RegFox offers a few different ways to test your registration page depending on your needs and preferences. Testing is an important process to ensure everything is looking and exporting just as you'd expect. Testing allows you to review the entire registrant and admin experience.

Preview Mode will not allow you to save data, but will allow you to text the registrant experience.
Testing on a Tester Payment Processor will allow you to both test the registrant experience as well as reporting, exporting, editing registrants, integrations, etc.
Testing on a Real Payment Processor will allow you to do all of the above, as well as ensure your processor is successfully accepting transactions.

Test in Preview Mode

Overview

The first and easiest way to test your page is using Preview Mode. The Preview Mode can be found on your RegFox page, and launches a test page in a new tab and places a red border around the page letting you know that the page is for testing only
The preview mode is best for testing the visual and communication experience of your registration page, including the purchasing experience, confirmation page, and confirmation email. To test reports, analytics, integrations, and exports, with real data, you will want to choose another testing method.
The Preview Mode respects actions and dates so you can test your page in real time

Note: Preview mode will not process real card information (even if you try). When using Preview mode, no data will be saved to your account, and no reports will be generated from orders place in Preview Mode.

In addition, Preview Mode will not issue real confirmations so you won't be able to scan it with the check-in app. It will not alter any capacity limits or inventory of any items you are selling and it will not generate any reports or be reflected in your analytics, integrations or exports.

How to Use Preview Mode

On the Pages tab in the top menu bar, click the pencil icon on the page you'd like to test
Save any changes on your page by clicking Save in the top-right corner
Select the Preview button in the top right corner

Warning: Because the Preview mode is only used for testing, do not share this URL with registrants. This link will not accept real registrations or payments.

Summary of what can and can't be tested through Preview mode:

No data is saved when using preview mode so nothing captured in Preview mode will be stored in reports, exports, or analytics
Preview does not generate real confirmations that can be viewed, printed or scanned
Apple wallet does not work in preview mode since no QR codes are issued
Preview mode does not alter registration capacities or inventory limits
Preview mode doesn't allow you to access a virtual event
Preview mode does not preview if you have closed your registration page or set a future opening date. We do this so you can make changes to the registration page and experience while the general public cannot access your registration page

Test With a Test Payment Processor

Overview

The Tester payment processor allows users to add a fake payment processor that accepts certain test credit card numbers
The Tester payment processor best used for testing the exports, reporting, analytics, registration management, and integrations without spending real money

Note: The Tester payment processor is best when deep and extensive testing is needed. For example, if you are setting up an integration through Zapier, you will want to test certain workflows and review how the data flows to those services. Since Preview mode does not work for this and you won't want to pay real money, the Tester Payment processor is an excellent use.

Using the Tester payment processor will allow you to issue a real confirmation to test the check-in app and you can practice editing registrations making upgrades, downgrades, cancellations and more. All exports, reports, and analytics will work with the exception of Payout Summaries and Payout Reports because there was no real funds being processed.

Warning on Test Data:

Be advised that data captured and processed with the Tester payment processor is just like real transactions and cannot be deleted.

Most commonly, when customers are done testing, they will clone the page and then add their real payment processor to the new page (and archive the old page linked to the Tester payment processor). This will also archive the data and allow you to start fresh on the new page with no test data cluttering up your reporting.

Add a Test Payment Processor

Hover your mouse over the gear icon in the right-hand side of the top menu bar
Select Payment Processors from the dropdown
Click the Add Payment Processor button
On the Payment Processor dropdown, select the Credit Card dropdown
On the Provider dropdown, select Tester (for Testing Only) from the bottom of the list
The Tester payment processor will ask for Merchant ID and Merchant key. Make up a set of numbers to enter in there such as 11111111
Add a Reference Name that clearly identifies this gateway as a tester gateway
Click the Save button

Publish your page to the Test Payment Processor

On the Pages tab in the top menu bar, click the pencil icon under the page you want to test
Click the Publish button
Select a Tester payment processor from the Select Payment Method dropdown

To use the Test payment processor, go to the Published page and submit fake information to the page. When you submit a registration, enter one of the following dummy credit card numbers, enter an expiration date in the future, and make up the CVV number

Tester Visa Card number: 4111-1111-1111-1111
Tester American Express number: 3782-8224-6310-005
Tester Mastercard number: 5555555555554444

Test With a Real Payment Processor

Overview

Testing with a real payment processor and entering a real credit card ensures that your payment processor is accepting and processing credit cards as expected.
Testing with a real credit card should be reserved primarily for testing the payment processor, and is not useful for repetitive testing

NOTE: Many credit card processors may flag your account as fraud if they see the person who setup the payment processor running transactions through it.

We would recommend:

Being sure to cancel and refund yourself before the transaction is included in your payout, because the paying of yourself can be seen as money laundering.
Or, see if you can use someone else's credit card to perform the tests to avoid this. You can always cancel and refund the transaction later.

Testing with a real credit card will issue real confirmation, capacities and limits will be deducted, all data will be saved, and reports and analytics will all be generated with the registration. You cannot delete this data or tests, but you can cancel the registrations or archive the page. Testing with real credit cards should be reserved primarily for testing the payment processor. If you test your own credit card too many times, your own bank may flag your activity as suspicious and lock your card.

FAQs

Am I charged RegFox fees for registrations that use the tester payment processor?

No fees are charged that run through the tester payment processor.

What credit card numbers should I use when testing with a Tester Payment Processor?

You can use any of the following tester credit card numbers:

Tester Visa Card: 4111-1111-1111-1111
Tester American Express: 3782-8224-6310-005
Tester Mastercard: 5555555555554444

What happens if someone tries to place an order with a real credit card when my page is published to a tester payment processor?

If someone tries to use a real credit card on a page linked to a tester payment processor, the registration will be declined and they will receive this error message: "Oops: Card Processing Error! An error has occurred while attempting payment. Please try again or contact your bank for details: Tester gateway is unable to process with live card."

If registrants receive this error, we recommend changing the payment processor on the page to a real payment processor that can process transactions.