Avoid Payment Nightmares with Test Cards and Integration Testing Best Practices for Africa Payments
Test your payment integrations with powerful test cards from Flutterwave, Paystack, and PayU. Learn why testing payments before going live ensures security, smooth user experience, and safeguards your business.
When it comes to integrating payment gateways into your website or application, jumping straight to live without a comprehensive test run is like walking a tightrope without a safety net. That’s where test cards become your best friends—your secret weapon against payment chaos!
Imagine this: You’ve built a slick checkout flow, but suddenly, payments start failing after launch. Users are frustrated, orders lost, and your support inbox blows up. Nightmare, right?
Test cards let you run through every possible scenario before real customers see it, from smooth successes to tricky declines, fraud alerts, and everything in between—without spending a dime or risking trust.
Testing payment integrations before going live is critical for developers to ensure a seamless, secure, and trusted user experience.
Why Use Test Cards?
Contents
Test cards allow developers to simulate real payment transactions in a safe environment without risking actual funds. This helps validate that the payment integration handles various scenarios correctly—successful payments, declines, insufficient funds, fraud detection, and more—without impacting real accounts or customers.
Testing your payment integration is more than ticking a box. It’s about:
- Catching errors early—fix bugs before they cost you money.
- Ensuring security—payment data is handled like Fort Knox.
- Perfecting user experience—make sure payments flow effortlessly.
- Staying compliant with industry standards like PCI DSS.
Functionality Validation
Ensures the payment gateway communicates properly with your app; transactions process accurately; order statuses update correctly.
Security
Verifies data is encrypted and handled securely to prevent leaks or fraud.
Error Handling
Confirms users receive clear error messages and that failed transactions don’t cause system crashes or order confusion.
User Experience
Tests form usability, responsiveness, and flow consistency across devices and browsers.
Compliance
Assures adherence to PCI-DSS standards and local regulations.
Performance
Checks system stability under load and peak traffic.
Test Cards
Flutterwave
The following test cards are for Flutterwave. This include Test banks and some special cases.
Regular Card transaction
OTP : 12345
| Card type | Card Number | CVV | Expiry | PIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MasterCard PIN Authentication | 5531 8866 5214 2950 | 564 | 09/32 | 3310 |
| MasterCard PIN 2 | 5438 8980 1456 0229 | 470 | 10/31 | 3310 |
| Master 3D-Secure (VBSECURECODE) | 5399 8383 8383 8381 | 564 | 10/31 | 3310 |
| Visa 3D-Secure (VBSECURECODE) | 4187 4274 1556 4246 | 828 | 09/32 | 3310 |
| Visa 3D-Secure Authentication | 4242 4242 4242 4242 | 812 | 01/31 | 3310 |
| Address Verification(AVS) Card | 4556052704172643 | 899 | 09/32 | 3310 |
| Verve Card | 5061 4604 1012 0223 210 | 780 | 12/31 | 3310 |
Special test card case
| Case type | Card Number | CVV | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card Declined (Address Verification) | 5143 0105 2233 9965 | 276 | 08/32 |
| Card Fraudulent | 5590 1317 4329 4314 | 887 | 11/32 |
| Card Insufficient Funds | 5258 5859 2266 6506 | 883 | 09/31 |
| Pre-authorization Test Card | 5377 2836 4507 7450 | 789 | 09/31 |
| Do Not Honour | 5143010522339965 | 276 | 08/31 |
| Invalid Transaction | 5551658157653822 | 276 | 08/31 |
| Restricted Card, Retain Card | 5551651630381384 | 276 | 08/31 |
| Incorrect PIN | 5399834697894723 | 883 | 09/31 |
| Verve – Card enrolment | 5531882884804517 | 564 | 10/32 |
| Card Transaction Error | 5258589130149016 | 887 | 11/30 |
Testing Banks transactions details
| Bank | Account Number | OTP |
|---|---|---|
| Access Bank | 0690000031 | 12345 |
| Access Bank | 0690000032 | 12345 |
| Access Bank | 0690000033 | 12345 |
| Access Bank | 0690000034 | 12345 |
| Providus Bank | 5900102340 | 12345 |
| Providus Bank | 5900002567 | 12345 |
Paystack
The following test cards are for Paystack.
OTP : 123456
Successful Test Cards
| Case type | Card Number | CVV | Expiry | PIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Validation | 4084084084084081 | 408 | 10/21 | null |
| PIN validation(reusable) | 507850785078507812 | 081 | 10/21 | 1111 |
| PIN + OTP validation(nonreusable) | 5060666666666666666 | 123 | 10/21 | 1234 |
| PIN + Phone + OTP validation | 507850785078507804 | 884 | 10/21 | 0000 |
| Bank authorization Simulation | 4084080000000409 | 000 | 10/31 | null |
Fail Test Cards
| Case type | Card Number | CVV | Expiry | PIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Declined | 4084080000005408 | 001 | 10/21 | null |
| Token Not Generated | 507850785078507853 | 082 | 10/21 | 0000 |
| 500 error | 5060660000000064 | 606 | 10/21 | null |
| Timeout error | 506066506066506067 | 060 | 10/21 | null |
Paystack Banks Accounts
| Bank | Account Number | Birthday | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zenith Bank(transaction) | 0000000000 | 1999-10-14 | null |
| First Bank of Nigeria(transfer) | 0000000000 | null | 011 |
| Bank | Account Number | Birthday | Code |
| Zenith Bank(transaction) | 0000000000 | 1999-10-14 | null |
| First Bank of Nigeria(transfer) | 0000000000 | null | 011 |
Paystack Mobile Money
| Network | Number | Network | Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| MTN | 0551234987 | MTN | 0551234987 |
PayU
The following test cards are for PayU.
| Card type | Card Number | 3D Secure | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|---|
| MasterCard | 5434021016824014 | no | Positive Authorization |
| MasterCard | 5100052384536891 | yes | Positive Authorization |
| MasterCard | 5150030090050083 | yes | Negative Authorization |
| Visa | 4012001037141112 | no | Positive Authorization |
| Visa | 4012001007002005 | yes | Positive Authorization |
| Visa | 4000398284360 | yes | Positive Authorization |
| Maestro | 5000105018126595 | no | Negative Authorization |
Developers should use the respective payment gateway’s sandbox or test environment to exhaustively test their payment flows using these cards. Plug these into your sandbox environment and push your payment integration to its limits. Test declined cards, expired dates, and edge cases to make every user journey smooth and secure.
Remember, thorough testing is the difference between a launch that wins customer loyalty and one that crashes under payment chaos. So suit up, fire up those test cards, and make failure impossible.
Incorporating payment test cards and rigorous testing practices helps avoid costly live errors, improves customer trust, and ensures compliance and scalability. Testing payment integrations is essential groundwork before launch for any developer building e-commerce or payment-accepting apps. This energetic approach mixes practical advice with vivid scenarios and encouragement, connecting better with developers who want to avoid costly problems and make smart launches.
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