diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 50003f37..ee50e4ab 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,3 +11,6 @@ dist
 
 # documentation
 docs/_build
+
+.DS_Store
+pytestdebug.log
diff --git a/tests/client/conftest.py b/tests/client/conftest.py
index cf4ceed7..1b62cafd 100644
--- a/tests/client/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/client/conftest.py
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
 import os
-import zlib
-import base64
-import pickle
 
 import vcr
 import pytest
@@ -12,18 +9,16 @@
 from scrapinghub.hubstorage.serialization import MSGPACK_AVAILABLE
 
 from ..conftest import request_accept_header_matcher
-
-
-TEST_PROJECT_ID = "2222222"
-TEST_SPIDER_NAME = 'hs-test-spider'
-TEST_FRONTIER_SLOT = 'site.com'
-TEST_BOTGROUP = 'python-hubstorage-test'
-TEST_COLLECTION_NAME = "test_collection_123"
-TEST_ADMIN_AUTH = os.getenv('AUTH', 'f' * 32)
-TEST_USER_AUTH = os.getenv('USER_AUTH', 'e' * 32)
-TEST_DASH_ENDPOINT = os.getenv('DASH_ENDPOINT', 'http://33.33.33.51:8080/api/')
-TEST_HS_ENDPOINT = os.getenv('HS_ENDPOINT',
-                             'http://storage.vm.scrapinghub.com')
+from ..conftest import VCRGzipSerializer
+from ..conftest import (
+    TEST_SPIDER_NAME,
+    TEST_FRONTIER_SLOT,
+    TEST_COLLECTION_NAME,
+    TEST_ENDPOINT,
+    TEST_PROJECT_ID,
+    TEST_ADMIN_AUTH,
+    TEST_DASH_ENDPOINT,
+)
 
 # use some fixed timestamp to represent current time
 TEST_TS = 1476803148638
@@ -31,23 +26,6 @@
 # vcrpy creates the cassetes automatically under VCR_CASSETES_DIR
 VCR_CASSETES_DIR = 'tests/client/cassetes'
 
-
-class VCRGzipSerializer(object):
-    """Custom ZIP serializer for VCR.py."""
-
-    def serialize(self, cassette_dict):
-        # receives a dict, must return a string
-        # there can be binary data inside some of the requests,
-        # so it's impossible to use json for serialization to string
-        compressed = zlib.compress(pickle.dumps(cassette_dict, protocol=2))
-        return base64.b64encode(compressed).decode('utf8')
-
-    def deserialize(self, cassette_string):
-        # receives a string, must return a dict
-        decoded = base64.b64decode(cassette_string.encode('utf8'))
-        return pickle.loads(zlib.decompress(decoded))
-
-
 my_vcr = vcr.VCR(cassette_library_dir=VCR_CASSETES_DIR, record_mode='once')
 my_vcr.register_serializer('gz', VCRGzipSerializer())
 my_vcr.register_matcher('accept_header', request_accept_header_matcher)
@@ -79,7 +57,7 @@ def is_using_real_services(request):
 @pytest.fixture(scope='session')
 def client():
     return ScrapinghubClient(auth=TEST_ADMIN_AUTH,
-                             endpoint=TEST_HS_ENDPOINT,
+                             endpoint=TEST_ENDPOINT,
                              dash_endpoint=TEST_DASH_ENDPOINT)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/client/test_activity.py b/tests/client/test_activity.py
index e74785ec..5593ec54 100644
--- a/tests/client/test_activity.py
+++ b/tests/client/test_activity.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 import pytest
 
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID
 
 
 def _add_test_activity(project):
diff --git a/tests/client/test_client.py b/tests/client/test_client.py
index 52a8a0d2..8bc64aeb 100644
--- a/tests/client/test_client.py
+++ b/tests/client/test_client.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from scrapinghub.client.jobs import Job
 from scrapinghub.client.projects import Projects, Project
 
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID
 
 
 # ScrapinghubClient class tests
diff --git a/tests/client/test_collections.py b/tests/client/test_collections.py
index 8dae301b..775d8fb8 100644
--- a/tests/client/test_collections.py
+++ b/tests/client/test_collections.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 from scrapinghub.client.exceptions import NotFound
 from scrapinghub.client.exceptions import ValueTooLarge
 
