> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.payglue.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Test members

> What PayGlue does with purchases made in a provider's sandbox or test mode, and why they never join your newsletter.

Before you launch, you test. You buy your own product through the provider's sandbox or with a test card, and PayGlue creates a member in Ghost exactly as it would for a reader. That is the point of the test. It also leaves a member behind who is not a reader.

## What a test purchase looks like in Ghost

PayGlue knows when a purchase was a test, because the provider says so: Polar's sandbox, Creem's test mode, Lemon Squeezy's test mode, Gumroad's test sales, and Paddle or PayPal connections that are set to sandbox. Ko-fi and Patreon have no test mode, so nothing from them is ever marked.

Such a member is created with everything a real one gets, plus:

* the label `payglue-test`, next to the [usual four](/ghost/member-labels)
* **no newsletter subscription**, regardless of what the rule says
* the line "Test purchase (provider sandbox or test mode)" in the note

So you can run the full path, log in as the test member, read the paid post, and your newsletter list stays clean.

<Note>
  For Polar, PayGlue learns whether your token is a sandbox token when you open a product picker in the dashboard. Open one once after connecting Polar; from then on sandbox purchases are marked.
</Note>

## Cleaning up

Test members stay until you delete them. In Ghost Admin, filter members by the label `payglue-test` and delete the selection. The same filter shows you at a glance how many tests have run.

If you want to try the whole flow without leaving anything on your own site, use our demo publication at [demo.payglue.io](https://demo.payglue.io) with a throwaway address; it runs on Polar's sandbox and is cleaned up regularly.