PayPal Instant Payment Notification Warning‏

Since 22ed last month, our site has some paceage lost, and we couldn't find any problems.

Today we received a email from paypal. That's it below.

Please check your server that handles PayPal Instant Payment Notifications (IPN). IPNs sent to the following URL(s) are failing:

https://www.xxx.com/ipn_main_handler.php

If you do not recognize this URL, you may be using a service provider that is using IPN on your behalf. Please contact your service provider with the above information. If this problem continues, IPNs may be disabled for your account.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this issue.

Thanks,

PayPal

Can someone tell me how can i solve the problem?I'll be very appreciated.

Today I received an email from [email protected] with this title:

PayPal Instant Payment Notification Warning‏

The email said:

Please check your server that handles PayPal Instant Payment Notifications (IPN). IPNs sent to the following URL(s) are failing:

http://74.86.153.130/~usconver/ipn_main_handler.php

If you do not recognize this URL, you may be using a service provider that is using IPN on your behalf. Please contact your service provider with the above information. If this problem continues, IPNs may be disabled for your account. Thank you for your prompt attention to this issue.
Thanks, PayPal
When I click the link I get a "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" message.
Anybody who knows what this is all about?? I seems to receive payments fine, however the PayPal payment notification email recently started going to my spam inbox.

It would seem you've got an invalid URL in your PayPal configuration.
http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/PayPal

Sorry, but i can't find any useful information, or i can't understand which information is useful. How can i do?

From the wiki article I mentioned:

1 Log in.
2 Click on Profile.
<snip>
6 Click on Instant Payment Notification Preferences.
7 Click on Edit.
8 Turn it on (check the box).
9 Set the URL to: http://www.myz_domain.com/MY_SHOP/ipn_main_handler.php. (The complete correct URL can be obtained from your Admin area inside the PayPal payment module's information settings.)
10 Click Save.

I have got the same message three times from Paypal. Checked everything and it seems ok. Customers do get their downloadable product and payments are made correctly and show up in my account and tell me status=completed. I am still receiving this messages from paypal and after 5 warningmessages your IPN will be disabled, I was told by PP. :(
My ZC-store is working perfect for 2,5 years and now this? What do I do?

BTW, if I click on my url-s mentioned in the email, I get a normal page from my store, telling me "Nothing to process. Please return to home page", so the page is accessable.

What can I do?

Lynn Griffin:

I have got the same message three times from Paypal.Many people are getting those notices. It seems PayPal's systems are doing a fresh round of checkups and updates.
It's unclear whether the notices are actually true or whether PayPal has a bug in their notifications process.

Lynn Griffin:

I am still receiving this messages from paypal and after 5 warningmessages your IPN will be disabled, I was told by PP.Yes, that's how those notices normally work.
Lynn Griffin:

My ZC-store is working perfect for 2,5 years and now this? What do I do?Sorry, I can't give you a definitive answer.
Lynn Griffin:

if I click on my url-s mentioned in the email, I get a normal page from my store, telling me "Nothing to process. Please return to home page", so the page is accessable.That would be the first test I would recommend.
If indeed the link works and you get the "Nothing to process" message, then things are probably fine.
The next test is to do an actual PayPal transaction and see whether the IPN is received properly by your store.
The next test is to login to your PayPal account and go to their IPN mgmt page and review all the IPN messages they've sent to see the status. Then sort out whatever problems you find there.
Log tickets with https://www.paypal.com/mts if it looks like the problem is on their end.

DrByte:

The next test is to login to your PayPal account and go to their IPN mgmt page and review all the IPN messages they've sent to see the status. Then sort out whatever problems you find there.

I have done that too. I have checked every order in my IPN-history and every order is completed, however IPN Paypal tells me failed or retrying. (thank God no complaining customers :smile: )

I did a test-purchase and everything went fine.

NB I did some payments some days ago (I pay my designers once a month) and this has nothing to do with IPN or my store, just a payment paypal to paypal and those payments do also show up in the IPN-history telling me "retrying", and I am sure they have received their payment. I am so confused now....

DrByte:

Log tickets with https://www.paypal.com/mts if it looks like the problem is on their end.

