orders not processing correctly

[joeparts.com]

I have had multiple customers buy things and they pay via paypal and I get the paypal notification but the order itself is never created. I then have toi email the customer back and ask them to recreate their order and choose money order as the payment method (since they already paid via paypal). This happens randomly and I am not sure if it is the customer doing something wrong or if there is a software isssue. Has anyone else experienced this? thanks

[kbalona]

Upgrade to the latest version of Zen Cart if you haven't already, then disable the PayPal IPN payment module and enable the PayPal Express Checkout module instead.
I had that same problem, turns out it happens when a customers pays without a PayPal account, and they are not automatically re-directed back to your store. Apparently Zen Cart depends on that redirection to determine whether or not the customer paid, something like that. So if the customer doesn't return to the right page, no order is created. But using PayPal Express Checkout takes care of all that.

[Merlinpa1969]

you can also look in the wiki,
there is a whole section oh WHY this happens and hot to fix it

[DrByte]

turns out it happens when a customers pays without a PayPal account, and they are not automatically re-directed back to your store. Apparently Zen Cart depends on that redirection to determine whether or not the customer paid, something like that. So if the customer doesn't return to the right page, no order is created.

Close.

Using the IPN module, if the customer doesn't click (on the last page of PayPal's pages) to NOT Create a PayPal account, but to return to the store instead, then PAYPAL doesn't tell the store about the order.
Zen Cart depends on the IPN notice being sent FROM PayPal to the store. And if the customer doesn't have an account, PayPal won't proceed with the notification.

There's nothing we can do about that ... except encourage your customers to click the button, or encourage you to use Express Checkout instead of IPN/WebsitePaymentsStandard.

[kbalona]

Close.

Using the IPN module, if the customer doesn't click (on the last page of PayPal's pages) to NOT Create a PayPal account, but to return to the store instead, then PAYPAL doesn't tell the store about the order.
Zen Cart depends on the IPN notice being sent FROM PayPal to the store. And if the customer doesn't have an account, PayPal won't proceed with the notification.

There's nothing we can do about that ... except encourage your customers to click the button, or encourage you to use Express Checkout instead of IPN/WebsitePaymentsStandard.

Thanks for the clarification, DrByte.