Sandbox vs Production

Environment comparison

Single URL, credentials determine the environment

Both Sandbox and Production share the same base URL:

The environment is determined entirely by the credentials you use to obtain your access token. Sandbox credentials route all requests to the Sandbox environment; Production credentials route requests to Production. No URL change is required when going live.

Switching to Production

Each App in the developer portal is scoped to a specific environment. To go live, create a new App with the Production environment selected and obtain new credentials. No other changes to your integration are required.

Sandbox balance

Your Sandbox account is pre-loaded with a virtual balance of $10,000. If your balance falls below $1,000, it is automatically replenished to $10,000, so no manual funding is required. Balance deductions and refunds behave identically to Production — use the Balance API to inspect them.

Simulated email delivery

In Sandbox, gift card emails are not delivered to recipients. Orders complete immediately and the order status transitions to COMPLETE just as in Production, but no actual email is sent. Use this to verify your order flow end-to-end without needing real email addresses.

Testing tips

• Use realistic test data — recipient names and emails follow the same validation rules as Production
• Verify your idempotency key handling in Sandbox before going live
• Test error paths: try submitting orders with invalid product IDs, amounts out of range, and missing fields
• Check that your app handles 429 rate limit responses gracefully
• Test cancellation flows using scheduled orders before testing immediate sends