Order placed - did not show up - Payment was successful

A customer registered in our zencart store, then placed an order. She was taken to authorize.net for payment. Her card was denied twice. She went through the cart again using her same account, but the third time, she used her boss's credit card and then the payment was successful (through authorize.net).

We received the payment notification email; however, we did not receive the zencart order email. When we checked through Admin, there is no record of her order at all - but her account is there.

We have a new install of Zencart 1.51. --Several orders have been processed successfully before and after this incident.

Host is GoDaddy - linux
PHP version 5

Zencart was installed by GoDaddy

Payment Modules:
authorize.net
Paypal
check/money order

site: https://www.cookiegramsofga.com

Thank you for your assistance.
Susan

puddlesofpaint:

... was taken to authorize.net for payment. ... We received the payment notification email; however, we did not receive the zencart order email. When we checked through Admin, there is no record of her order at all - but her account is there. ...
Do you have a Relay Response URL configured in the Merchant Interface of Authorize.NET (and does it match the Zen Cart checkout processing URL for "confirm")? Does your store support SSL (and what is in "/includes/configure.php")? Any reason not to use AIM (sounds like you are using SIM)?

Hi and thanks for your prompt reply.

We do have the relay response URL and as mentioned, this has only happened once. Several new orders have been processed before and after that one 'missing' order. All other orders have worked perfectly.

Currently the store does not support SSL, thus the reason we are using SIM. Once we get the SSL in place, I suppose you would advise to switch over to AIM?

As for our question "what is in "/includes/configure.php"... I don't understand how to answer you on that. Can you please expand on your question?

puddlesofpaint:

... Currently the store does not support SSL, thus the reason we are using SIM. Once we get the SSL in place, I suppose you would advise to switch over to AIM? ...
Glad you are looking into SSL. Encrypting data between the website and users (including administrative users) is a step in the right direction (IMO).

I tend to prefer direct responses to a request versus call back behavior. Less chance for messages getting lost / delayed.

puddlesofpaint:

... As for our question "what is in "/includes/configure.php"... I don't understand how to answer you on that. Can you please expand on your question?
If you are not using SSL, if SSL is requested the call may fail (leaving the payment / order not recorded by Zen Cart).

Double check the settings for ENABLE_SSL, HTTP_SERVER, and HTTPS_SERVER (both configure.php files). If any of those settings are off, the return_URL might get set to use SSL instead of not using SSL. The payment gateway may also attempt SSL anyways (for security reasons) and cause the issue. And of course there is always the chance the payment gateway encountered an error communicating back to the webserver hosting your store... And the message was lost...

Okay thank you. So you think if I go ahead with the SSL then this problem will be solved?

Can't say. Communication issues between your site and the gateway (especially when using callbacks like IPN and SIM) can still result in similiar behavior...

SSL just ensures encryption of data in transit between your site, gateways, and customers (with a certicifate, installed, enabled, and used).