Jay, the Verisign test server does process transactions in real time. However, if there is a problem with a card, for example because of communication problems, the ecommerce package with try again later. The status of the order is updated to authorized should the retry be succesfull.
By all means try it with a real credit card. The communication with Verisign is secure and your test account is not shared with others. You can also use this test credit card number: 4003010123456780. IntelliPay give me this number once for testing purposes and works with any credit card gateway.
/Bart