-from .conftest import TEST_COLLECTION_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_COLLECTION_NAME
 
 
 def _mkitem():
diff --git a/tests/client/test_frontiers.py b/tests/client/test_frontiers.py
index 5ea37d40..1dbcb827 100644
--- a/tests/client/test_frontiers.py
+++ b/tests/client/test_frontiers.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from six import string_types
 
 from scrapinghub.client.frontiers import Frontiers, Frontier, FrontierSlot
-from .conftest import TEST_FRONTIER_SLOT
+from ..conftest import TEST_FRONTIER_SLOT
 
 
 def _add_test_requests_to_frontier(frontier):
diff --git a/tests/client/test_job.py b/tests/client/test_job.py
index 5db365a8..af376fc7 100644
--- a/tests/client/test_job.py
+++ b/tests/client/test_job.py
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 from scrapinghub.client.requests import Requests
 from scrapinghub.client.samples import Samples
 
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID
-from .conftest import TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID
+from ..conftest import TEST_SPIDER_NAME
 
 
 def test_job_base(client, spider):
diff --git a/tests/client/test_projects.py b/tests/client/test_projects.py
index 367c1ebf..1d2299bd 100644
--- a/tests/client/test_projects.py
+++ b/tests/client/test_projects.py
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@
 
 from scrapinghub.hubstorage.utils import apipoll
 
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
-from .conftest import TEST_USER_AUTH, TEST_DASH_ENDPOINT
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_USER_AUTH, TEST_DASH_ENDPOINT
 from .utils import validate_default_meta
 
 
diff --git a/tests/client/test_spiders.py b/tests/client/test_spiders.py
index db22db8a..48ca2832 100644
--- a/tests/client/test_spiders.py
+++ b/tests/client/test_spiders.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 from scrapinghub.client.spiders import Spider
 from scrapinghub.client.utils import JobKey
 
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
 from .utils import validate_default_meta
 
 
diff --git a/tests/client/utils.py b/tests/client/utils.py
index acb3504f..8e60cb39 100644
--- a/tests/client/utils.py
+++ b/tests/client/utils.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
-from .conftest import TEST_DASH_ENDPOINT
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_DASH_ENDPOINT
 
 
 def validate_default_meta(meta, state='pending', units=1,
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index f32fa62c..ea2efd47 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,8 +1,92 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+import base64
+import os
+import pickle
 import pytest
 import re
+import zlib
 
