Root Cause

• Merchant account in test mode: The merchant’s connected account is set to Test mode and cannot process live transactions.
• Live transactions attempted from test account: A production transaction was initiated using a test-only merchant account.
• Incomplete merchant account activation: The merchant account setup is not fully completed to support live payments.
• Payment gateway restrictions: The payment gateway has enforced restrictions preventing live transactions through test accounts.

Troubleshooting and Solutions

• Verify that the merchant account is fully activated and capable of processing live transactions.
• Switch to a production-ready merchant account before attempting live transactions.
• Contact the payment gateway support team if the merchant account should be live but remains restricted.
• Clearly separate test and production environments to avoid transaction processing errors.
• Retry the transaction only after confirming that the merchant account is properly configured for live operations.