Client sometimes doesn't receive order confirmation email

[BiillO]

Zen Cart Version 1.3.8
No add ons
Customization basically only appearance (nothing fancy)
Client allows PayPal IPN - Website Payments Standard, only No Credit cards

My question is this:

Client sometimes does not receive an Order Confirmation Email with order details from Zen Cart, even though she has received IPN from Pay Pal. What are the likely causes for this?

Her Email is through Register.com, but they do not host her Website. When we first had this problem several weeks ago, I found that the mail serever where the Website is hosted was on a several blacklists. I contacted Worldplanet Hosting, and they took care of that. She started receiving notices again.

Now she is having problems again, as the last 3 orders the shopping cart has failed to send an Order Confirmation. The server is not blacklisted (I checked using mxtoolbox.com). So, that may not have been the problem the first time either. Don't know.

I do not know enough about how an email system works when it is relayed (correct term???) to Register.com from her shopping cart.

Is the confirmation sent after The IPN is completed? (I would guess).

As I said, this has been working fine. What could cause a failure on an intermittent basis?

Thanks in advance. I'm stumped.

Bill O.

[kobra]

Why isn't the email one that is setup as something like
sales at the_domain.com

[DrByte]

Zen Cart Version 1.3.8

Take note that v1.3.9a, v1.3.9b, v1.3.9c, v1.3.9d, v1.3.9e, v1.3.9f, v1.3.9g, and v1.3.9h have been released since v1.3.8, and contain many important bugfixes and security fixes.

Client allows PayPal IPN - Website Payments Standard, only

Use PayPal Express Checkout instead. It's much more reliable because the code is much more contemporary.

Client sometimes does not receive an Order Confirmation Email with order details from Zen Cart, even though she has received IPN from Pay Pal. What are the likely causes for this?

IPN notification failures, or security validation mismatches.
If the order *does* show up in your store, but emails don't arrive, then it could be a problem with email setup on your site, or blacklisting as you mentioned. But if the orders don't show up either, then it's IPN failure.

Is the confirmation sent after The IPN is completed? (I would guess).

Yes.

As I said, this has been working fine. What could cause a failure on an intermittent basis?

All kinds of things: bad hosting, firewalls, busy servers on PayPal's end, and maybe hacker activity on your server.
Many troubleshooting possibilities: http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/PayPal


RECOMMENDED FIX: Two steps:
a) switch to using Express Checkout so that these problems go away immediately (Click "Remove" on the IPN module, and click "Install" on the Express Checkout module. Setup instructions here: http://www.zen-cart.com/getpaypal . Takes all of 5 minutes, and no change in fees or services. )
b) upgrade to latest version of Zen Cart to benefit from the many bugfixes and security fixes required by your store

[BiillO]

Thank you for your reply. I will advise my client on the PayPal Express.

How do I upgrade to v.1.3.9, and is their one upgrade that includes all of the releases noted below? What happens to the existing Data Base? I this just a "one click" deal, or is this going to require hours of messing around and reconfiguring things?

My PHP version is 5.2.10 Will Zen Cart v.1.3.9 work? I just had my host migrate my accounts to new cluster last spring to take advantage of php 5. It was a total nightmare.

Thanks.

Regards,
Bill O.

Take note that v1.3.9a, v1.3.9b, v1.3.9c, v1.3.9d, v1.3.9e, v1.3.9f, v1.3.9g, and v1.3.9h have been released since v1.3.8, and contain many important bugfixes and security fixes.
Use PayPal Express Checkout instead. It's much more reliable because the code is much more contemporary.
IPN notification failures, or security validation mismatches.
If the order *does* show up in your store, but emails don't arrive, then it could be a problem with email setup on your site, or blacklisting as you mentioned. But if the orders don't show up either, then it's IPN failure.
Yes.

As I said, this has been working fine. What could cause a failure on an intermittent basis?

All kinds of things: bad hosting, firewalls, busy servers on PayPal's end, and maybe hacker activity on your server.
Many troubleshooting possibilities: http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/PayPal


RECOMMENDED FIX: Two steps:
a) switch to using Express Checkout so that these problems go away immediately (Click "Remove" on the IPN module, and click "Install" on the Express Checkout module. Setup instructions here: http://www.zen-cart.com/getpaypal . Takes all of 5 minutes, and no change in fees or services. )
b) upgrade to latest version of Zen Cart to benefit from the many bugfixes and security fixes required by your store

[BiillO]

I looked at the documentation for upgrading to 1.3.9. OMG... Way too complex and appears to be risky and time consuming.

