Need help. PAYPAL problem after upgrade to 1.3.9d

Hi guys,

I received the email from paypal after I upgraded zencart to 1.3.9d. The detail is as below. Anyone what's the problem? and how to solve it? Thanks a lot for your help.

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

http://mywebsite.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.

Thanks again

Silva

Hi guys,

I received the email from paypal after I upgraded zencart to 1.3.9d. The detail is as below. Anyone what's the problem? and how to solve it? Thanks a lot for your help.

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

http://mywebsite.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.

Thanks again

Silva

http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/PayPal

I am receiving exactly the same emails from PayPal, but the IPNs are only failing for PayPal Express notifications. They are not failing for credit card transactions via PayPal Website Payments Pro.

I have read the PayPal configuration gude mentioned above. I have * Auto Return for Website Payments* switched off. I do not want customers to complete their payment when they login to PayPal, I want them to return to my site to complete the final stage. Actually, this is what my customers want. I did switch Auto Return on, but had to switch it off after one hour due to complaints from customers.

Does Auto Return have to be switched on for IPN to work with Zen Cart 1.3.9x?

Thank you

OK, I have looked at one of the PayPal Express payments from when I had Auto Return switched on and the IPN failed. The PayPal website was in status "Retrying" for that payment notification until they eventually disabled my IPNs. Before PayPal disabled my IPNs the sent me a couple emails saying "*** PayPal Instant Payment Notification Warning***.

I have followed the Zen Cart instructions to the letter for setting up IPN, but it fails for PayPal Express payments in Zen Cart 1.3.9x. I am using the correct URLs as suggested in the PayPal module.

Credit Card payments via PayPal Website Payments Pro are OK.

I have tried this using 1.3.9c. I upgraded to 1.3.9d at the weekend, so tried it with that and PayPal Express payment IPNs are still failing, i.e., they are perpetually in status "Retrying" until PayPal disable IPNs. I have tested IPN using the ipncheck.php testing tool, but that says:

IPN TESTING - Response Received via CURL -- COMMUNICATIONS OKAY

wilorc:

I have read the PayPal configuration gude mentioned above. I have * Auto Return for Website Payments* switched off. I do not want customers to complete their payment when they login to PayPal, I want them to return to my site to complete the final stage. Actually, this is what my customers want. I did switch Auto Return on, but had to switch it off after one hour due to complaints from customers.

Does Auto Return have to be switched on for IPN to work with Zen Cart 1.3.9x?
That's not what Auto-Return is for.
The Auto Return switch is only used to determine whether a customer who is completing checkout via Website Payments Standard is required to click a button to come back to your site after the transaction, vs be automatically redirected in 5 seconds without having to click.
And, since you do want them to come back to your site, you do want the auto-return to be enabled.
If you're not using Website Payments Standard, the switch setting is irrelevant.

Thanks. I think my second post more or less is saying the same as what you've said, i.e, Auto Return is not the issue here.

As per my second post above, I have configured my PayPal account and Zen Cart Admin exactly as per the instructions you have given. However, IPNs are failing as per the information I have provided. This only happens in 1.3.9x.

Please let me know if any further information is required.

Dr Byte, have you been able to replicate this problem, or do you have IPNs working with a Zen Cart 1.3.9x install?

I noticed a difference between the Notification URL in PayPal Website Pro (Credit Card) IPNs and in PayPal Express IPNs, so I asked PayPal to look at this.

Background Information
When I login to my PayPal account and go to my IPN History and click on a Message ID to look the IPN detils, I see this in a PayPal Express IPN:

Notification URL https%3A%2F%2Fwww.[my_domoain].com%2Fipn_main_handler.php

In Website Payment Pro (Credit Card) IPN Messages I see this:

Notification URL https://www.[my_domoain].com/ipn_main_handler.php

The PayPal Express IPNs show the Notification URL in a URL encoded format, whereas the Website Payments Pro IPNs do not.

Here is the response I received from PayPal about PayPal Express IPNs:

*Our API logs show that you're posting the "NOTIFYURL" value as:
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wildorchidcrafts.com%2Fipn_main_handler.php.

Do you have a copy of the API request you're posting to us? The API request will show exactly what you're posting to us and we can compare it with our records.*

Unfortunately, I do not know where to find the "API Request". I have logging switched on for PayPal Express and Website payments Pro. Should I send them these logs??

Looks like PayPal are suggesting that Zen Cart is URL encoding the NOTIFYURL value, which causes the IPNs to fail for PayPal Express.

It turns out PayPal wanted the parameters submitted for * DoExpressCheckoutPayment* and * SetExpressCheckout*. I have submitted this information to them.

But both DoExpressCheckoutPayment and DoDirectPayment are urlencoding the NOTIFYURL as per PayPal's specs.

