End-to-end checkout testing: phones, markets, fresh sessions
Test your checkout the way a stranger meets it: logged out, in a fresh session, on a real phone, from each market you sell to, all the way to a paid order. The owner’s view of the store is the one view no shopper ever gets.
You run this check yourself
Our scanner can’t see inside your Google accounts, so this one’s on you. Work through the checklist below without running a scan.
Why this matters
The checkout audit tells you what to write down at each screen. This guide is about how to run the test so that what you write down is what shoppers really see, because a surprising number of checkout problems exist only in a live session: a phone keyboard that hides the pay button, a region rule that removes a delivery option, an app that behaves differently for a first-time visitor.
Google's landing page requirements set the standard: “Show a product on your landing page that is essentially identical to the product in your product data, regardless of the user’s device, user agent (including bots), browser, location, cookies, your ad targeting choices, or any other consideration.” Device, browser, location and cookies are exactly the variables a signed-in owner on a desktop never changes. The same page says “Use a mobile landing page for mobile devices and tablets”, and Google's account guidelines ask: “Make sure users can successfully add products to the cart and fully complete the checkout process.”
Location matters more than people think. Google's checkout requirements say “Unless you have currency conversion enabled in your product source, your product pages must show the currency for the country you sell products in.” A store that looks right from the owner's country can show another currency, other delivery options or no stock at all to a shopper in the next market.
Product Experts on the Merchant Center Community give the same advice from the recovery side: check your policies and pages on several browsers and devices so they are reachable everywhere. That is community guidance, not Google policy, and it matches what these tests catch.
StoreVerifier does one pass of this for you: the free scan opens the store in a browser, adds a product to the basket and reads the checkout up to payment, and it looks at your pages at phone width. It reports a checkout that will not open as a failure, and flags contact details or policy links the desktop footer shows that the phone version leaves out. It does not pay, sign in or shop from your other markets; that part is a manual check you run with the steps below. The full list of checks is on the misrepresentation checker.
Typical evidence
It works on your screen. Now try a phone.
A real customer session can expose checkout problems that a page capture cannot. Test logged out on the devices your shoppers actually use.
The public signals this check looks for:
Your first Merchant Center submission is close and you have only ever seen the store signe…
Your first Merchant Center submission is close and you have only ever seen the store signed in as the owner.
A shopper reports a checkout problem you cannot reproduce on your own computer
A shopper reports a checkout problem you cannot reproduce on your own computer.
A theme or app update went live, and those often render differently on a phone than in the…
A theme or app update went live, and those often render differently on a phone than in the desktop preview.
You started selling to a new country and have not checked out as a shopper from there
You started selling to a new country and have not checked out as a shopper from there.
Wallet buttons such as Apple Pay or Google Pay appear on some devices and not others, and …
Wallet buttons such as Apple Pay or Google Pay appear on some devices and not others, and you have never tested each one.
What it looks like once it is right
Once a month and after every app update, the team runs two products through checkout logged out on a laptop and a phone, from the UK and Irish storefronts, completes one test payment per method, and logs findings by device, market and screen.
Common mistakes
Common mistake
Self-check steps
The same checks, on both screens
Run the live path as a stranger and tick each check off per device. The desktop column tends to come back clean, which is exactly why mobile-only failures sit there for months — invisible to the way you normally look.
Investigator’s note
StoreVerifier compliance desk
Questions merchants ask
How do I test my checkout like a real customer?
Use a private window, stay logged out, and test on a real phone as well as a computer. Take a simple product and an awkward one through to payment, check the price, currency, fees and policy links at every screen, and complete one test payment per method.
Do I need to test from every country I sell to?
Yes, for every market you advertise in. Google’s checkout requirements ask for the right currency for the country you sell in, consistently from product page to checkout, unless currency conversion is enabled. Prices, delivery options and stock can all change by market, so test each one.
How often should I test the whole checkout?
After every change that touches it, such as a theme update, a new app, or a payment or shipping change, plus a monthly repeat. For what to record at each screen, use the sheet in how to audit your checkout.
Remediation
Risk signal
Similar cases
Sources
Community guidance
Written by Product Experts, the users Google recognises for their answers on its Merchant Center Community forum. Often stricter than Google’s help pages, and not Google policy.
Last reviewed 25 Sep 2026.
That is one issue. The library documents 134.
The free scan lists what it finds on your store. The paid report adds the affected pages, captured evidence and step-by-step fixes. Start free, with no account needed.