An increasing number of customers are now opting for digital payments due to greater convenience, lesser contact, and better tracking. It has become a boon for eCommerce businesses and to meet customer expectations, businesses need to ensure that their payment channels are both seamless and secure. Even small issues with digital payment can impact your customer loyalty and website traffic.

In a nutshell, payment channels that are tested thoroughly are always ready for the market and customers while eliminating cybersecurity threats. But is it possible for software testing teams to test every use case scenario for payment gateway channels?

It is possible for QA teams to conduct end-to-end testing of the security of sensitive payment data during digital transactions along with the performance, usability, and functionality of an online payment channel. All this can be done with a robust QA strategy including a well-thought-out payment gateway testing checklist.

Payment Gateway Testing Questions to Consider

It depends largely on the QA team to validate critical functionalities and features of digital payment systems including data verification, user authentication, and acknowledgment. Before running the test case scenarios of payment gateways, test engineers need to understand the parameters of the payment gateway and its ability to cope with market demands.

As the QA team plans the payment gateway testing checklist, it is essential to ask the following questions:

• Whether passwords and all the other secured details are encrypted or not?
• What are the Anti-fraud measures used for the payment gateway?
• How would the system handle the failed payment?
• Is the whole transaction cycle working on secure ‘HTTPS’ protocol?

Prerequisites for Payment Gateway Testing

Payment gateway testing is more than just knowing the steps of the overall QA process. With the right understanding and information of eCommerce testing, you can efficiently streamline and enhance the accuracy of your test results.

Before starting the payment gateway testing, make sure that the following data and resources are structured within the testing framework:

• A Payment Processor Sandbox: It enables the test engineer to validate payment processors without actually paying the submitted amount. A separate testing environment is leveraged to test the behavior of the payment gateway without impacting the live web environment of your application.
• Test Data: Make sure to have enough dummy credit card data for all the leading vendors including American Express, Visa, MasterCard, and more. You should keep the data of debit cards and payment wallets including Google Pay, Amazon Pay handy.
• Payment Gateway Terminology Knowledge: The test engineer should be well versed with both eCommerce jargon and transaction process including issuing bank, acquiring bank, merchant, authorization, transaction, and capture.

Types of Payment Gateway Testing

Payment gateway testing involves multiple scenarios, hence it would be difficult to highlight every case scenario. However, it is essential for QA teams to identify an optimized set of requirements for the digital payment channel, to chalk out a robust QA testing strategy.

Here is how you can approach your payment gateway testing:

• Functional Testing: Start by focussing on the main functionalities of the online payment process. Create and run test cases to validate all fields, calculations for taxes/discounts, UI, and navigation throughout the checkout.
• Integration Testing: Test the application integration with the payment gateway. From “Add to Cart” to “Successful Payment” all the test case scenarios should be focussed on verifying each transaction phase.
• Performance Testing: Shoddy apps that are slow can dent your business prospects. The efficient performance of your app is essential to keep online customers engaged and committed throughout the checkout process. It becomes even more crucial during peak traffic like season-end sales or festivals. QA teams should generate multiple concurrent requests to verify the web application response.
• Security Testing: Online transactions are always vulnerable to cyberattacks. It is essential for test engineers to test the entire transaction flow. You should validate all the instances of encryption, access for authenticated users, and proper security breach warnings.

Payment Gateway Testing Checklist and Test Cases

You need proper planning to execute payment gateway testing efficiently. Consider these points to not miss anything crucial:

1) Set up a payment processor sandbox

2) Collect test credit card numbers that you can use to test different credit cards

3) Verify application behavior after successful transaction

4) Verify that the payment gateway returns to the app to reflect successful transaction/confirmation message

5) Verify that transaction confirmation notification is sent to the customer like order confirmation SMS or email, etc.

6) Check what happens in the event of payment failure or if the payment processor stops responding- does the app show any error message?

7) Verify application behavior with browser popup blocker both on and off

8) Verify all the fraud prevention or security settings of the app

9) Check transaction entries in the database if you have access to the Application database

10) Check how the app behaves when the customer session expires

11) Check out the console during the entire transaction and report observed console errors

12) Verify that the online transaction is done on a secure channel like HTTPS

13) Validate payment processor currency is set up accurately

14) Individually test multiple payment options including credit card, debit card, digital wallets, and more

15) Verify that the refund amount is the same as the transaction amount

In Summary

Check out and payment are one of the most crucial steps in the overall journey of an online customer. It is that point where customers actually pay and buy your product or service. The sloppy performance of the payment gateway can frustrate the customer and ruin the sales prospects of your eCommerce application. Hence, you should always plan extensively and consider the above-mentioned points to execute payment gateway testing flawlessly.

Nabonidus Incorporated offers robust software testing services and QA solutions for eCommerce applications. Connect with our experts now to explore possibilities.