VirtueMart Test Orders Checklist: What to Test After Every Upgrade

An upgraded shop is done when it can take an order from start to finish with every payment and shipping method – and the shop owner can process it. This is our list. Run it in full on staging, and a short version on live right after the switch.

On staging: payment gateways in sandbox mode, outgoing email caught, and a few test products you can safely order.

1. Before you test: compare the data

• Counts of products, categories, manufacturers, orders and shoppers match the old shop.
• Five random products: prices, taxes, discounts, stock, images and custom fields match.
• Shopper groups and their prices still apply.

2. Browsing

• Home page product modules, category pages, sorting and pagination.
• Filters and search find the right products.
• Product pages: variants/child products, custom fields, availability messages, reviews.
• Old product and category URLs still work or redirect. How to check.

3. Cart

• Add to cart from the product page and from every product module – in two different browser sessions if caching is on. Why.
• Change quantities, remove items, update the cart – no "Invalid token". If there is.
• Coupons: valid, expired, minimum order amount.

4. Checkout

• As a guest and as a registered shopper; registration during checkout if you allow it.
• Address fields, required fields, terms-of-service checkbox.
• Every shipping method to a few typical destinations – compare the rates with the old shop.
• Every payment method in sandbox: successful payment, cancelled payment, failed payment.
• Order status changes after payment – proves the gateway's callback reaches the shop.

5. After the order

• Customer and shop emails arrive with correct totals, taxes and links.
• Invoice PDF generates, if you use invoices.
• Stock goes down; downloadable products deliver the file.
• The order shows in the customer's account.

6. Admin

• Order list and order detail open; change a status and the customer is notified (if configured).
• Edit a product, save, check the front end.
• Refund or cancel through the admin if your gateway supports it.
• Reviews and ratings can be moderated.

7. On live, right after the switch

• One real order per payment method with a small amount, then refund it.
• One order per shipping method if rates are calculated by a carrier API.
• Watch new orders closely for the first day – especially their status after payment.

Write down what you tested, when and by whom. If something is reported next week, you'll know what was working at launch.

For developers: check the orders, not just the screen

# terminal – the last test orders: status, total, payment method (adjust prefix)
mysql -e "SELECT o.virtuemart_order_id, o.order_number, o.order_status, o.order_total,
                 o.virtuemart_paymentmethod_id, o.virtuemart_shipmentmethod_id, o.created_on
          FROM jos_virtuemart_orders o ORDER BY o.virtuemart_order_id DESC LIMIT 10;" shop_db

# order history: did the status move after the gateway callback?
mysql -e "SELECT virtuemart_order_id, order_status_code, created_on
          FROM jos_virtuemart_order_histories ORDER BY virtuemart_order_history_id DESC LIMIT 20;" shop_db

An order stuck at the initial status (usually P, pending) after a successful sandbox payment means the gateway's callback didn't reach the shop or didn't validate. That failure doesn't show on any page, only in the data.