 from scrapinghub.hubstorage.serialization import MSGPACK_AVAILABLE
+from scrapinghub import HubstorageClient
+from scrapinghub.legacy import Connection
+
+
+DEFAULT_PROJECT_ID = "2222222"
+DEFAULT_ENDPOINT = 'http://storage.vm.scrapinghub.com'
+DEFAULT_DASH_ENDPOINT = 'http://33.33.33.51:8080/api/'
+DEFAULT_ADMIN_AUTH = 'f' * 32
+DEFAULT_USER_AUTH = 'e' * 32
+
+
+TEST_PROJECT_ID = os.getenv('HS_PROJECT_ID', DEFAULT_PROJECT_ID)
+TEST_SPIDER_NAME = 'hs-test-spider'
+TEST_FRONTIER_SLOT = 'site.com'
+TEST_BOTGROUP = 'python-hubstorage-test'
+TEST_COLLECTION_NAME = "test_collection_123"
+TEST_AUTH = os.getenv('HS_AUTH', DEFAULT_ADMIN_AUTH)
+TEST_ENDPOINT = os.getenv('HS_ENDPOINT', DEFAULT_ENDPOINT)
+TEST_COLLECTION_NAME = "test_collection_123"
+TEST_ADMIN_AUTH = os.getenv('AUTH', DEFAULT_ADMIN_AUTH)
+TEST_USER_AUTH = os.getenv('USER_AUTH', DEFAULT_USER_AUTH)
+TEST_DASH_ENDPOINT = os.getenv('DASH_ENDPOINT', DEFAULT_DASH_ENDPOINT)
+
+
+class VCRGzipSerializer(object):
+    """Custom ZIP serializer for VCR.py."""
+
+    def serialize(self, cassette_dict):
+        # receives a dict, must return a string
+        # there can be binary data inside some of the requests,
+        # so it's impossible to use json for serialization to string
+        cassette_dict = normalize_cassette(cassette_dict)
+        compressed = zlib.compress(pickle.dumps(cassette_dict, protocol=2))
+        return base64.b64encode(compressed).decode('utf8')
+
+    def deserialize(self, cassette_string):
+        # receives a string, must return a dict
+        decoded = base64.b64decode(cassette_string.encode('utf8'))
+        return pickle.loads(zlib.decompress(decoded))
+
+
+def normalize_endpoint(uri, endpoint, default_endpoint):
+    return uri.replace(endpoint.rstrip('/'), default_endpoint.rstrip('/'))
+
+
+def normalize_cassette(cassette_dict):
+    """
+    This function normalizes the cassette dict trying to make sure
+    we are always making API requests with the same variables:
+    - project id
+    - endpoint
+    - authentication header
+    """
+    interactions = []
+    for interaction in cassette_dict['interactions']:
+        uri = interaction['request']['uri']
+        uri = uri.replace(TEST_PROJECT_ID, DEFAULT_PROJECT_ID)
+
+        hs_endpoint = TEST_ENDPOINT or HubstorageClient.DEFAULT_ENDPOINT
+        uri = normalize_endpoint(uri, hs_endpoint, DEFAULT_ENDPOINT)
+
+        dash_endpoint = TEST_DASH_ENDPOINT or Connection.DEFAULT_ENDPOINT
+        uri = normalize_endpoint(uri, dash_endpoint, DEFAULT_DASH_ENDPOINT)
+
+        interaction['request']['uri'] = uri
+
+        if 'Authorization' in interaction['request']['headers']:
+            del interaction['request']['headers']['Authorization']
+            interaction['request']['headers']['Authorization'] = (
+                'Basic {}'.format(
+                    base64.b64encode(
+                        '{}:'.format(DEFAULT_ADMIN_AUTH).encode('utf-8')
+                    ).decode('utf-8')
+                )
+            )
+
+        interactions.append(interaction)
+
+    cassette_dict['interactions'] = interactions
+    return cassette_dict
 
 
 def pytest_addoption(parser):
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/conftest.py b/tests/hubstorage/conftest.py
index 14f81d2d..ba2354fb 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/conftest.py
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
 import os
-import zlib
-import base64
-import pickle
 
 import vcr
 import pytest
@@ -14,36 +11,19 @@
 from scrapinghub.hubstorage.serialization import MSGPACK_AVAILABLE
 
 from ..conftest import request_accept_header_matcher
-
-
-TEST_PROJECT_ID = "2222222"
-TEST_SPIDER_NAME = 'hs-test-spider'
-TEST_FRONTIER_SLOT = 'site.com'
-TEST_BOTGROUP = 'python-hubstorage-test'
-TEST_COLLECTION_NAME = "test_collection_123"
-TEST_AUTH = os.getenv('HS_AUTH', 'f' * 32)
-TEST_ENDPOINT = os.getenv('HS_ENDPOINT', 'http://storage.vm.scrapinghub.com')
+from ..conftest import VCRGzipSerializer
+from ..conftest import (
+    TEST_PROJECT_ID,
+    TEST_ENDPOINT,
+    TEST_AUTH,
+    TEST_BOTGROUP,
+    TEST_COLLECTION_NAME,
+    TEST_SPIDER_NAME,
+)
 
