title: How does a non-developer test a dead simple, single-use, Paypal button?
body: <p>I'm not a programmer, a developer, or a genius. I'm a semi-intelligent person who wants to build a single-serving Web site that provides a simple service for a fixed price. </p>
  
  <p>So I just need to test a single "Submit &amp; Pay" button that I've built using a Machform form. You fill in the form, press the button, and it directs you to Paypal to complete the payment.</p>
  
  <p>Everything is working until I get to the Paypal part. But I don't want to start paying Paypal fees just to check if it's working okay.</p>
  
  <p>There <em>seems</em> to have been a Sandbox option in the past on Paypal, but after creating a basic Sandbox account, it... doesn't work. Links go nowhere, and even the main site (cms.paypal.com) goes to a 404 page. The "Getting Started with Sandbox" link <a href="https://cms.paypal.com/cms_content/US/en_US/pages/global/system_error.html" rel="nofollow">goes to a broken page</a>. The "Sandbox User Guide" <a href="https://cms.paypal.com/cms_content/CA/en_US/files/developer/PP_Sandbox_UserGuide.pdf" rel="nofollow">attempts to load a PDF on a site I don't know, and don't trust</a>. </p>
  
  <p>The "Sandbox" options on the main site -- when they don't go to the semi-broken, I-guess-abandoned "Sandbox" site -- go to developer.paypal.com, which is <em>way</em> too much gun for me. Even a Google search for "paypal sandbox" now leads exclusively to developer.paypal.com links. </p>
  
  <p>I just need to confirm that my "pay" button will execute correctly in Paypal; I don't need to build a multi-platform API that configures my JavaScripts to execute a parallel-stream optimization option on a scaleable interface across mobile devices with integrated IPNs and a side of fries. </p>
  
  <p>What's the best way to do that? </p>