(7) Failed to connect to api-3t.paypal.com port 443: Connection timed out

I have been using Paypal Express Checkout for quite a while and all of a sudden I am getting this error, I have Googled it without success, any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. There has been no modification or changes to any of the Zencart files.

Dear store owner,
An error occurred when attempting to initiate a PayPal Express Checkout transaction. As a courtesy, only the error "number" was shown to your customer. The details of the error are shown below.

(7) Failed to connect to api-3t.paypal.com port 443: Connection timed out

Zen Cart message: An error occurred when we tried to contact the payment processor. Please try again, select an alternate payment method, or contact the store owner for assistance.

Problem occurred while customer 967 Joe Bloggs was attempting checkout with PayPal Express Checkout.

Thanks in advance.

MCS_Computers:

I have been using Paypal Express Checkout for quite a while and all of a sudden I am getting this error, (7) Failed to connect to api-3t.paypal.com port 443: Connection timed out

This could be (and often is) a temporary problem with your store connecting to the PayPal servers. The causes and reasons are many, and at the end of the day the problem is ultimately something that either your hosting provider or PayPal needs to rectify.

Cheers
RodG

Spoke to the hosting company who have dealt with this recently and said there is a fix for it and it is not a Paypal or hosting issue.

I have had a look about and come across PayPal® Express Checkout Using NVP 84.0 which has a new release, would this solve the issue ???

For anyone else having this issue here is the fix ..

https://www.numinix.com/blog/2014/10/15/poodle-vulnerability-discovery-affecting-zen-cart-stores-accepting-paypal/

Hope this helps :D

You may wish to sign up for the News & Announcements forum to receive updates important to your site:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forumdisplay.php?2-Zen-Cart-Release-Announcements

Specifically the latest information on POODLE:
http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?214916-Important-announcement-about-POODLE-and-payment-security

I have recently upgraded my ZC to v1.5.5f and have been struggling with the same timeout errors as above. Today, I found a way to increase the timeout settings for PayPal connections with cURL. Good news. In a file called paypal_curl.php I modified the critical timeout settings thusly:
/**

• Options for cURL. Defaults to preferred (constant) options.
• xRay changed CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT => 10 to 20 7/25/2018
• xRay changed CURLOPT_TIMEOUT=> 45 to 60 7/25/2018
  */
  var $_curlOptions = array(CURLOPT_HEADER => 0,
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => TRUE,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 60,
  CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT => 20,
  CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => FALSE,
  //CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER => FALSE, // Leave this line commented out! This should never be set to FALSE on a live site!
  //CURLOPT_CAINFO => '/local/path/to/cacert.pem', // for offline testing, this file can be obtained from http://curl.haxx.se/docs/caextract.html ... should never be used in production!
  CURLOPT_FORBID_REUSE => TRUE,
  CURLOPT_FRESH_CONNECT => TRUE,
  CURLOPT_POST => TRUE,
  );

My first attempt failed when I increased CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT to 15. After I increased it to 20 and also increased CURLOPT_TIMEOUT from 45 to 60, I was able to successfully connect with PayPal and complete a test transaction for $0.99. Finally, after about a month of darkness, I can now see the light!

Those of us with slow shared rented servers should consider this option. In my humble opinion, I believe there should be a couple of settings in the configuration form for PayPal Express to manipulate the critical CURLOPT settings as needed. I also should credit the PayPal tech support helper, Nate, for suggesting the CURLOPT_TIMEOUT increase from 45 to 60.