To validate your integration with Merchant Center as a service provider,
create the following accounts for testing:

- A test Merchant Center service provider account
- A test Merchant Center merchant account

After the following steps are complete, your account structure should look like
this:

![Merchant Center test account structure](https://developers.google.com/static/merchant/3p/images/test-accounts-structure.png)

## Create a test service provider account

The first step to enabling your test suite is creating a test
service provider account linked to your main production service provider
account. This account will be used to test your integration in a sandbox
environment.

- Using the [`accounts.createTestAccount`](https://developers.google.com/merchant/api/reference/rest/accounts_v1/accounts/createTestAccount) method in the Merchant API, create a new test Merchant Center account linked to your primary Merchant Center service provider account. For more information about how to create a test account, see [Create test accounts](https://developers.google.com/merchant/api/guides/accounts/test-accounts).
- Record the new test Merchant Center service provider account ID. You will need to provide this ID to Google to enable the UCP checkout service for sandbox testing.
- This is **account (2)** in the earlier diagram.

## Create a new mock merchant account

Next, you will need to create a new mock Merchant Center account separate
from your service provider account. This account will be used to validate
the services you offer in production. **We recommend creating this account as a
user that is not a user of your service provider account to enable accurate
testing.**

- Register a separate, dedicated Google Merchant Center test account at [merchants.google.com](https://merchants.google.com/).
- Record the new mock Merchant Center account ID. You will need to provide this ID to Google to enable the UCP checkout service for final validation.
- This is **account (3)** in the earlier diagram.

## Create a test merchant account

Finally, you will need to create a new test Merchant Center account that is
linked to your mock Merchant Center account, and is separate from your
production and test service provider accounts. This account will be used to
validate the services you offer in a sandbox environment. **We recommend creating
this account as a user that is not a user of your test service provider
account to enable accurate testing.**

- Using the [`accounts.createTestAccount`](https://developers.google.com/merchant/api/reference/rest/accounts_v1/accounts/createTestAccount) method in the Merchant API, create a new test Merchant Center account linked to the mock Merchant Center account you created in the previous step. For more information about how to create a test account, see [Create test accounts](https://developers.google.com/merchant/api/guides/accounts/test-accounts).
- Record the new test Merchant Center account ID. You will need to provide this ID to Google to enable the UCP checkout service for sandbox testing.
- This is **account (4)** in the earlier diagram.

## Next steps

After configuring your test accounts, proceed to
[UCP checkout service setup](https://developers.google.com/merchant/3p/guides/ucp/checkout/setup).