I have opened a ticket, but no response yet, keep you informed :wink:

I'm having the same problem, and it's been working fine for over a year. When I visit my ipn url I get a white screen of death. Not sure If that's what it was like before or not.

I refunded a customer some money and it's showing up in my ipn list as well as "retrying".

Underneath that I have all my transactions so far this year listed as "failed" even though I just started receiving the emails. However, all those "failed" ipn notifications, actually went through fine and I processed the orders with no problems. I think Paypal is going insane.

I am getting the same warning emails (see below) from paypal but I am not using PayPal IPN as I have it disabled. I only use credit cards/offline processing. So why am I getting this email message???

Hello,

Please check your server that handles PayPal Instant Payment Notifications (IPN). IPNs sent to the following URL(s) are failing:

https://secure.hostmonster.com/~xxxxx/xxxxx/store/ipn_main_handler.php

If you do not recognize this URL, you may be using a service provider that is using IPN on your behalf. Please contact your service provider with the above information. If this problem continues, IPNs may be disabled for your account.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this issue.

Thanks,

PayPal

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PROTECT YOUR PASSWORD

NEVER give your password to anyone, including PayPal employees. Protect yourself against fraudulent websites by opening a new web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Firefox) and typing in the PayPal URL every time you log in to your account.

---

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

PayPal Email ID PP472

GoldBuckle:

I am getting the same warning emails (see below) from paypal but I am not using PayPal IPN as I have it disabled. I only use credit cards/offline processing. So why am I getting this email message???
In your case you're getting it because you're doing PayPal transactions somewhere, and you have your PayPal profile set up to send IPN notifications to the URL indicated in that email ... most likely as part of your initial setup of PayPal for your store.

This is what I got back from paypal/mts and I don't know what to do now.... I am not a programmer :(

Subject
PayPal Instant Payment Notification Warning

I understand your point. This warning notifications are just to let you know that your IPN script is not working as it should. It does not affect your PayPal transactions or other PayPal features (as Auto Return). The IPN is just another tool to notify you or your shopping cart about the PayPal transactions. If everything works on your end I assume that your software does not use IPN to update the orders. The email you received is part of a new IPN enhancement that sends reports to merchants when there IPN script is not responding.

I have read the responses on http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147348

I have pulled the data for your IPNs from our end and I can see that your server is responding with HTTP 403 so it looks more like a server not a ZEN cart IPN handler issue.

The reason for IPN Retrying or Failed is that our server is "trying" to reach your script but it's not available. PayPal's IPN system expects your web server to send an HTTP 200 response when the IPN is sent to your IPN script. The IPN system will wait 10 seconds, and if your server does not respond we then re-post the IPN to your script. It re-posts after 10 seconds, then 20 seconds, 40 seconds, 80 seconds, etc., up to a 24-hour duration, until we receive a basic HTTP "200 OK" response from your web server or approximately 4 days have passed since the initial post. The the IPN is Failed.

With regards to 403 it looks like you should contact the hosting provider to fix that

The Apache explanation: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/access.html (see Access control with mod_rewrite)
Please see also: http://www.checkupdown.com/status/E403.html

*PayPal doesn't own those web sites, then we can't warranty all the contents listed in this site. Use it at your own risk.

I hope this clarify the IPN errors on your site.

If you have any further questions please let me know.

Regards,

Thank you for your quick response. I really appreciate.

All is set correctly. I has been working for 2,5 years now and it always worked perfect. I have attached two screenshots from the admin of my store.

The problem is that payments process correctly but PP tells me that it doesn't like you have seen in my account (failed or retrying). But everything is fine and working like it should. Even a mass payment I did, which has nothing to do with my store, PP is telling me that it is retrying, but everybody received my payment.

Please read:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147348

Thank you for contacting PayPal Merchant Technical Services.

I have reviewed the IPN log for your PayPal account and I see that all IPN are in failed or retrying status.

I'm not sure how your shopping cart work but the IPN is only the additional functionality and in some cases you shopping cart may use other PayPal products to confirm the payment received. You can contact your developer or the company that makes your shopping cart in order to fix the issue or to turn off the IPN functionality.

With regards to editing the IPN URL I assume that this address is stored on your shopping cart settings. PayPal allows to override the IPN URL stored on PayPal account with values passed within the payment data. Please see the admin panel at your website, if you can find the setting for IPN URL.

