Phase 2/3 - Free Merchant Account for Testing

[lightwave365]

Hello everyone, 

We are developing software that uses Authorize.net as a Payment Gateway. So far we have everything tested and working on the test account and can now move into Phase 2 of the testing process:

http://developer.authorize.net/guides/SIM/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm (Test Transactions)

The thing I am noticing though is that you need to use a merchant account, not a test account, to test the secure.authorize.net/gateway/transact.dll URL. And going through the sign up pages it looks like you need to purchase this merchant account.

My question: Is there a way to test the "secure" URL without purchasing a merchant account? It seems silly to have to pay for a merchant account when we are only going to be using it for confirming that our software still works. With any luck this will be a five minute test and we'd never use the merchant account again. Our customers are going to be purchasing these merchant accounts, not us. Even if there's a limited free trial that only lets you use amounts of $0.01, that would work too.

Thanks,

Matt

[RaynorC1emen7]

The only different is the URL. Not sure what kind of test are you looking for.

[lightwave365]

All I'm trying to do is test Phases 2 and 3 like they suggested. But in the documentation it says:

(Developer test account credentials will not be accepted by the live payment gateway.) 

So I'll need a merchant account, not a test one. Obviously before we push this software out the door we want to make sure the code works for a live enviornment as well. That simple test doesn't seem worth $99.

[RichardH · Accepted solution]

Hello lightwave365,

First, I wanted to commend you for so carefully reviewing and then following our guide.  For this particular section, we have been discussing it internally for several months and plan to change this in an upcoming revision.

Our sandbox performs just like our production environment with the exception of not actually connecting to the card networks to process payments.  Instead, it simulates that function.  Because the sandbox behaves like our production environment, it is not necessary to run test transactions in production.

Instead, you simply need to change the API Login ID and Transaction Key for your applicaiton and point to the correct target URL for the production environment.

Richard