Placing test orders is easy during a store's Trial Period, and while the Are you running in Payment Gateway Test Mode? setting is enabled during the store's initial setup. Under those conditions, the store does not actually capture funds for any transactions, and so test orders may be placed without generating real credit card charges.
But what about after the store has been fully activated and is open for business? As new products become available, store admins may want to place occasional test orders, while ensuring customers' real orders continue to correctly generate real credit card charges. This is where the Payment Gateway Override mode option comes in.
Activating Payment Gateway Override Mode
On the System Settings admin page, located at [Admin> System Settings], the Merchant Account Settings section contains the Credit Card payment processing gateway dropdown menu to select the credit card payment gateway with which to integrate the shopping cart. If the Credit Card payment processing gateway dropdown menu is set to anything other than Manual (Process Offline), then the Payment Gateway Override mode option is available.
The Payment Gateway Override mode option (when available) is located in the Testing & Development section at the top of the System Settings page. Clicking the View storefront in Payment Gateway Override mode link will open the storefront in a new browser window or tab (it may be necessary to enable popup windows in the browser).
Using Payment Gateway Override Mode
While Payment Gateway Override mode is active, storefront pages will include a yellow border, and a message at the top of the page. The message includes a link to exit Payment Gateway Override mode.
If the store admin is also previewing a template package in the same browsing session, the storefront will show the red Preview Mode border instead of the yellow Payment Gateway Override border. However, the Payment Gateway Override message will still be displayed at the top of the page.
While Payment Gateway Override mode is active, orders will be processed through the Manual (Process Offline) payment gateway, instead of the gateway selected in the Credit Card payment processing gateway dropdown menu, as long as all of the following conditions are met:
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Orders must be placed in the storefront. (Payment Gateway Override mode does not apply to the Place an Order tool in the admin area.)
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Orders must be placed during the same browsing session in which Payment Gateway Override mode was activated. (Payment Gateway Override mode only applies to the computer and browser in which the mode was activated -- other computers, and other browsers on the same computer, are not affected.)
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The store admin must remain logged into the store's admin area in the same browser in which Payment Gateway Override mode was activated. (Logging out of the admin area ends Payment Gateway Override mode.)
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Payment Gateway Override mode remains toggled on.
To exit Payment Gateway Override mode, either click the exit link from the Payment Gateway Override message the top of any storefront page, or log out of the store's admin area.
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