I hope it helps. Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Hi,
I have received an IPN Warning and I am really worried about this. I contacted PP-customercare but they don't know enough about this subject to answer my questions, so they send me to you.

This is the problem. I got 3 of these IPN warning emails. I checked everything the way you described and everything seems to be ok. The URL is ok (it has been working for 2,5 years now) and my customers were able to download their products although their payment was "retrying" or "failed" in the historylist of my paypal-account. I received the money, got an emailnotification, status = completed, customers were able to download, and still I receive this IPN Warnings. I really don't know how to solve this issue.Please help?

Could you please help me with these issues?

Lynn Griffin:

This is what I got back from paypal/mts and I don't know what to do now.... I am not a programmerWhich PayPal module are you using for payment handling?
If you're using Express Checkout, then the IPNs are only to tell your store that an update has happened to certain transactions (such as refunds or voids etc).

If you're using the Website Payments Standard (formerly just called "IPN") module, then your store will have serious difficulties in keeping track of incoming orders paid by PayPal if the IPN communications isn't working properly.

The key to having the IPN complete properly is described in my posts #3 and #5 earlier in this thread.

Sorry, I still have the problem.

I searched all sites and found someone said when you changed your templates, maybe some modules would have some problems. Happenedly i just changed my templates, so i think may be just the reason.

So i uninstalled the paypal and then installed it again. When i checked this morning I was happy to find that there is none, but in the noon there is another lost happend:(:(:(

Sorry, there's NO way for me to tell you exactly what's wrong or what to do, other than what I've already stated earlier in this thread. It's like I'm talking to the wind because you seem to keep ignoring everything I say.

DrByte:

Which PayPal module are you using for payment handling?

If you're using the Website Payments Standard (formerly just called "IPN") module, then your store will have serious difficulties in keeping track of incoming orders paid by PayPal if the IPN communications isn't working properly.

The key to having the IPN complete properly is described in my posts #3 and #5 earlier in this thread.

I did everything what is stated in your links. And Everything is fine. I got 10 orders and everything went thru fine. No problems. I am using WPS and never had problems.

The guy from PP is telling this:

I have pulled the data for your IPNs from our end and I can see that your server is responding with HTTP 403 so it looks more like a server not a ZEN cart IPN handler issue

The reason for IPN Retrying or Failed is that our server is "trying" to reach your script but it's not available. PayPal's IPN system expects your web server to send an HTTP 200 response when the IPN is sent to your IPN script. The IPN system will wait 10 seconds, and if your server does not respond we then re-post the IPN to your script. It re-posts after 10 seconds, then 20 seconds, 40 seconds, 80 seconds, etc., up to a 24-hour duration, until we receive a basic HTTP "200 OK" response from your web server or approximately 4 days have passed since the initial post. The the IPN is Failed.

I have a dedicated server and I don't know how to change this.

Any help is appreciated.

Since PayPal is saying your server is reporting a 403 response, and I have no way of testing it because you've not shared the URL, I can't help you. I've put tons of tips and verification methods in the wikie and FAQ documents I've already quoted. Most of the wisdom and insight and troubleshooting advice I have is written there.

NOTE: If you've added some sort of so-called SEO-URL addon that added rewrite crap to your .htaccess files, maybe that's what's causing you problems. Again, without more details, I have to leave it to you to sort out with PayPal.

Also, you should note that you're not the only one receiving those messages, and I've seen other sites getting those messages even after they've fixed the bad URL or turned it off altogether. So, it seems like PayPal has a few bugs in their notification verification systems. Maybe they've got you chasing ghosts for no reason.

These are the URL's that causing problems to PP

http: //www.di g i t al-ar t s t u dio.com/ipn_main_handler.php
http: //www.dig i t a l-sc r a p -bo u t i que.com/ipn_main_handler.php

I didn't do anything with SEO so that can't be the problem here.

Today I had another warning notification :dontgetit

I hope PP is chasing ghosts...

On the surface those appear to be fine.

I suggest keeping an eye on transactions. And check your PayPal account profile each day for the next week to be sure PayPal has NOT disabled the IPN functionality ... ie: make sure the checkbox is not unchecked by their automated system.

Thanks, I will :wink: