the flow when a customer voluntarily cancels the transaction in the middle of the transaction.

Read also: How to test an e-commerce website

Example of Braintree payment gateway testing

    1. You can visit the Braintree site.
    2. There, you can click on the “Try the sandbox” button.
    3. You will be redirected to the official site where you must fill some important information to sign up on the page.
    4. You will get an email in your email address provided for account confirmation.
    5. You need to create your account by adding a password.
    6. You will then be able to see the portal of Braintree.
    7. You can find the sandbox keys and then integrate them into your application.
    8. You can change the settings of your sandbox in the settings tab in the portal.
    9. You can add settings like which cards would be accepted and you can add the CVV of the mock cards used in testing the application.

It is completely a different component which needs extensive testing as this drives the profit for the client and any kind of irregularities would let the client in loss

Payment gateway testing tips for testers

  • Try to have a sandbox environment for testing and implementing any payment gateway in an application
  • Make sure that the data capture and data flow of the system is tested for anomalies, For instance, not capturing credit card expiry date, showing a duplicate transaction
  • Ensure end-to-end testing of the transaction process
  • Be aware of the limitations of  payment gateway sandboxes
  • Make sure that error messages and popping up as it is supposed to be

Checklist for Payment gateway testing

  • Make sure that you have data for duplicate credit cards from various card providers
  • Collect data for payment wallets
  • Make sure that data regarding error code has been documented
  • Check all the functionality and settings regarding the payment has been tested thoroughly
  • Make sure that the pop-up messages are working fine
  • Check the fraud preventive measures are working fine
  • Session expiry sequence check
  • Check the currency integration
  • Check the payment gateway behavior with respect to interruptions

Conclusion

Start setting the test environment and have a sandbox integrated with it. Gather all the test data for testing the sandbox example: all the dummy credit and debit cards and associated information with it. Formulate a test strategy and start your payment gateway testing.
 

10 Effective E-commerce Website Testing Techniques

Developing an e-commerce website is a complex process. From defining the purpose, design to identifying the ways in which its user will make the payment, developing a website requires a lot of efforts. But, all those efforts might go in vain if the website is solely developed and no step is taken to ensure its proper functionality.
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Testing an e-commerce website is a crucial step that helps ensure that it continues to deliver the required performance and keeps its users happy. It is also important to be sure about software’s reliable performance, optimum quality and capacity utilization. Similar to its development, testing an e-commerce website demands the tester’s proper attention. Some of the common techniques that can be used for testing an e-commerce website are as mentioned below:
1. Compatibility With Different Browsers

This form of testing is conducted to ensure that the product being developed offers provide proper support for early browsers and has browser specific extensions. While conducting this testing, it is also important to verify that it is able to cover main platforms like Linux, Windows, Mac etc.
2. Page Display
Testing the product for this feature helps in verifying any incorrect display of pages, runtime error messages, poor download time of a page, dead hyperlink or font sizing error. Identifying this form of error helps in ensuring that all such errors are rectified on time.
3. Session Expiry
This includes testing the website on parameters like the duration for which a session lasts, its storage, etc. Testing this feature is important to ensure the maximum safety and security of the user’s confidential data like bank account details, passwords, etc.

Also Read : 7 Features That Have To Be Tested In An E-Commerce Website

4. Usability
When you own an e-commerce website, it is important to ensure that it proves useful to its users. Test to ensure that it does not have poor site navigation, performs when someone navigates through the catalogue and is also available with complete support, in case the need arises.
5. Analysis of Content
One must ensure that the content available/visible to the end user is authentic and not at all misleading. This implies that the website should be thoroughly checked for the presence of any offensive or deceptive content, copyright of the images present on the website, possibility of personalizing the content, etc.

6. Data Backup and Recovery
Any e-commerce business runs on the basis of data availability. Therefore, it is important to ensure that there is no risk of data loss. In case of any data loss, there should always be a possibility of recovering the same. The risk of backup failure should not exist in case of e-commerce website.
7. Performance of Shopping Cart Features
The functionality of shopping cart is the utmost important part of an e-commerce website. When testing an e-commerce website, one must check the performance of its shopping cart in terms of adding or removing the items, processing of order and payment, tracking order, etc.
8. Performance for Global Audience
The website should never be limited to serve a particular set of audience. Making it viable to use for a mass audience by offering features like language support and display, its sensitivity to different cultures and regional accounting can make the website a path towards gaining a large customer base.
9. System Integration
The extent to which a website integrates with the system is an important factor to consider when developing an e-commerce website. To verify this, the testing team needs to check and confirm the data interface format, interface frequency and volume capacity, updates and performance.
10. Login and Security
Testing an e-commerce website requires one to test it on several grounds like login capability, access control, ability to handle web attacks, transmission of information and viruses. It is also important to ensure that there is no breach of data or threat to the user’s data when he/she is using the website.
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Conclusion
It is important to remember that performance testing is the key to success for any e-commerce website. Conducting this form of testing ensures that there is no delay in its response time or handling any requests raised by the user. Remember, launching an e-commerce website is not an end; it is rather a beginning to delivering the best-in-class experience to the user that can be ensured only by conducting regular testing and maintenance.

