Sandbox reports always return Success with a null ReportDownloadUrl; account shows "primary payment method needed"

Question

Sandbox reports always return Success with a null ReportDownloadUrl; account shows "primary payment method needed"

Labib Amir Salimi 0

In the Microsoft Advertising sandbox (REST API v13, Reporting service), SubmitGenerateReport succeeds for all nine report types we request, and PollGenerateReport returns Success with a null ReportDownloadUrl every time. This has happened on every run since 12 Oct 2026, including runs on the UTC day new keywords were created, which the sandbox guide says should generate test data.

Sign-in: personal Microsoft account (outlook.com), as the sandbox requires

Entities: one Search campaign, two ad groups, ads and keywords (latest keyword created 14 Oct 2026), all Enabled / Eligible

The account shows "You need a primary payment method before your ads will run", its setup stops at "Complete setup", and "Add card" only reloads the page. The sandbox guide says payment methods are not supported in sandbox.

Questions:

Is this payment-method state the reason no sandbox test data is generated?
If so, how should a sandbox account complete setup?
Would an account created through "Go Live" with "Skip payment information" behave differently?

Thanks.

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1 answer

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Answer 1

Hi Labib Amir Salimi,

Thank you for using our Microsoft Advertising Learn Q&A Platform!

I understand that you are seeing a successful response from the Reporting API, where SubmitGenerateReport completes successfully and PollGenerateReport returns a status of Success, but the ReportDownloadUrl remains null for all report requests.

Based on the available Microsoft Advertising documentation, a null ReportDownloadUrl can occur even when the report generation request is successful if there is no data available for the report parameters that were submitted. In this scenario, the report job completes successfully, but no downloadable report file is generated.

Regarding your questions about the account setup and payment method requirement:

The payment method warning is not expected to prevent the use of the Microsoft Advertising Sandbox environment. According to Microsoft documentation, sandbox accounts are intended for testing purposes only, ads are not served, and the recommended account creation process is to select Go Live and then Skip payment information.
A payment method is not required for sandbox testing, and payment-related functionality is not supported in the sandbox environment.
Creating a new sandbox account using the documented Go Live → Skip payment information flow may be a useful troubleshooting step. However, we cannot confirm that it will specifically resolve the null ReportDownloadUrl behavior, as Microsoft documentation does not indicate a direct relationship between payment setup and sandbox reporting data generation.

As a next step, we recommend creating a new sandbox account using the documented setup process, adding a new campaign, ad group, and keyword, and then testing report generation again. If the issue persists across newly created sandbox accounts and report requests, kindly check your private messages at your convenience so we can collect additional details and further investigate the issue.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/advertising/guides/sandbox?view=bingads-13

Kind regards,
Chris | Microsoft Advertising Support Specialist | 1-800-518-5689