PayPal Sandbox User Guide

The PayPal Sandbox is a self-contained environment within which you can prototype and test PayPal features and APIs. The PayPal Sandbox is an almost identical copy of the live PayPal website. Its purpose is to give developers a shielded environment for testing and integration purposes and to help avoid problems that might occur while testing PayPal integration solutions on the live site. Before moving any PayPal-based application into production, you should test the application in the Sandbox to ensure that it functions as you intend and within the guidelines and standards set forth by the PayPal Developer Network (PDN).

Get Started Quickly: Integration Center
PayPal’s Integration Center at https://www.paypal.com/integration has step-by-step details for getting started with the PayPal Software Development Kits (SDKs), Website Payments Pro, Express Checkout, Website Payments Standard, Authorization & Capture, Instant Payment Notification, and more.

Visit the Integration Center at: https://www.paypal.com/integration

Accessing the PayPal Sandbox
To access the PayPal Sandbox, sign up for an account at https://developer.paypal.com. After signing up, you access the Sandbox either programatically or by logging in. Depending on the PayPal feature you want to test with an application, you need to set up different types of test accounts: PayPal Personal (or Premier) and Business accounts. See “Planning the Types of Test Accounts You Need” on page 19.

Download PayPal Sandbox User Guide