The term mode indicates the action your account or service is able to perform. For example if you account is in test status then you can only perform test transactions but if you account is in Live status then you can perform either test or live transactions.
Test. If your Payflow account is in Test status and mode, then you can perform only test transactions, not live transactions. For Payflow, PayPal cannot determine if you are performing test or live transactions (you can perform both) so it will show "--" as its mode.
Live. If your Payflow account is in Live status and mode, then you can perform test and live transactions.
Below are the modes for Fraud Protection Services:
If your account is Test, then your mode will be one of the following:
Not Deployed. You have not configured your fraud filters and clicked the Deploy button.
Deployed. Your fraud filters have been set, and you are now in Active mode. The filters will monitor the test transactions you perform.
If your account is Live, then your mode will be one of the following:
Not Deployed. You have not configured your fraud filters and clicked the Deploy button.
Deployed. Your fraud filters have been set, and you are now in Observed or Active mode. The filters will monitor the live transactions you perform.
Observed. Allows you to see how filters will impact live transactions without actually rejecting them or holding them for review. In Observe mode, every transaction is screened by the filters and then submitted for processing in the normal way. The transactions are not actually acted upon by the triggered filters. Instead, transactions are marked with the action that the filter would have taken had the account been in Active Mode.