Pdt token

I have configured the PDT Token, but what purpose does it serve?
How does Zen-Cart specifically use this?

The PDT token is a bandage added by PayPal to attempt to resolve flaws in the use of their Website Payments Standard service when people try to bolt it onto online stores.
That older architecture relies on PayPal's server telling your server that an order has been placed ... after the customer has left. It's really designed to work with eBay or teeny tiny stores that have one or two pages on which they place PayPal buttons, and not well suited for advanced ecommerce engines like Zen Cart.

Much more efficient is to click "Remove" on that module, and click "Install" on the Express Checkout module. It uses much more contemporary methods of interacting with PayPal, and actually completes the payment AND the order while the customer is still present on your site. This makes for a much more reliable and pleasant shopping experience for the customer.

DrByte:

.... relies on PayPal's server telling your server that an order has been placed ... after the customer has left.
Ok, but what does ZenCart do with it? Is it some sort of validation? Does the customers account and order become validated?

DrByte:

Much more efficient is to click "Remove" on that module, and click "Install" on the Express Checkout module. It uses much more contemporary methods of interacting with PayPal, and actually completes the payment AND the order while the customer is still present on your site. This makes for a much more reliable and pleasant shopping experience for the customer.
Express checkout requires a paypal account. Whereas Standard lets the user use a credit card or paypal account. Express is not an option for me.

What version of Zen Cart are you using?

Version = 1.3.9b with the latest FEC

The PDT Token is used as a validation credential when submitting a request to PayPal to try to get IPN data in case the IPN hasn't been sent properly yet.
As I said, it's a bandage to try to retrofit some real-time functionality onto a service that's not built for real-time processing.

And, Express Checkout does NOT always require the customer to create a PayPal account.

I don't see the advantage of using express. I found this article which would tend to suggest that there will be issues and loss sales with express

learnwebdesignonline.com/tutorials/zencart/paypal-express-checkout-vs-ipn-website-payment-standard

That article was written for an older version of Zen Cart. Many things it talks about are no longer issues.

Now, if you have concrete reasons why Express won't work for you, then lobby your complaint with PayPal so they will be encouraged to change it.

Somehow I get the feeling you've not actually tried it yourself, let alone offered it to your customers.

DrByte:

That article was written for an older version of Zen Cart. Many things it talks about are no longer issues.
Somehow I get the feeling you've not actually tried it yourself, let alone offered it to your customers.

I have standard working. Based on your input I have begun looking at the express, but there is a lot of potentially outdated info out there. So I have been going through PayPal's support documents, but I think they do a poor job of driving home the specifics of the customer experience.

Express seems to force a good deal of PayPal branding on your site. There are many customers that are resistant to PayPal, just like with Google Checkout.

I suppose the only way I'm going to feel comfortable is to test out express myself. Primarily, I want to see the experience presented to a customer that does not have a PayPal account, does not want an account, and that just wants to use their credit card.