1.5.7 Problems

[websmith]

So far had no luck contacting PayPal apparently due to covid-19 they have reduced staff and say they are overloaded and not accepting calls. You have to try to go through help center which does everything possible to block access. I have a request in for contact but it specifics it can take many hours.

[mc12345678]

I will answer best I can, but let me clarify the sequence of events. The sites were recently upgraded to Zen Cart 1.5.7 and PHP 7.4. One of the problems noted (that had been present since 7.2 PHP but not addressed) was that a php error was generated when PayPal was refunded using the standard module. DrByte provide a fix which was incorporated into the ipn_main_handler.php this update resolved the issue on the refunds, but now I am seeing this second issue. Since it was a change it is suspect that it is related to the new problem.

Your second question I am not sure how to answer this is the first I have seen of this change and although I read everything I could find with all the merging I did not find anything that stated what the problem was was in terms I understood. This change has not been made and until I understand what error it creates I would be hesitant to apply it.

The logs referred in the previous poste was debug logs that appear in the Logs folder, but mention of logs reminded me there are IPN logs which also show 2 entries for the orders with the duplicated invoices. The PayPal module itself does not have logging enabled since it is a live site.

In the linked post, there are two class methods (sections of code that begin with function) that are affected/modified. For the majority of payment modules (those provided in core Zen Cart) the after_order_process method isn't even called so the problem with that one won't be seen in PayPal anything. The other one, admin_notification, relates to accessing features of a payment module while reviewing orders in the admin. E.g., performing a purchase refund for a purchase that used paypal.

Now, mind you, there is a second patch that will need to be applied if you are transitioning to paypal express on ZC 1.5.7 (and possibly even so for ZC 1.5.6 primarily depending on mySQL settings). This patch is necessary because if the "right" database settings are in place, an attempted purchase will cause a similar issue as recently described. (something I investigated again to see if it was a cause/factor), it's the minorest of changes, but can make a difference.
Discussion: https://github.com/zencart/zencart/pull/3692
Files/changes: https://github.com/zencart/zencart/pull/3692/files

[lat9]

Cindy, when you get a second would you please post a link confirming this? I'll add it to the documentation.

Scott, I don't have a link ... I've just got a working PayPal parent-child business account that's been in effect since 2012.

[DrByte]

I've seen stores just use the same PayPal Express credentials in both stores.

The end result is the same as what you've been doing with Standard: all transactions are intermingled with each other anyway. I believe Express adds the store name to transaction data for filtering purposes.

[websmith]

Here is some additional information I have came across that might add and help with this situation

1st DrByte said: I've seen stores just use the same PayPal Express credentials in both stores. The end result is the same as what you've been doing with Standard: all transactions are intermingled with each other anyway. I believe Express adds the store name to transaction data for filtering purposes.

I know DrByte knows a lot more than I do, so I accept there may be a way to make it work but I do not know what it is and cannot find anything to set it up beyond the normal pointing of the module, and I have seen some comments that seem to indicate people had tried but ended up being blocked by PayPal. The following reason is stated many times as to why it will not work: This is because PayPal Standard supports multiple IPN URLs while PayPal Express only supports one.

2nd I did apply the fixes indicated by MC but sadly they did not resolve the duplicate invoice problem.

3rd I am slowly getting information from PayPal (it is like swimming in mud sometimes it takes a day or more to get the next response). The Parent-Child accounts mentioned by LAT seem to be available I received this information today from PayPal: "There is the ability to setup a parent-child account which allows there to be a primary PayPal account that the child accounts sweep into at the end of each day. It basically sends the money from your child accounts to the parent account so it can all be transferred to one bank account. However, this is not going to impact the way you integrate PayPal with the website." I have followed with questions to be sure it would satisfy the requirements of PayPal Express and try to make sure I was not opening up to other problems.

I will post any useful additional information as it becomes available

[Elemi]

Thanks Websmith for all your work on this so far to find a solution. I'm about to have a similar issue with my new websites when I've finished redesigning them and am watching your progress with interest. Currently, I manually invoice my PayPal Clients.

[dbltoe]

The only real differences in one of our customers' four sites are

1. In the module itself -- The Store (Brand) Name at PayPal
2. In their PayPal account -- Set the IPN URL to point to the site's ipn_main_handler

Everything else is pointed at the main account.

[DrByte]

I've seen stores just use the same PayPal Express credentials in both stores.

I believe Express adds the store name to transaction data for filtering purposes.

Confirmed: the invoice "number" passed to PayPal Express (and Pro for that matter) is not the order number, but rather is:
"customer id number" - "timestamp number" - "store name"

The store-name suffix allows the differentiation in cases where you're wondering where a certain transaction originated.

[websmith]

Here is the word from PayPal not sure where or why the other information is out there. I will be setting up the test sites tomorrow and do some testing and if all goes well putting this on the live sites and solving the problem within the next couple of days. I have been getting flooded with double invoices.

Thank you for contacting Merchant Technical Support.

I understand you want to switch your integration from PayPal Standard to Express Checkout. The Parent-Child relationship you brought up is not really something we offer for standard business accounts without an account manager assigned to it. I don't see any issue with operating multiple websites with Express Checkout to funnel into one PayPal account. You will just be providing the same credentials to each site. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Thank you for your business and I hope you have a great day!

[websmith]

I got pulled away for a short time so I did not get back to this until now.

I have one set of live sites running with the Express. It did resolve the problem of double invoices.

Everything was set up identical on both sites using the instructions on the module with the exception of the brand name which I put the name for that site in. I have had a few PayPal orders come in with no errors logged and no apparent problems.