 # vcrpy creates the cassetes automatically under VCR_CASSETES_DIR
 VCR_CASSETES_DIR = 'tests/hubstorage/cassetes'
 
-
-class VCRGzipSerializer(object):
-    """Custom ZIP serializer for VCR.py."""
-
-    def serialize(self, cassette_dict):
-        # receives a dict, must return a string
-        # there can be binary data inside some of the requests,
-        # so it's impossible to use json for serialization to string
-        compressed = zlib.compress(pickle.dumps(cassette_dict, protocol=2))
-        return base64.b64encode(compressed).decode('utf8')
-
-    def deserialize(self, cassette_string):
-        # receives a string, must return a dict
-        decoded = base64.b64decode(cassette_string.encode('utf8'))
-        return pickle.loads(zlib.decompress(decoded))
-
-
 my_vcr = vcr.VCR(cassette_library_dir=VCR_CASSETES_DIR, record_mode='once')
 my_vcr.register_serializer('gz', VCRGzipSerializer())
 my_vcr.register_matcher('accept_header', request_accept_header_matcher)
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/test_batchuploader.py b/tests/hubstorage/test_batchuploader.py
index 19dcbb10..435bee24 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/test_batchuploader.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/test_batchuploader.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 from collections import defaultdict
 
 from scrapinghub.hubstorage import ValueTooLarge
-from .conftest import TEST_SPIDER_NAME, TEST_AUTH
+from ..conftest import TEST_SPIDER_NAME, TEST_AUTH
 from .conftest import start_job
 
 
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/test_client.py b/tests/hubstorage/test_client.py
index 532d9472..d6533c31 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/test_client.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/test_client.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 from scrapinghub import HubstorageClient
 from scrapinghub.hubstorage.utils import apipoll
 
-from .conftest import TEST_AUTH, TEST_ENDPOINT
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_AUTH, TEST_ENDPOINT
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
 from .conftest import start_job
 
 
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/test_collections.py b/tests/hubstorage/test_collections.py
index c15648e5..0ecff900 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/test_collections.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/test_collections.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from scrapinghub import HubstorageClient
 from six.moves import range
 
-from .conftest import TEST_COLLECTION_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_COLLECTION_NAME
 from .testutil import failing_downloader
 
 
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/test_frontier.py b/tests/hubstorage/test_frontier.py
index be17c7c4..fedc154f 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/test_frontier.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/test_frontier.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 """
 import pytest
 
-from .conftest import TEST_FRONTIER_SLOT
+from ..conftest import TEST_FRONTIER_SLOT
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/test_jobq.py b/tests/hubstorage/test_jobq.py
index 7781887d..8bc41278 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/test_jobq.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/test_jobq.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 from scrapinghub.hubstorage.jobq import DuplicateJobError
 from scrapinghub.hubstorage.utils import apipoll
 
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
 from .conftest import hsspiderid
 
 
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/test_jobsmeta.py b/tests/hubstorage/test_jobsmeta.py
index d17c0825..6f5ff7db 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/test_jobsmeta.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/test_jobsmeta.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 System tests for operations on stored job metadata
 """
-from .conftest import TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_SPIDER_NAME
 from .conftest import start_job
 
 
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/test_project.py b/tests/hubstorage/test_project.py
index eee68c86..4d849e4b 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/test_project.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/test_project.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 from scrapinghub import HubstorageClient
 
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
 from .conftest import hsspiderid
 from .conftest import start_job
 from .conftest import set_testbotgroup, unset_testbotgroup
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/test_retry.py b/tests/hubstorage/test_retry.py
index b9ef1345..6dca47ba 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/test_retry.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/test_retry.py
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
 from scrapinghub import HubstorageClient
 from six.moves.http_client import BadStatusLine
 
-from .conftest import TEST_AUTH, TEST_ENDPOINT
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_AUTH, TEST_ENDPOINT
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
 
 
 GET = responses.GET
diff --git a/tests/hubstorage/test_system.py b/tests/hubstorage/test_system.py
index c67d373c..bdbc2152 100644
--- a/tests/hubstorage/test_system.py
+++ b/tests/hubstorage/test_system.py
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 from scrapinghub import HubstorageClient
 from scrapinghub.hubstorage.utils import millitime
 
-from .conftest import TEST_ENDPOINT, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
-from .conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_AUTH
+from ..conftest import TEST_ENDPOINT, TEST_SPIDER_NAME
+from ..conftest import TEST_PROJECT_ID, TEST_AUTH
 from .conftest import start_job