Recommended for You : How to Test an Ecommerce Website: Points To Remember

7 Features That Have To Be Tested In An E-Commerce Website

In this highly competitive era when every small to major business is focused on strengthening its presence online, e-commerce has undoubtedly become an inseparable part of a common man’s life. With everything available online, from daily needs, groceries to other luxury products, it is no doubt that the risk and threat to the available data is pretty high. Therefore, it is important to make sure that every ecommerce website is tried and tested on a regular basis before it is actually made available to the end user.

While there is no rocket-science involved in testing an e-commerce website, it definitely requires one to keep certain important things in mind. Read on to know some of these common factors that one must always focus on when testing an e-commerce website.
1. Hero Image
Hero image or hero banner is an oversized banner image available at the top of an ecommerce website. Since this image serves a number of purposes like displaying popular offers and discounts, new offers and collection, ensuring its optimum performance is extremely important. Some of the important things to test in this image are auto scroll feature, hovering, clickability, view on different browsers and screen resolutions, and image refreshing feature.
2. Search Bar
It is important to understand that you cannot always be 100 percent sure about what the end user might search in the search bar. Therefore, it is necessary to make sure that this feature is able to deliver the performance as required. Before launching your ecommerce website or mobile application, make sure that the search bar is able to search data on the basis of product name, features, navigation, etc.
3. Product Details Page
This page plays an important role in determining the success of any ecommerce business. Before making a purchase from an ecommerce website, every individual visits the product details page to ensure that the product he/she is planning to order is at par to his/her requirements. Therefore, in order to ensure that his/her actions turn into sale, maintaining the optimum quality of the product details page is extremely important. Check whether the page correctly displays the information such as product images, price, reviews, delivery options, etc.
4. Shopping Cart
There are situations when a user spends a lot of time in selecting and adding the items to his/her cart. But, due to some circumstance, he/she is unable to make a purchase, hence, postponing the same to the next day. In such and similar other situations, a person expects that the cart would contain the items shortlisted by him/her whenever he/she visits the particular site again.

Also Read : Software Testing: Meeting The Customer Expectation

Therefore, an ecommerce website admin needs to ensure that such requirements are fulfilled. Testing for this feature should be done for features like cart total, tax to be paid, items in the cart and many other steps that are completed before the final check-out.
5. Check-Out and Payments Option
For a successful e-commerce website and mobile application, it is important to ensure that its check-out and payments option is functioning properly. Double-check its functionality by testing the product on various grounds such as user sign up page, check out as a guest user, registration after the completion of payment, email/text messages sent as a confirmation for the order placed, etc.
6. Products And Categories
The products that are displayed to a returning and new user are different on an ecommerce website. While a returning customer is shown products based on his/her last purchase, a new user is made to browse through the entire website.
Since, products and categories are dynamic elements and may vary every day, it is not recommended to test every product individually. The best way to ensure an optimum performance of the website is by testing the algorithm for these sections. Testing the data mining/BI systems and the queries at the backend that populate these sections is important.
7. Order-Related Features
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An e-commerce website does not only involve the placement of orders but can also involve its cancellation, change or return. Therefore, testing the website for its functioning on these features and grounds is important to ensure a hassle-free experience to the end user.
Conclusion
Apart from these, e-commerce website is also tested for other features like login, FAQs, contact us page, customer service page, etc. It is also important to remember that automated testing is not possible for an e-commerce website as a number of its features are dynamic. Ensuring an optimum performance of an e-commerce website is extremely crucial as this can actually make or break the trust of the end user.

Also Read : 15 Top Selenium WebDriver Commands For Test Automation

How to Test an Ecommerce Website: Points To Remember

It is very complex to set up an E-commerce website. It is subject to various market-specific variables. Testing becomes compulsory and important in order to maintain the integrity of E-commerce website. Testing a website helps to add value to your product or service and prevents errors. The main objective behind testing an E-commerce website is to ensure software quality, reliability, optimum performance and capacity utilization.
app testing
Sometimes you may wonder why it is so important to test an E-commerce website. In order to get success in an online business, you must ensure that your website is well designed to attract conventional traffic. Your website should offer a great customer experience.
In order to ensure these things, a website has to be tested. In a study of UNCTAD, it has been suggested to focus on testing the E-commerce websites as it is an essential part of online business future.

