For active payment tests, you will be the one completing the orders using your own personal payment methods or a real card issued by Test IO for you. You will be responsible for testing the checkout flow and reporting any problems found during and after the process of placing an order on a production website.
The usual flow consists in:
Getting an invitation to a test cycle in your email or in your tester dashboard
Accepting the Real Payments agreement (if it’s the first-time testing for the customer)
Reading all the instructions carefully and accepting the cycle
Claiming one of the available tasks distributed in Test Cases or in the access.claims page
Completing the task following the exact instructions using the correct payment method
Submitting the evidence of the purchase or the bug found
How to Test
The complete instructions in a Real Payment Test will be provided by each customer in the test scope and should be read carefully. A few key pieces of information you must check in the instructions:
The available tasks. The number of transactions allowed per tester may vary according to each cycle. Also, each payment method combined with a certain device and a product may be considered a different purchase type for the customer. For that reason, each cycle will use either Test Cases or an access.claims page containing the available tasks to be claimed. Be mindful of the cycle limits and only claim multiple tasks if authorized by the TL or the CPC.
The accepted payment method. The customer will ask for specific payment methods (e.g. E-Wallets, Credit or Debit Cards) and you can’t use a different one. If you don’t have access to the requested payment method for any reason, you must skip the cycle.
The purchase limit. If there’s a purchase limit, you must never complete orders where the grand total is over this limit. In case this can’t be completed (if there are no products available under the price limit), please inform the Team Leader about the situation.
The reimbursement amounts. In some cycles, you will get a fixed reimbursement value and anything you don't spend you can keep it. In other cycles, you'll only be reimbursed based on what you've spent. In other cycles, all orders will be canceled by the customer, so the money spent will be refunded directly to the payment method used. Those instructions will be clear in the test cycle, but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the Team Leader or the Community Project Coordinator.
The requested currency. You must pay close attention to the currency used by the customer and convert it to your own currency in case you are allowed to pay using local cards. You can use the tool available on the Investing website to help you with the conversion.
The attachments. You will be requested to attach evidence of your purchase, such as bills, card statements, and confirmation emails. You must blur any personal or confidential information but be careful not to blur important information (such as the order number or the total amount of your purchase).
The evidence of the purchase. Sometimes there might be a bug that prevents you from gathering the evidence you've made the purchase (e.g. you might not get the confirmation email, or the order might fail but you might still get charged for it). It is always recommended to capture the entire checkout process and to keep all generated evidence, such as emails and receipts (even after the cycle is over). This way, if we need more information about the problem, you'll have everything already set.
The reimbursement vs the cycle payout
You will be paid for your work according to the cycle description after the cycle is archived, just like it happens with regular exploratory cycles. However, the reimbursement will be reviewed by our team (TL, CSM, and the customer) before authorizing the payment. The process to reimburse testers is manually made to make sure everything is correct and to avoid mistakes from our end. Therefore, you might be paid at any time, even after the cycle is already archived for a few days. Please understand that depending on the transaction size and reimbursement instructions, it could take up to two months (two payment cycles on our platform) to receive the reimbursement. That also means you must make sure you have enough credit limit on your credit card for example if you want to use the card after the cycle for other purposes and you have enough money to pay the card's monthly bill (which might come before the reimbursement).
You will usually be reimbursed through the Bonus system on our platform. The money is added to the platform for the current payment cycle, and you will be able to request it along with your other regular earnings. Taxes/conversion rates might affect the total amount you'll receive in your own currency though. For that reason, our team will always make sure to cover those expenses as well when reimbursing you. If the total amount is significantly different than what you expended in the cycle, please contact the support team for a reimbursement review.
The card-issuing platform
For some specific customers and cycles, we may offer you Virtual Cards to be used on your tests. These cards will be issued to you directly and consist of REAL valid cards and hence, should not be mistaken for test cards you use in Staging environments.
You will find a link in the instructions to access the card issuing platform when such cards can be used in the test cycle. After logging in, you’ll be able to see the card details and use it to complete orders. Afterward, you will also need to submit a "Purchase Report" as evidence, for more information, please check our "Purchase Reports" article. Although the platform usage is straightforward, here are some tips:
Please only use Active cards on your tests. Inactive/Frozen cards will be rejected, as expected.
If you have multiple cards, please use the latest issued ones (the first ones on the list).
Be careful with the card network (Visa or Mastercard) and use the correct one for your current task.
These are REAL Credit Cards issued exclusively to you for testing purposes. Do not share it with anyone.
If you don’t have an active card, please contact the TL or the CPC.
Keep in mind testers are added to the platform on demand, so you won’t be added until you are invited to a cycle that is necessary to use the platform. If you were invited to a cycle but were not contacted by the CPC directly to create an account, please reach out to us.
NOTE: you will need to provide your first name, last name, email, date of birth and a working phone number to be added to the platform. This information is used in case the card 2FA is triggered while completing a purchase, so you need to provide your real data. The information won’t be used for any other purposes. You are free to reject the account creation, although you won’t be able to participate in some cycles without an account.
Improving your chances of being selected for an Active Payment test cycle
Active Payment cycles will have requirements from the customer, such as specific payment methods or testers from certain countries. Also, the selected testers must pay attention to all details and have expertise in the subjects. Mistakes are usually irreversible, so only our best testers are selected to participate in such test types.
To improve your chances of being invited to such cycles, you can:
Add all of your available payment methods to your Test IO profile (https://tester.test.io/account/skills). Under the “Skills & Experience” tab, you’ll notice the “Payment Testing” section. Please enter all payment methods you would be comfortable using in your tests, including e-wallets (such as PayPal) or Crypto Wallets.
Reply to all surveys you get from us about potential opportunities. We usually tend to select testers who are proactive and show interest in participating in certain projects and cycles.
Pass our regular onboarding courses. Although you may be eligible to participate in Real Payments cycles even if you have not passed our onboarding, we will always give preference to testers who passed our courses and understand our rules and quality standards.
If you are already an approved tester, try to improve your Tester Level. Testers from higher levels will be selected for more tests as they have shown great value to our platform.