Acceptance Criteria Examples for E-Commerce Checkout

Real acceptance criteria examples for a checkout flow, covering payment, validation, error handling, and order confirmation. Written in both checklist and Given/When/Then format.

Below are complete acceptance criteria examples for a checkout feature, written in both formats so you can use whichever fits your team's workflow.

User Story

As a shopper,
I want to complete a purchase using my credit card,
So that I can receive the items I've selected.

Example 1: Successful Payment (Given/When/Then)

Given the user has items in their cart and is on the checkout page
When they enter valid card details and click "Pay Now"
Then the payment is processed successfully
And the user is redirected to an order confirmation page
And a confirmation email is sent to their registered email address
And the cart is cleared

Given the user has items in their cart
When they attempt to check out with an empty shipping address
Then the form does not submit
And each missing required field is highlighted with an error message

Given the user submits a declined card
When the payment gateway returns a failure response
Then the user sees the message: "Your payment was declined. Please check your card details or try a different card."
And they remain on the checkout page with their details intact

Example 2: Form Validation (Checklist Format)

Shipping address:

[ ] All fields (name, address line 1, city, postcode, country) are required
[ ] Postcode is validated against the selected country's format
[ ] User cannot proceed to payment without a valid shipping address

Payment:

[ ] Card number is validated using Luhn algorithm client-side
[ ] Expiry date cannot be in the past
[ ] CVV field accepts 3 digits (4 for Amex)
[ ] Card details are never stored — passed directly to payment gateway
[ ] PCI-DSS compliant: card fields are hosted by the payment provider

Order summary:

[ ] Itemised list shows product name, quantity, and unit price
[ ] Subtotal, shipping cost, and tax are shown separately
[ ] Total is calculated correctly before and after discount codes

Example 3: Order Confirmation

Given/When/Then:

Given a payment has been processed successfully
When the confirmation page loads
Then the user sees their order number
And a summary of items purchased
And the estimated delivery date
And a "Continue Shopping" button

Checklist:

[ ] Order confirmation email sent within 60 seconds of payment
[ ] Email contains order number, itemised list, total, and shipping address
[ ] Order appears in the user's account order history immediately

Example 4: Edge Cases

Given the user's session expires mid-checkout
When they attempt to submit the payment form
Then they are redirected to the login page
And their cart contents are preserved after login

Given an item goes out of stock between cart and checkout
When the user reaches the order summary step
Then they are notified which item is unavailable
And given the option to remove it and continue or return to their cart