Paypal IPN and Payment Problems

[davidandrews]

HI There
OK, set that up and still not processing

I was wondering whether this could be a permissions thing?

My ipn_main_handler.php file is set to 644

If that could be it?

Also, my other worries were:

the TWO trailing slashes before ipn_main_handler.php

eg, mydomain:

https://web22.secure-server.com/mydo...in_handler.php

OR
is it because my secure settings are conflicting with paypals?

Thanks SO much for your help/advice etc!


PS

add:

when it returns to the Order acknowledgement page from the paypal payment screen, there is no order number.

its just not writing ANYTHING back to the store, even thought the URL's are working

[ungeziefer]

Did you ever get this figured out? (Cause I have the same problem, and have read everything and tried everything I can possibly think of, with no success.)

As far as your specific question about having "TWO trailing slashes before ipn_main_handler.php", I would certainly presume that is wrong.

But beyond that, please let me know if you got your PayPal sales to show up -- cause I sure can't -- and how you got it to work.

I have triple-checked all my PayPal settings (matching, lower-case email address set to primary, IPN on, IPN url set to http://store.zippermosaics.com/ipn_main_handler.php , Automatic Return URL set to http://store.zippermosaics.com/index...eckout_process , etc.).

I have checked with my hosting company, on advice from the wiki ( http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/PayPal ), to make sure that the proper ports are "open for bidrectional communication" and requisite IP numbers are not blocked or behind a firewall or whatever, etc.

I have made sure there is no CUSTOM folder in /includes/languages/ or in /includes/languages/english/

I have replaced my "ipn_main_handler.php" file from the install folder. I have tried changing the few lines of code in this file, as suggested by sokhapkin in this thread:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showth...t=31593&page=2

I have installed Shoetrick's patch -- from this thread:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32302

That works, if you want to manually "push" each and every sale to force it to go where it's supposed to. (And in the meantime, hope no one else buys the same item, since it still appears in your inventory...)

. . . . . . . .

At this point my only guess is that it has something to do with "Payment Data Transfer" (in PayPal preferences). This is seldom mentioned in any of the ZenCart documentation, but when it is mentioned instructions are to set it to OFF -- I have tried both ways, makes no difference.


(Using most recent version of ZenCart - 1.3.5 -- fresh install.)

Thanks very much.

dustin

[Merlinpa1969]

Has anyone asked paypal to tset the IPN system.

there are way to many folks having issues now.

and Yes I know you get an email from paypal but have them test the IPN system
thats what talks back to your site and makes sure its OK to create the order

[ungeziefer]

Thank you for the speedy response.

I read through the HELP section on the PayPal site, and didn't figure anything out. So I emailed their SUPPORT and asked if they could test to make sure IPN is working properly.

I will post their reply.

Thanks.

[Noella]

Well, until this paypal issue is resolved, is there any way to find out what my customers bought so that I can process the order? I installed that old version of "View paypal stuck orders" but I couldn't make sense of what it spat out. I'm running 1.3.5 and this is what it says:

.
.
.
cart => Object
observers => Array
contents => Array
254 => Array
qty => 1
240 => Array
qty => 1
21 => Array
qty => 1
.
.
.

Does that mean my customer bought item id's 254, 240, 21? That doesn't make much sense to me b/c those are id numbers of categories.

Anybody have a good solution?

[Noella]

Well, until this paypal issue is resolved, is there any way to find out what my customers bought so that I can process the order? I installed that old version of "View paypal stuck orders" but I couldn't make sense of what it spat out. I'm running 1.3.5 and this is what it says:

.
.
.
cart => Object
observers => Array
contents => Array
254 => Array
qty => 1
240 => Array
qty => 1
21 => Array
qty => 1
.
.
.

Does that mean my customer bought item id's 254, 240, 21? That doesn't make much sense to me b/c those are id numbers of categories.

Anybody have a good solution?

[Noella]

never mind... found and downloaded the Version 2 modified of DrByte's View Stuck orders and got it to push the order into the database. works with 1.3.5

[misty]

My fix for not receiving paypal notifications is at
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpo...22&postcount=6

[ungeziefer]

Here is what I got back from PayPal Merchant Tech Support (**note: the link they refer to which "appears to have been updated with a fix" is this very thread**) :

"
IPN is still POSTing normally. Also the link you have included Appears to have been updated with a fix. If the issue persists I have included the most common problems affecting developers when working with IPN.

