frontend/src/cart/Cart.tsx

@@ -244,14 +244,24 @@ export default function Cart() {
                 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.
+
+                It describes the button rather than the shop, and that is the
+                point rather than a phrasing preference. demoMode and
+                paypalClientId are independent — checkPayPal only *requires*
+                credentials when DEMO_MODE=false, it never forbids them when it
+                is true — and the documented cutover order is to populate the
+                PayPal secrets while demo mode is still on, then flip. In that
+                window live PayPal buttons render directly below this notice, so
+                anything claiming the shop is not taking payments would be false
+                exactly where a customer can be charged. See #203.
               */}
               {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."
+                  message="Demo checkout"
+                  description="The Checkout (Demo) button places a pretend order: nothing is charged, and nothing will be shipped."
                 />
               )}
               {!selectedAddressId && <Text type="warning">Select a shipping address to check out.</Text>}

frontend/tests/e2e/demo-checkout.spec.ts

@@ -51,14 +51,19 @@ test.describe('Demo mode says so to the customer', () => {
     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);
 
+    // Deliberately NO address. The cart auto-selects the default one on load,
+    // so seeding an address here would mean the button is already rendered and
+    // this would pass even with the notice moved inside the selectedAddressId
+    // guard — which is the regression it exists to catch. #203.
     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.
+    // survive someone not reading carefully, so it has to be up before there is
+    // anything to press.
     await expect(cart.demoNotice).toBeVisible({ timeout: 20000 });
+    await expect(cart.checkoutButton).toHaveCount(0);
   });
 
   // The toast is three seconds; this is the record the customer comes back to

frontend/tests/e2e/pages/CartPage.ts

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export class CartPage {
     // 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');
+    this.demoNotice = page.getByText('Demo checkout');
   }
 
   async goto(): Promise<void> {