How to Test an E-commerce Website
Every website has to go undergo some basic tests whether it is an E-commerce website or any other.

  • Functional testing: It is basically done to ensure the smooth functioning of a website without any faults. It includes testing web pages, cookies, database etc.
  • Usability testing: It is done to make the website effective and user-friendly. This testing is suitable for the websites that are concerned with manual process. The important aspects of usability testing are sitemap, navigation etc.
  • Security testing: The main aim of security testing is to protect data and maintain functionality as planned. It stops unauthorized access in order to secure web pages. It includes testing like CAPTCHA testing, SSL testing etc.
  • Performance testing: As the word suggests, it tests the performance of your website in different scenarios. It typically involves load testing, scalability testing, stress testing etc.
  • Database testing: Database testing includes testing performance related to database, data validity testing, integrity testing etc. It also tests procedures functions and triggers.
  • Mobile application testing: Some website verifications are concerned with mobile versions. A number of people are mostly using mobile phones for internet. Hence, mobile application testing is very important for any website.
  • A/B testing: A/B testing is conducted to compare two versions of a single variable. It can run simultaneously between two or more web pages to check which of them converts the best for your E-commerce store.

As far as E-commerce business is concerned, we need to take care of different testing as it is all about buying and selling goods and services online. E-commerce is mainly concerned with product display, timely delivery, payment gateways and browsing compatibility etc. Well if we talk about E-commerce website testing, following tests need to be conducted in order to test the performance of an E-commerce website.

Also Read : 8 Important Things to Test in Ecommerce Web and Mobile Applications

Ecommerce website Testing Checklist
Browser Compatibility Testing: A good E-commerce website is the one which supports all type of web browsers such as Google Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc. You need to test the browser compatibility of your E-commerce website to ensure that the end users will not face any difficulty to access your website. Browser testing should cover core platforms such as Linux, Windows etc. Try using different tools to ensure whether the site is compatible with other browsers.
Page Display Testing: Page display is an important element of an E-commerce website. It is the core of E-commerce website as the customer gets attracted towards excellent product display or display home page. Product page plays a vital role in the success of an E-commerce website. Customers visit an E-commerce website for shopping purpose. They check various websites to compare the products and services online. If they found good quality product and promising services then only they take a purchase decision. So, your product page should be correct, attractive and error free.
Display page consists of different pages such as home page, product page, about us, sitemap etc. In order to get good business, you must test the product display page. Following is the checklist for product display page:
Product images, price, specification, reviews, delivery options, shipping information, multiple images and colors available for the product, in stock and out stock information etc.
Test-your-WebApps-for-better-stability
Content Testing: The contents of your website should not be offensive and misleading. You should avoid litigious contents on your website. The images you put on your website should not be copyrighted and should not have a watermark of any other company. The content that you are writing for your website should be catchy and precise. Your content page should have descriptive text, headlines, promotional banners etc.
Shopping Cart: It is one of the important elements of an E-commerce website. You should test your shopping cart while conducting E-commerce website testing. Your shopping cart should be updated with the latest stock of products available in the market. You should display all the items and the total number of products in your cart. You must add new products and remove old products from a shopping cart. The checklist for shopping cart testing is as follows:-
Product list view, cash on delivery and other payment options, order processing, payment processing etc.
Workflow Testing: The checklist for complete workflow testing of an E-commerce website comprises of following points:

  • Sign up and login options
  • The search functionality of product and service
  • Customers review posting
  • Sorting feature
  • Check out process
  • Order number generation
  • Payment options and payment gateways