To send a dummy post, you can use http://paypaltech.com/Stephen/test/ipntest.htm

If you are having trouble with a program designed to work with PayPal, such as an IPN script, try some of these debugging techniques:

- Look at your system logs to figure out if PayPal is posting to your URL. For example, if you have a PHP script running in conjunction with your Apache Web server, look at the Apache logs to see if Apache is logging attempts by PayPal to post to your site. Since the information is being recorded chances are PayPal will be seen

- Try a simpler script. If your script has a lot of functions, try replacing it (temporarily) with a stripped-down version that just does the basics. Once the simple script is working as you expect, add in features such as writing to a database or sending an email message. You could try one of our basic scripts generated at http://www.paypaltech.com/SG2

- Output raw, rather than processed, data. For example, instead of parsing the data your script receives into pieces for easy logging, have your script write the raw data to a log file or email it to your email address.

- Add logging of output for inspection. For example, if your script puts together a string that should be posted back to PayPal, write a copy of this string to a log file just before posting it.

- Design manual testing into your script. Even if your script is intended to be hit by the PayPal server, build it to work properly when you open its URL in your Web browser.

- Test in the Sandbox. The PayPal Sandbox (see https://developer.paypal.com) lets you simulate the live production site. For example, you can trigger IPNs for shopping cart purchases, donations, or expiring subscriptions.

- Are you using ASP.NET? If so, try enabling tracing and examining the file "trace.axd" on your site. 500 errors should be captured there, as well as all of the posted form information.


REASONS FOR INVALID

- Make sure you are posting back ALL variables/values.

For PayPal to return VERIFIED, your IPN script needs to post back ALL the variables that were posted to it in the first place. In other words, if your script only needs to manipulate 1 or 2 variables, it is not enough to post back to PayPal only the variables/values your script is concerned with. Your script should post back EVERYTHING that was initially posted to it from PayPal. This is the only way PayPal will return VERIFIED

- Make sure you are not posting back to the wrong URL.

If you are testing in the Sandbox, you need to ensure your script posts back to www.sandbox.paypal.com. If you are on the live site, the script should post back to www.paypal.com. You will receive INVALID if you are testing in the Sandbox and your script posts back to the live site (or vice versa)

- Encoding

PayPal's IPN server expects that your script will POST back all variables that were posted to it and more importantly, that they are encoded the same way as they were sent to your script. If your script inadvertently changed the encoding of a character or interprets an encoded character as another character and POSTs back, you will likely see INVALID. This can happen sporadically and tends to occur, for example, when a payment is received and the buyer may have an accented character in their name or the order is for some item with a non-standard character in the item name. These instances are tricky to troubleshoot but it is listed here as it can cause INVALID when you would expect VERIFIED. Look for this issue when you are seeing that certain IPNs are INVALID and all the rest are VERIFIED.
"

Havent' yet had time to explore their suggestions. I'm afraid it's a bit too technical for me, in any case. But maybe some of you coders out there can make sense of it.

Please?? . . .

Thanks,

dustin

[Mealster]

I too seem to be having the same issues w/Paypal as many others here.

My site just had Zen Cart installed on it 1 month ago, so I believe we have the most updated version. We just went live yesterday.

My cousin told me she bought some products from my site. She advised she received no order number on the "checkout success" page. Also, there is no order summary she could look back when she views her account (as the checkout success page had advised her). Also, she received no email confirmation from Zen cart from her order. Just the Paypal confirmation which does NOT show what products she ordered.

I did a test myself and came up with the same findings as her AFTER I checked all the info with Paypal IPN ( which is all correct).
My web designer added the module so we could "view stuck orders"--which is basically useless to me--as I can not see what the customer has ordered.
I have no orders showing thru Paypal. She seems to be just as baffled as I am, and unfortunately, she can not come up with a solid fix for this.

Does anyone know how to contact the folks who run Zen Cart?
I have never come across a product where so many people are having the same issues and there doesn't seem to be any solid fixes around.

I have gone back on threads from April and have not been able to come up with anything that works.

If anyone can help, I would GREATLY appreciate it. I just got my website up and I hate to start having to call people to ask them what they ordered--very unprofessional indeed.
If necessary, I can pay someone--I don't have much, but I can give something.

If you can help, please email me at mealster*earthlink.net.

Thank You,
Camille

ww.mdherbal.com