Sandbox accounts
Use sandbox accounts to rehearse the full payment lifecycle — including funding, payees, payouts, batches, and webhooks — without risk. Engineering should follow Testing and going live and Testing for Collect-specific test data. Operations and finance should use sandbox to preview Console workflows, exports, and reconciliation processes, so internal processes match production from day one. Test realistic scenarios, not just happy paths:- Missing or invalid payee details
- Failed payouts and retries
- Webhook delivery and retry behavior
- Partial or delayed batch execution
Before production
Complete this checklist before sending live funds:- Live API keys are issued, securely stored, and never mixed with test keys
- Settlement accounts are linked and verified for all required currencies
- Webhook endpoints are registered, publicly accessible, and handling retries correctly
- Idempotency is implemented for all payout and payment creation requests
- Access controls are configured in the Console (roles, permissions, API key scope)
- Operational ownership is defined for monitoring, failures, and reconciliation
- Small live test — run a real payin or payout end-to-end and confirm:
- Status updates
- Webhook delivery
- Console visibility
- Downstream reconciliation
Go-live readiness
Before scaling volume, confirm:- Balances are funded and monitored to prevent payout failures
- Rate limits and throughput match expected usage
- Notifications and alerts are in place for failures or delays
- Support paths are defined internally for handling issues
Ongoing operations
Once live, treat payments as a continuously monitored system, not a one-time setup. Monitor the Console for:- Failed or delayed payouts
- Webhook delivery issues
- Batch execution results
- Balance levels and funding gaps