diff --git a/frontend/src/cart/Cart.tsx b/frontend/src/cart/Cart.tsx
index 829eabc..ae85d12 100644
--- a/frontend/src/cart/Cart.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/cart/Cart.tsx
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import List from 'antd/es/list';
 import Button from 'antd/es/button';
 import Empty from 'antd/es/empty';
 import Card from 'antd/es/card';
+import Alert from 'antd/es/alert';
 import Radio from 'antd/es/radio';
 import Form from 'antd/es/form';
 import Input from 'antd/es/input';
@@ -128,7 +129,10 @@ export default function Cart() {
     setCheckingOut(true);
     try {
       await demoCartPurchase(selectedAddressId);
-      message.success('Order complete!');
+      // The item really is marked sold and everyone who favorited it really is
+      // emailed, so the one moment the customer is told what happened is the one
+      // moment a demo order has to stop looking like a real one. #195.
+      message.success('Demo order complete — nothing was charged and nothing will be shipped.');
       refreshCartContext();
       loadAll();
     } catch (err) {
@@ -235,17 +239,38 @@ export default function Cart() {
             </Card>
 
             <Card title="Checkout" style={{ marginTop: 24 }}>
+              {/*
+                Shown for the whole of demo mode: before an address is picked,
+                and whether or not PayPal is configured. The word on the button
+                is the smaller half of this — it asks the customer to notice a
+                parenthesis on the control they have already decided to press.
+              */}
+              {config?.demoMode && (
+                <Alert
+                  type="warning"
+                  showIcon
+                  style={{ marginBottom: 12 }}
+                  message="Demonstration only"
+                  description="This shop is not taking payments at the moment. Placing an order here costs nothing, and nothing will be shipped."
+                />
+              )}
               {!selectedAddressId && <Text type="warning">Select a shipping address to check out.</Text>}
               {config?.paypalClientId && selectedAddressId && <div id="paypal-cart-buttons" />}
               {config?.demoMode && selectedAddressId && (
                 <Button
                   block
+                  // Secondary when real PayPal buttons sit above it, primary when
+                  // it is the only way to check out. The label does not follow
+                  // that: a demo order is a demo order either way, and gating the
+                  // word on a PayPal client id meant production — which runs demo
+                  // mode precisely because it has no PayPal credentials — was the
+                  // one place the label never appeared. #195.
                   type={config.paypalClientId ? 'default' : 'primary'}
                   style={{ marginTop: 8 }}
                   loading={checkingOut}
                   onClick={handleDemoCheckout}
                 >
-                  {config.paypalClientId ? 'Checkout (Demo)' : 'Checkout'}
+                  Checkout (Demo)
                 </Button>
               )}
             </Card>
diff --git a/frontend/tests/e2e/demo-checkout.spec.ts b/frontend/tests/e2e/demo-checkout.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..333d398
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/tests/e2e/demo-checkout.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+import { test, expect, createItem, uniqueSuffix } from './fixtures';
+
+/**
+ * Demo mode as production actually runs it: `DEMO_MODE=true` with no PayPal
+ * credentials configured, which is the interim #191 put in place and the shape
+ * this suite already runs in.
+ *
+ * That combination used to render a full-width primary button reading plainly
+ * "Checkout". The "(Demo)" suffix was gated on a PayPal client id being present,
+ * so the one configuration that needs the label was the only one that did not
+ * get it — and the button is not decorative, it marks real inventory sold and
+ * emails everyone who favorited it. See #195.
+ *
+ * These assert what a customer can see, because that is the whole defect. The
+ * server was always right about what it was doing.
+ */
+
+const ADDRESS = {
+  fullName: 'Dana Holt',
+  addressLine1: '118 Cedar Street',
+  city: 'Asheville',
+  state: 'NC',
+  postalCode: '28801',
+  isDefault: true
+};
+
+test.describe('Demo mode says so to the customer', () => {
+  test('labels the checkout button as a demo when no PayPal is configured', async ({
+    page,
+    customer,
+    cart
+  }) => {
+    const name = `Demo c${uniqueSuffix()}`;
+    const item = await createItem(page.request, { name, price: '80' });
+    expect((await page.request.post(`/api/cart/items/${item.id}`)).status()).toBe(201);
+    expect((await page.request.post('/api/customers/me/addresses', { data: ADDRESS })).ok()).toBe(true);
+
+    await cart.goto();
+
+    // The cart selects the default address on load, so the checkout controls
+    // render with nothing clicked.
+    await expect(cart.checkoutButton).toBeVisible({ timeout: 20000 });
+    await expect(cart.checkoutButton).toHaveText('Checkout (Demo)');
+  });
+
+  test('says so before the customer commits, not only on the button', async ({
+    page,
+    customer,
+    cart
+  }) => {
+    const name = `Demo n${uniqueSuffix()}`;
+    const item = await createItem(page.request, { name, price: '80' });
+    expect((await page.request.post(`/api/cart/items/${item.id}`)).status()).toBe(201);
+    expect((await page.request.post('/api/customers/me/addresses', { data: ADDRESS })).ok()).toBe(true);
+
+    await cart.goto();
+
+    // A label on the button alone asks the customer to notice a parenthesis on
+    // the thing they are already clicking. The notice is the part that has to
+    // survive someone not reading carefully.
+    await expect(cart.demoNotice).toBeVisible({ timeout: 20000 });
+  });
+
+  test('the confirmation says nothing was charged', async ({ page, customer, cart }) => {
+    const name = `Demo p${uniqueSuffix()}`;
+    const item = await createItem(page.request, { name, price: '80' });
+    expect((await page.request.post(`/api/cart/items/${item.id}`)).status()).toBe(201);
+    expect((await page.request.post('/api/customers/me/addresses', { data: ADDRESS })).ok()).toBe(true);
+
+    await cart.goto();
+    await expect(cart.checkoutButton).toBeVisible({ timeout: 20000 });
+
+    await cart.checkoutButton.click();
+
+    // "Order complete!" is true and is exactly what a real order would say. The
+    // item really is marked sold and favoriters really are emailed, so the one
+    // moment the customer is told what happened has to distinguish the two.
+    await expect(page.getByText(/nothing was charged/i)).toBeVisible({ timeout: 20000 });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/tests/e2e/pages/CartPage.ts b/frontend/tests/e2e/pages/CartPage.ts
index 2b1979b..d4ceaa2 100644
--- a/frontend/tests/e2e/pages/CartPage.ts
+++ b/frontend/tests/e2e/pages/CartPage.ts
@@ -10,10 +10,18 @@ import { Locator, Page } from '@playwright/test';
 export class CartPage {
   readonly continueShoppingButton: Locator;
   readonly emptyNotice: Locator;
+  readonly checkoutButton: Locator;
+  readonly demoNotice: Locator;
 
   constructor(private readonly page: Page) {
     this.continueShoppingButton = page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Continue Shopping' });
     this.emptyNotice = page.getByText('Your cart is empty');
+    // Matched on a prefix rather than the whole label, so a test can assert what
+    // the label says instead of having to know it in order to find the button.
+    // That is the point of #195: the label was wrong, and a locator naming it in
+    // full would have gone looking for the right button and found nothing.
+    this.checkoutButton = page.getByRole('button', { name: /^Checkout/ });
+    this.demoNotice = page.getByText('Demonstration only');
   }
 
   async goto(): Promise<void> {