Login and Security Testing: Well this is very important to test login and security options of your E-commerce website. The login id or accounts of your customer should be secure from any kind of hacking or virus. It contains login capability testing, access control, computer virus scanning; protection from web attacks, insecure information transmission, digital signature etc. E-commerce websites contain valuable information regarding the customer’s personal and banking data. Therefore, a security test should be conducted in order to secure the customer’s data. You can use various testing methods like ethical hacks on customer login, SQL injections etc.
Payment Gateway Testing: It is another important test in E-commerce website testing. Payment gateways are the mode of payment through which a customer pays for his shopping. In order to test the payment gateways functionality, you can make dummy accounts and demo credit card numbers. By using these accounts, you can check whether the payment is processed correctly or not. The methods of payment such as net banking, credit and debit card, PayPal, Paytm etc are working on desired parameters or not. You should check whether the emails and invoice generated after payment process are sent to the customer or not. You should also make sure that refund process, refund receipt is working properly or not. If the above-mentioned things are not working properly you should take corrective actions for the same.
Mobile Responsiveness Testing: As we know people are using the internet mostly on their mobile phones rather than desktop or laptop. That’s the reason companies are taking mobile phones as the first approach to their E-commerce website. So you need to make sure that your E-commerce website or application should be mobile friendly and suitable for various size screen.
Performance and SEO Testing: Performance testing shows how well your website is performing in the online market. Performance of your website depends upon request coming on your website per second, transactions taking place per minute, the time duration between clicking and seeing your web page etc. Performance testing can be conducted on various parameters such as loading speed, tolerance of traffic load, data transfer rate etc.
Your website should have high visibility on a search engine so that you can get huge traffic on your website. You can raise the visibility by implementing search engine optimization on your E-commerce website.
Product Filtration Testing: Product filtration is to choose the product according to size, color, material etc. For example, if someone searches for a formal shirt on your website, he can select it from filtration according to required size like small, medium, large etc or he can also have a color preference like blue, white, yellow etc. You should test whether product filtration is working properly or not before living the website in order to provide a great customer experience.
automation testing
So, this is how you can test an E-commerce website on different parameters using various techniques. Website testing is a crucial step before launching your E-commerce website in the market. A well-tested website or application performs well and gives desired results to the business owners and customers as well. We hope this article has served you well and provided you with the required and important information that you want related to your E-commerce website.

Also Read : How to Select An Test Automation Services Provider For Your Software

Why is it Important to Test an Ecommerce Application

Browsing through products in online stores and ordering them online is just one facet of e-commerce. E-commerce is a multifaceted way of conducting business online. Both B to C and B to B businesses use and rely on e-commerce these days. In fact e-commerce is driving changes in the traditional market and giving rise to new trends.

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The changing trends are reflected in almost every sphere of business. Online fund transfer, digital marketing, integrated inventory management, supply chain management etc are some of the examples of e-commerce applications that have changed the face of business permanently. All these ecommerce applications have contributed significantly to transparency in day to day activities of businesses, real time inventory management, finances etc in a B2B environment. In the B2C front e-commerce applications have made life easier and even less expensive in some cases.

Here, are a few reasons why its important to test an e-commerce application:

1) Customer Friendly Designs and Features

In a B2C environment you need extreme customer friendly designs and features in e-commerce applications. However, such designs and features may sometime be at odds with the functionality of the site. This is more so because e-commerce websites may need to handle huge amounts of traffic for certain period of time followed by certain periods of lull. So it’s important that you test the functionality of a site when the traffic goes up very high. You need to see that it retains the functionality at extreme level of traffic and at the same time have customer friendly designs and features.

2) Different Browsers

E-commerce sites are loaded with JavaScript plug-ins, rich images, social media integration, product description, informative videos etc. These are the features that enhance customer experience and help visitors convert to customers. These sites are opened in multiple browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera etc. The developers need to ensure that the site offers a smooth experience to the customer irrespective of the browser that he or she is using. So, testing of ecommerce sites and applications should be a continuous process as any glitch would rob the company of a significant amount of revenue.

3) Different Platforms

People access e-commerce sites from a number of devices such as smart phones, tablets, computers, laptops etc. Therefore, a company needs to ensure that customers have a seamless experience across all devices. And for this, testing e-commerce sites and applications Is necessary.

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4) Security and Vulnerability

Ecommerce sites and applications are more prone to security and vulnerability threats than others. Since people are using these applications to purchase products using their confidential banking data like card number, PIN number etc, it is of utmost importance that security and vulnerability of applications like Payment Gateway are always checked and updated.

5) Billing

E-commerce sites need to ensure that billing of products is done correctly. These companies offer various discounts and coupons to consumers. Sometimes the discounts are for targeted consumers such as those who make a certain amount of purchase. The billing application needs to take into account everything that goes into determining the price of the product or service availed. This will ensure customer confidence and allegiance. It also needs to take into account applicable taxes correctly. Then there are automated processes like generation of invoice and emails etc. that are integral to the billing process. To ensure all these, the business needs to conduct repeated tests on all these applications.

Final Verdict

The retail industry is highly volatile and ever evolving. Choosing the right methods and doing the right tests is recommendable before the e-commerce site is launched. By performing a strict test on your e-commerce website/application, you can certainly reduce the number of errors that crop up when the website is made live to your customers. This depicts that the site doesn’t always stay the same for too long. Therefore, it could get inordinate for many.