PayPal Commerce test cards

Use these details to try payments in a PayPal sandbox (test) account. They work only in the sandbox: never use them in live, and never put real card or bank details into a sandbox.

You need a PayPal developer account and sandbox accounts first: see PayPal sandbox testing for how to set them up.

Where these details come from

These are PayPal’s test details, not ours. They were copied from PayPal’s Card testing, 3D Secure test scenarios, Sandbox accounts, Test Venmo in sandbox, Negative testing request headers and Orders API errors pages on 19 October 2026, and were correct on that date as far as those pages show. PayPal can change or withdraw them at any time, and we can’t confirm that they work. Check PayPal’s pages for the current details, and ask PayPal if one doesn’t behave as described.

How to choose a test result

• Cards: the name sets the result. Enter one of the decline triggers below as the customer’s first name in the checkout and leave the last name empty: we send the first and last name together as the name on the card, so if both are filled in, PayPal receives both and the trigger won’t match. The triggers only work when the connection’s Account Type shows PayPal with Advanced Card Processing (see Connecting PayPal Commerce).
• 3D Secure: in the sandbox, we ask PayPal for 3D Secure on every card payment made with the customer present, so expect a 3D Secure step. PayPal’s 3D Secure test scenarios page lists cards for each outcome.
• Other PayPal errors: enter PayPal-Mock-Response as the customer’s first name and a PayPal error code as the last name (see Errors from PayPal’s API below). We then send PayPal’s mock response header, which works only in the sandbox.
• PayPal button: log in with a personal sandbox account, not the business account.
• Venmo: the amount sets the result: type it as shown below, for example 12.34. Venmo appears only for US customers, and only if Disable Venmo Button is off in the PayPal Commerce connection here.

Cards

Use a future expiry date and a 3-digit CVC, or a 4-digit CVC for American Express.

Successful payments

Card	Number	Notes
Visa	4012 8888 8888 1881	PayPal’s suggested default test card
Visa	4444 3333 2222 1111	Used in our own tests
Mastercard	2223 0000 4840 0011
American Express	3714 496353 98431
Diners Club	3646 151000 0039
JCB	3636 5000 0000 0260
Discover	Generate one	PayPal doesn’t list a fixed Discover number. Use the credit card generator on PayPal’s Card testing page.

PayPal lists more test numbers on its Card testing page. Its credit card generator makes extra test cards, which PayPal says you can use to test card payments, including in PayPal Checkout, or add to a personal sandbox account.

Declines and errors

To make a card payment fail, use a test card (for example 4012 8888 8888 1881) and enter one of these triggers as the customer’s first name, with the last name left empty. Triggers are case-sensitive. They work on card payments taken with Advanced Card Payments, which PayPal calls Expanded Checkout.

Number or trigger	Result
CCREJECT-REFUSED	Declined: do not honour (0500)
CCREJECT-BANK_ERROR	Declined: generic decline (5100)
CCREJECT-IF	Declined: insufficient funds (5120)
CCREJECT-EC	Declined: expired card (5400)
CCREJECT-IA	Declined: invalid account (1330)
CCREJECT-IRC	Declined: invalid or restricted card (5180)
CCREJECT-LS	Declined: lost or stolen card (9520)
CCREJECT-SF	Declined: suspected fraud (9500)
CCREJECT-CVV_F	Declined: CVC check failed (00N7)

PayPal returns these payments with an address check result of “globally unavailable” and a CVC result of “not processed”.

PayPal

To pay with the PayPal button, log in to PayPal with a personal sandbox account. That account plays the customer; the business sandbox account is the merchant. PayPal creates one of each when you register as a developer. You can find their email addresses and passwords, or create more, in the PayPal Developer Dashboard under Sandbox > Accounts.

Venmo

Venmo is only available in the US. In the sandbox, these amounts give an error and any other amount succeeds:

Amount	Result
12.34	Declined: insufficient funds
21.43	Declined: account closed
11.45	Declined: account frozen
10.23	Declined: suspected fraud
13.42	Declined: generic decline
Any other amount	Approved

On a desktop you see Venmo’s web login. On a phone you see the Venmo app if it is installed, or the web login if not. The desktop QR code that customers see in live can’t be tested in the sandbox.

Errors from PayPal’s API

To make PayPal return a particular error, enter these details as the customer’s name in the checkout:

Field	What to enter
First name	PayPal-Mock-Response
Last name	The PayPal error code to return, for example INSTRUMENT_DECLINED, PAYER_CANNOT_PAY, CARD_EXPIRED or TRANSACTION_REFUSED

We then add PayPal’s PayPal-Mock-Response header to our calls to PayPal for that payment, for card and PayPal button payments alike, and PayPal’s sandbox returns that error instead of its normal response. It works only in the sandbox. PayPal explains the header on its Negative testing request headers page and lists the error codes on its Orders API errors page.