Sandbox Environment

A private test copy of your live marketplace. Try a new plan, a shipping rule, a signup form or a full checkout with fake money, then reset it or throw it away. Your live store never notices.

Quick answer

On your dashboard, open the … menu on your store card and choose Create Sandbox. You get a second card, Your Store (Sandbox), with the same settings, listing types, forms, plans and terminology as live, but no users, listings or orders. It only accepts Stripe test keys, its emails only reach you and your team, and nobody else can see it. One sandbox per store. Reset from live wipes it and copies your current settings again. Included on every paid plan.

Prometora - Dashboard

Ceramica (Sandbox)

prometora.com/dashboard

My Marketplace

New Marketplace

Ceramica

Public

Handmade ceramics from local potters.

Created Sep 12, 2026

Settings

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Analytics

Preview Store

Edit Name & Description

Preview Store

Demo Mode

Create Sandbox

Delete Store

Ceramica (Sandbox)

Sandbox

Handmade ceramics from local potters.

Created Sep 12, 2026

Test copy. Stripe test keys only, emails go to you and your team, never counted or indexed.

Settings

Edit Pages

Analytics

Preview Store

Sandbox of Ceramica.All features are enabled here for testing, your live plan is Starter. Stripe test keys only. Emails only reach you and your team. Nothing here changes your live marketplace.

Ceramica (Sandbox)

Marketplace Dashboard

active Edit Site View Live Site

OverviewGeneralPaymentShippingBookingCouponsSellers & BuyersSeller ProfilesSignup FormSubscriptionsOrdersListingsListing FormThemeSEO & AIModerationTeamSocial LoginReviewsWebhooksExport DataImport DataEmail LogRedirectsManaged SellersEmail translationsText & Translations

Total Sales

Listings

Sellers

Buyers

Sandbox: this is a test copy of the marketplace. Test payments only, emails go to the owner only.

Ceramica

BrowseSellersAbout

Handmade Ceramics, Direct from Potters

Shop one-of-a-kind pieces from independent makers

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Featured Listings

$48

$65

$32

$54

What buyers say

Dashboard → … menu → Create Sandbox → a second card → every feature unlocked, test keys only → private storefront

Every paid plan

Sandboxes are included on every paid plan, Starter too, once your trial has converted. They do not count toward your store limit. Inside the sandbox every feature is enabled, whatever your live plan: coupons, bulk import, shipping labels, webhooks, Text & Translations and the rest. Try them with fake money first, then upgrade when you want them on your live store.

What it is for

Once your marketplace is live, every change you make is made in front of real buyers and sellers. A sandbox gives you a place to try things first:

Add a seller plan or change a price and walk through the subscription checkout with a test card.
Show a new dealer or a colleague what buying and selling looks like without touching the live store.
Try a new listing type, a signup-form change, a shipping rule or a terminology change before you make it for real.
Test a feature from a Friday release before you switch it on for your users.

What gets copied

Copied from live

Theme, pages and site settings
Listing types and custom fields
Signup forms, buyer approval, private catalog
Terminology and Text & Translations overrides
Seller plans (re-created on your test Stripe key)
Coupon codes, shipping rules, review and email settings
Your team members and their permissions

Never copied

Buyers, sellers, listings, orders, bookings, messages, reviews
Stripe keys, webhook secrets and Stripe objects
Custom domain and custom sender email
Google Analytics, Ads and Search Console ids
Outgoing webhooks and API integrations

So the copy is not empty, the sandbox is seeded with a sample seller and a few sample listings modelled on your own (same titles, prices and photos), plus one sample order or booking. Create your own test buyer and seller accounts from the sandbox's sign-up page like any visitor would.

Stripe in the sandbox

Test keys only

The sandbox's Payments tab rejects live keys. In your Stripe dashboard, create a Sandbox (top-left account menu), copy its pk_test_ and sk_test_ keys, and paste them into the sandbox store. Nothing you do there can move real money.

When you save a test secret key, your seller plans and VAT rate are re-created on that key automatically, so plan checkout works straight away. Seller subscriptions still need a webhook: register the sandbox store's webhook URL in your Stripe sandbox and paste the signing secret, exactly as described on the Subscriptions page. Shipping labels run in test mode. Use Stripe's test card 4242 4242 4242 4242.

Emails from the sandbox

Every email the sandbox sends carries a [Sandbox] subject prefix and an amber banner, and is only delivered to you and your team members. Emails to any other address are recorded in the Email Log as “not sent”. So you can sign up a test seller with your own address and receive the real emails, while a colleague's made-up test buyer never bothers anyone.

Who can see it

The sandbox storefront is private: only you, your team, and the test accounts created inside it can open it. It is never indexed, has no sitemap, cannot have a custom domain, and does not appear in any Prometora statistics or on your invoices.

Reset and delete

Reset from live

The everyday button. Wipes the sandbox (test accounts, listings, orders, changed settings) and copies your live settings again, sample content included. The sandbox keeps its address, so your Stripe test webhook and bookmarks keep working.

Delete Sandbox

Removes the sandbox and everything in it. You can create a new one afterwards. Your live store is never touched by either action.

Moving a change to live

There is no “copy to live” button

The sandbox is for trying things. When you are happy with a change, make it again on your live store by hand. Stripe objects differ between your live and test accounts, and merging settings into a live store that kept changing underneath is where things break, so we do not do it automatically.

Before you launch

You do not need a sandbox before your marketplace is public. Your trial marketplace is live from day one and nobody sees it until you share the address, so test on it directly:

Paste Stripe test keys under Store Settings → Payment. The tab shows a “Test mode” chip while they are in place.
Create a seller account and a buyer account with your own email addresses and walk through listing, checkout and payout with Stripe's test card 4242 4242 4242 4242.
When you are ready, swap in your live keys on the same tab. Seller plans and your VAT rate are re-created on the live key automatically.
Remove the test accounts and test listings, then share the address.

Once real sellers and buyers are on the live store, that is the moment to create the sandbox and do the trying-out there instead.

Good to know

Details

The sandbox address is /s/your-slug-sandbox. That suffix is reserved for sandboxes.
Owners and collaborators can create, reset and delete the sandbox. Staff members work inside it according to their permissions.
Live and sandbox do not sync. Settings you change on live after creating the sandbox arrive there on the next reset.
Demo Mode is not available on a sandbox; it already has sample content.
Settings that need a higher plan on your live store (Pro or Business features on a Starter plan, say) save fine in the sandbox but will not apply on live until you upgrade.

Team Moderation