In that case, then, they are not URL decoding correctly, because the Notification URL is URL encoded in IPN message when I login to Paypal and look at the IPN history for PayPal Express IPNs, but it is not displayed as URL encoded for Website payment pro (credit card) messages.

Thanks for the info about URL encoding as per PayPal specs. Very useful.

I have receive an update from PayPal as follows:

*My name is Juan, and I am with PayPal Merchant Technical Services. Your issue has been escalated to my team. Our logs show that you are submitting the Notify_url paramater as URL encoded value

EPEP5BF2E64E: request from your system

SHIPTONAME=**** &SHIPTOSTREET=***** 25&SHIPTOCITY=Melbu&SHIPTOSTATE=Norway&SHIPTOZIP=8445&SHIPTOCOUNTRYCODE=&BUTTONSOURCE=ZenCart-EC_uk&RETURNFMFDETAILS=0&CUSTOM=EC-4352-1276881127&INVNUM=4352-1276881127-[]&CURRENCY=GBP&AMT=29.50&TOKEN=EC-90F44899BF450051M&PAYERID=YFHSHJ4LYGVRY&ACTION=D&TENDER=P&TRXTYPE=S&NOTIFYURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.********.com%2Fipn_main_handler.php&REQUEST_ID=1276881127&USER=LW2GLPE3FD&PWD=8XXXXXXXXXXXXXXZ&PARTNER=PayPalUK&VENDOR=***

as you can see we are receiving the value encoded.

per our documentation https://cms.paypal.com/cms_content/US/en_US/files/developer/IPNGuide.pdf on page 11
"PayPal generates an IPN message when you invoke an API operation, such as
DoExpressCheckoutPayment or DoDirectPayment ..."

This means that IPN will send back the contents of what our system received from DoExpressCheckoutPayment or DoDirectPayment ..." and not the SetExpressCheckout call.

IPNs return the your raw request string back and does not apply any decoding to it.*

So, notification URL for PayPal Express payments is being URL encoded by the Zen Cart store, and PayPal do not (and should not) URL de-code, so IPN messages fail. Shouldn't it be the same as for Website Payment Pro, where the NOTIFY URL is not URL encoded, and subsequently succeeds??

What's your PayPal ticket number?

And WHEN did this problem first start happening?

It's looking suspiciously as though PayPal changed something in their system recently, which is breaking how it's worked for years.

And it's also looking like it's specific to Express Checkout cases when using their Payflow engine (Pro 2.0) to submit EC transactions.

As far as whether Zen Cart url-encodes the NOTIFYURL ... it MUST be urlencoded, or it can't be submitted, since it contains characters that MUST be encoded for transmission. PayPal specifically says this in their docs, too.

The "Question Reference" or Incident number is #100617-000022. I can PM login credentials, or any other information, if you require. PayPal have marked the ticket as "Solved", but it can still be re-opened and updated.

Ya, it can be opened again within 1 day or something after they mark it closed.

Post back to it and ask them to explain why there's a difference in how they handle the NOTIFYURL when it's submitted exactly the same for Express Checkout as it is for DoDirectPayment for you as a UK merchant?

wilorc, you first posted about this here on June 15.
When did the EC IPNs first start failing on you?
And what version of ZC were you using on that date?
What date did you upgrade from the prior release?

I first noticed this problem when I upgraded to 1.3.9x, but previously I had been using a different PayPal account for Express payments because my Website Payments Pro account would not accept Maestro payments by PayPal Express, due to 3d Secure not being available in 1.3.8x. Therefore, I had my website payments pro account for credit card payments (Maestro card payments failing) and with IPN switched on, and I had a separate standard PayPal account for PayPal Express which did allow Maestro Express payments, but it did not have IPN switched on. Sorry for the long answer. The short answer is I first noticed when I had IPN active for express payments, which was 5th June 2010 when I upgraded everything to 1.3.9x and was able to have everything running through the one PayPal account again.

I have opened the ticket again, with the following update:

*Can you please explain why there's a difference in how PayPal handle the NOTIFYURL for Express Checkout and DoDirectPayment? For me as a UK merchant I submit NOTIFYURL exactly the same for Express Checkout as I do for DoDirectPayment, and yet you (PayPal) are handling it differently. Why?
*

I have received the following update from PayPal

In my previous correspondence, I submitted the raw string request we received from your system. It indicates that the notify URL was encoded before reaching our system. In the transactions that you listed which you say are correct. I don't see that your system is passing the notifyurl at all, which would default to the one on your profile which is not url encoded. The example I looked at was 8S227546F8939963A

Try using the attached updated file (after unzipping of course):

Thanks Dr. Byte. That worked perfectly. IPN sent correctly.

Many thanks.