Not going to go that route.

How do I "apply" the patches listed (a-h)? Or is it basically the same kind of procedure?

[DrByte]

I looked at the documentation for upgrading to 1.3.9. OMG... Way too complex and appears to be risky and time consuming.

Yes, it's time consuming. It's only complex if you've heavily modified your site. Still, it needs to be done.

Keep in mind that there's a VERY good reason for the instructions having been written that way: it's to give you a chance to fix any problems BEFORE your upgrade goes live, thus preventing any problems from hindering sales.

If you were to shortcut the process you'd run the risk of having a broken store and being in a panic because something wasn't working and sales were interrupted. Hence the detailed instructions for creating a test copy of your site to do the upgrade and fix all potential issues before applying the upgrade to your live site.

Not going to go that route.

At your peril.
Remember, your current version is several years old, and will soon be end-of-life and not officially supported.

How do I "apply" the patches listed (a-h)? Or is it basically the same kind of procedure?

If you're not yet using v1.3.9, then you'll have to upgrade to 1.3.9 before applying patches a-h. And, if you've not yet upgraded to 1.3.9, you would simply upgrade directly to 1.3.9h instead of to an earlier version, thus saving yourself the time and additional work.

[BiillO]

Yes, it's time consuming. It's only complex if you've heavily modified your site. Still, it needs to be done.

Keep in mind that there's a VERY good reason for the instructions having been written that way: it's to give you a chance to fix any problems BEFORE your upgrade goes live, thus preventing any problems from hindering sales.

If you were to shortcut the process you'd run the risk of having a broken store and being in a panic because something wasn't working and sales were interrupted. Hence the detailed instructions for creating a test copy of your site to do the upgrade and fix all potential issues before applying the upgrade to your live site.
At your peril.
Remember, your current version is several years old, and will soon be end-of-life and not officially supported.

If you're not yet using v1.3.9, then you'll have to upgrade to 1.3.9 before applying patches a-h. And, if you've not yet upgraded to 1.3.9, you would simply upgrade directly to 1.3.9h instead of to an earlier version, thus saving yourself the time and additional work.

I see. I misread your original post. But this scares me. I'm still pretty new to all this, though I have successfully installed Apache, PHP5 and MySQL (along with PHPMyAdmin) on my local PC for development work. I have been teaching myself PHP, Javascript, etc, and I have learned a lot, but am by no means an expert. I'm stll very much a newbie.

Wouldn't it be easier to simply install the latest version in a new directory (ex. /catalog) and connect to the existing database? But then I would have to do my customizations all over again (can I copy and paste the style sheets?).

I agree with you that I really should do this. I'm just trying to figure out the easiest way.

[DrByte]

Wouldn't it be easier to simply install the latest version in a new directory (ex. /catalog) and connect to the existing database? But then I would have to do my customizations all over again (can I copy and paste the style sheets?).

That's exactly what the upgrade process is: redoing your customizations in a copy of the new version ... offline so that your live site isn't shut down while doing so.
The instructions may look daunting, but only because they outline a safe way to do it so that you don't lose business while working on it.
It's all in your perspective.

[BiillO]

That's exactly what the upgrade process is: redoing your customizations in a copy of the new version ... offline so that your live site isn't shut down while doing so.
The instructions may look daunting, but only because they outline a safe way to do it so that you don't lose business while working on it.
It's all in your perspective.

Thanks, I may be making a mountain out of a molehill. Perhaps it is my "newbieness" that is making me nervous. I guess I should rely on the fact that I installed Apache, PHP, and MySQL myself (and I did it manually, each by itself) and trust my own abilities.

You've convinced me to go for it. But I'm going to familiarize myself a bit more with the whole process before I plunge in.

I installed it the first time from my Hosts aps. Basically I ckicked and it installed. Not much I had to do. To bad they weren't offering the latest version. I didn't realize that at the time (this was last June).

For grins, and for practice, I am installing it first on my wifes Website, on my local machine.

Thanks for your help. We can close this thread. If I need more info, I'll start another thread.