Test Paid Skills

Before you submit your paid skill for certification, test your skill functionality and the purchase flows. In addition, you must complete skill certification testing. For details about testing custom skills, see Test and Debug a Custom Skill.

After you complete testing, you have the option to test your skill with a limited group of testers, rather than publish the skill to the general public. For details, see Beta Test a Skill.

Reset test purchases

In the development stage, Amazon doesn't charge the developer account associated with the skill. During testing, you can reset the status of a purchase by using the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) Command Line Interface (CLI) reset-isp-entitlement command. Alternatively, you can use the In-Skill Product Management REST API to reset account entitlements.

Test the purchase flow

Test the purchase flow by using your developer account. You can use the Alexa Simulator or test on a physical Echo device.

Include the following test scenarios:

  • Entitlement query with various responses
  • Purchase flows for your payment model, including direct purchase and after purchase suggestion
  • Customer declines the purchase
  • Customer cancels a subscription
  • Customer asks to cancel a subscription, but then continues the subscription
  • Customer asks for a refund

Test in different marketplaces

If your skill supports multiple marketplaces, you can use the Alexa Simulator to test purchasing in the default locale for each marketplace. With the simulator, you can test each marketplace by using your developer account. If you want to test on a physical Echo device, you must create an account in each marketplace.

To test the purchase flow for each marketplace

  1. Sign in to the Alexa developer console.
  2. Find your skill in the list.
  3. Under Actions, choose Edit.
  4. On the Test page, for Test is disabled for this skill, select Development.

  5. Under Alexa Simulator, select the locale for which you want to test purchasing.

    A screenshot of the Alexa developer console that shows the drop-down to select locale.
  6. Use voice or text to launch your skill, and then interact with your skill appropriately.
    Based on the locale that you selected, the Alexa Simulator uses the price that corresponds to the default locale for the region in the purchasing flow.

Test the user experience

Make sure that your skill passes the user experience tests for a custom skill. Then, complete the following tests.

Test Expected result

Open your skill to invoke the purchase scenario for your skill.

The purchase suggestion makes sense. A user knows what the skill has asked them to purchase. The purchase prompt doesn't include the list price. The purchase suggestion and purchase prompt are different.

Directly invoke the purchase scenario for your skill.

The purchase suggestion makes sense. A user knows what the skill has asked them to purchase. The purchase prompt doesn't include the list price. The purchase suggestion and purchase prompt are different.

Open your skill, complete a successful purchase, and then end the skill session. Resume the skill session, and then try to use the skill.

Your skill handles the user entitlement check correctly and that the user can use the skill in another session. Make sure that the user doesn't receive a purchase suggestion for a skill they already own.

Buy your skill.

Review the purchase receipt for each item. The description and image for the product accurately reflect the product purchased.

Attempt to buy a skill with erroneous payment information.

The user hears the failure reason during the purchase flow. Your skill doesn't repeat the information, but resumes free content or ends the skill session.

Complete a purchase scenario with decline.

The user accepts the purchase suggestion, but declines the offer. Make sure that the user doesn't receive a purchase suggestion after the skill resumes.

For subscription payment models, cancel the subscription with a voice request.

The user can cancel the subscription successfully. The user can access the skill until the end of the current subscription period. The user can't access the skill after the subscription period ends.

For one-time purchase models, ask for a refund.

The user can ask for a refund, and then the skill session ends. The user sees a link in the Alexa app to Amazon customer support.

Test your live skill

The developer account associated with a skill never incurs the cost of the purchases during development. To test the user experience fully, complete a final test with an account other than your developer account. Amazon charges for all purchases during live skill testing.

Was this page helpful?

Last updated: May 01, 2024