Test Credit Card - Using Test Mode for Payment Testing

The Ecommerce Settings include a Testing tab with options that let administrators test payment processing without charging real credit cards. These settings should only be used in development or staging environments and must be cleared before going to production.

Accessing the Testing Tab

To access the testing settings:

1. In the admin portal, navigate to Accounts > Settings
2. Click the Testing tab

Test Credit Card Number

The Test Credit Card Number field lets you define a card number that the system will automatically approve without contacting the payment gateway.

To configure a test credit card:

1. Open Accounts > Settings > Testing tab
2. In the Test Credit Card Number field, enter any sequence of numbers or characters (for example, 4111111111111111)
3. Save the settings

When a customer or administrator enters this exact card number during checkout or a manual payment, the system will:

• Approve the transaction immediately
• Skip all payment gateway processing (no charge is sent to Stripe, Authorize.Net, or any other processor)
• Record the transaction as a Test Card transaction type

This allows you to walk through the full checkout and payment workflow without incurring real charges.

Test Mode

The Test Mode checkbox is a broader setting that automatically approves all payment transactions regardless of the card number entered.

When Test Mode is enabled:

• Every payment attempt is automatically approved
• No transactions are sent to the payment gateway
• All transactions are recorded as Test Mode transaction type

This is useful for bulk testing but should be used with caution since it bypasses all payment validation.

Other Testing Settings

The Testing tab includes additional options for controlled testing:

• Override Date/Time - Lets you simulate a different date for testing date-sensitive features like subscription renewals or invoice due dates. Leave blank in production.
• Override Email To-Address - Redirects all notification emails (invoices, statements, receipts) to a single address instead of the actual recipients. Useful for testing email content without sending to real customers.
• Duplicate Notification Email - Sends a copy of every notification email to this address in addition to the normal recipients. Useful for monitoring what emails the system sends.
• Batch Process Just One Transaction - Limits the batch billing process to one transaction per run. Helpful for stepping through batch processing one record at a time during testing.
• Allow Non-Secure Ecommerce - Permits payment forms and My Account pages to load over HTTP instead of requiring HTTPS. Only enable this for local development environments.

Production Warnings

The system monitors for testing settings left on in production. If any of the following are configured, a site alarm is generated to alert administrators:

• Test Mode is enabled
• A Test Credit Card Number is set
• An Override Date/Time is configured
• An Override Email To-Address is configured
• Non-Secure Ecommerce is allowed

These alarms appear in the site error log and direct you to the Testing tab in Ecommerce Settings to resolve the issue.

Tips

• Always clear all Testing tab settings before deploying to production
• Use the Test Credit Card Number approach instead of Test Mode when you want to test specific card scenarios, since it only bypasses processing for the configured number
• Use the Override Email To-Address when testing checkout so notification emails do not reach real customers
• After testing, verify the site error log has no alarms about testing settings being active