Once you have connected a Stripe account and have finished setting up your event registration forms and/or tickets, you'll want to test the checkout process before you make them available to purchase by your event attendees.
Why Test Your Event Checkout Process?
Testing your event checkout process will:
help you to familiarize yourself with the checkout experience that your attendees will see when they register or purchase tickets for your event. It's very helpful for you to also have a good understanding of checkout workflow in case you ever need to guide an attendee through the checkout process yourself.
help you test that any custom field validation rules you may have set up for your registration form are working as expected.
allow you to populate the ClearEvent platform with test registrations & ticket orders that simulate what you'll see when you make your event live.
Test Credit Cards Numbers
To be able to test registration forms and ticket orders that collect online payments, you can use test credit card numbers to simulate a registration or ticket order checkout attempt with various outcomes (e.g. a successful charge, declined charge, insufficient funds, etc...). You can find a full list of available test card numbers on Stripe's website here.
For example:
Using a Visa test card number of 4242 4242 4242 4242 will result in a successful purchase. However, using card number 4000 0000 0000 0002 will result in a card_declined payment error code and a failed registration.
Test Card Numbers For Successful Charges:
You can use any of the following test cards to simulate a successful payment for different billing countries. For countries that have separate domestic and international pricing (e.g., Australia), the fee calculated for test card payments is at the international rate.
Visa (U.S.A.):
4242 4242 4242 4242Visa (Canada):
4000 0012 4000 0000
Test Card Numbers For Failed Charges:
The following test cards can be used to create payments that produce specific responses—useful for testing different scenarios and error codes. Verification checks only run when the required information is provided (e.g., for cvc_check to be set to fail, a CVC code must be provided).
4000 0000 0000 0002- Charge is declined with acard_declinedcode.4000 0000 0000 0127- Charge is declined with anincorrect_cvccode.4000 0000 0000 0069- Charge is declined with anexpired_cardcode.
Testing Registration Forms & Ticket Orders
How To Enable "Test" Mode:
Your event's Payment Gateway Mode needs to be in "Test" mode before you can test any registrations or ticket orders using a test card number.
Go to the Event Manager App > Payments section.
Ensure that a Stripe account has been connected.
Ensure that Payment Gateway Mode is set to "Test" mode.
Testing Registration Form Checkout:
Go to the Event Manager App > Forms section and create or edit a form (ensure the form you wish to test has one more more online fees, and that the form is not yet published).
In the Form Designer, click the Preview button from the toolbar. This will open the form in "Preview Mode" and allow you to submit a test registration (without having to publish the registration form).
Complete any required form fields (shown in red).
When prompted for payment details, use a test card number (from above).
Click the Register Now button.
If you used a test card number that results in a successful charge, you'll see a new test participant registration in the Event Manager App > Registration section > Registrants tab if the form was set to charge the registrant immediately.
If the form was set to only charge the registrant when their registration is approved, you'll first need to Approve the participant in the Event Manager App > Registration section > Registrants tab to process the charge.
Testing Ticket Order Checkout:
Go to the Event Manager App > Event Setup section.
Ensure the Event Portal Web App is Open. If it is closed, click the Open Event Portal button.
Next, go to the Tickets section > Tickets tab and create one or more tickets. Ensure the ticket is a paid ticket, and that the ticket is not yet published.
Edit a paid ticket and click the Preview button. This will open the Event Portal Web App > Tickets purchase page.
Select the desired quantity of tickets and click the Checkout button.
When prompted for payment details, use a test card number.
Click the "Pay now" button.
If you used a test card number that results in a successful charge, you'll see a new test ticket order in the Event Manager App > Tickets section > Ticket Orders tab.
Cleaning Up Tests
When you're done testing, it's a good idea to decline & refund any registrations you created when you were testing. This will help avoid any confusion and also help keep your dashboard metrics accurate and budget clean.
Any paid participant registrations and ticket orders received while your payment gateway was in "Test" mode will be flagged with a "Test Payment" badge like so:
Any budget entries done in "Test" mode will be hidden from the Budget section once the Payment Gateway Mode is "Live".
Ready To Go Live?
Lastly, don't forget to switch your Payment Gateway Mode to "Live" when you're done testing and are ready to start charging registrants and ticket buyers for real.
Important Note: You must also ensure that your Stripe account has been verified to accept online payments. You will see a red banner at the top of your Stripe Dashboard if your account has not completed the Stripe verification process. Learn more here.
When Your Event Is Over
If you expect to run your event again, when your event is finished you may wish to switch your Payment Gateway Mode back to "Test". This will prevent any accidental charges until your event has been fully updated and is ready to go live again.
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