# Test mode

> Take sandbox payments in Polar's separate test organization before you go live. Only store managers and the testers you name can pay.

Polar's sandbox is a separate organization, with its own products, token and webhook. Set it up on the **Sandbox** tab exactly as you set up **Live**.

**Test mode** is on until you turn it off. While it's on:

- the gateway uses your sandbox credentials, at `sandbox-api.polar.sh`;
- **only store managers and the testers you name are offered Polar**, with "(test mode)" after the payment method's title. Customers never reach a sandbox checkout;
- sandbox orders say "Polar sandbox: no money moved" on the order screen.

## Testers

To let someone try your checkout without making them a Shop manager, add their account's email under **Mode › Testers** and save. Separate several with commas. The field shows while test mode is on.

- The account must already exist on your store. An email with no account is refused, because anyone could register an unclaimed address.
- Testers check out signed in, like any customer. A guest is never a tester.
- A tester's sandbox order is a real WooCommerce order that cost nothing, so what it unlocks is real: downloads, license keys, account access. Name only people you trust, and check each account is theirs, because WordPress doesn't verify email addresses.
- Testers count only while test mode is on, so there's nothing to undo when you go live. To decide in code, use the `zealden_polar_can_test` filter.

## Before you go live

Before you turn test mode off, take a sandbox payment from start to finish: pay, see the order marked paid, and refund it. Each order records the environment it was paid in, so its refunds always reach the right organization.

Checked against Payments via Polar for WooCommerce 1.2.3 on main, 19 October 2026.