Issue when using same Paypal account on 2 shops

Hello, I have a strange issue - I've been using Paypal Express Checkout on my main ZC installation fine for years, I decided to add the same paypal account to take payments on a second site (following the guide on here stating it was fine to do so, with caveat).

It all seemed to go smoothly but my first order on the new site has also created an order on the original site, but all the order details are blank (only for the original site order, details have come through fine on the new site order as expected). No customer details, no address, no payment, product details etc.... just an erroneous blank order on a different site!

In the 'Office Use Only' section on the blank order email - most is empty but host address has come through as - notify.paypal.com

So perhaps it is to do with the IPN, I have checked the settings in my paypal account - this is enabled but it does use the original site URL (/ipn_main_handler.php) as the notification URL. In the guide it states this is fine and ZC will automatically substitue the appropriate address.

I'm hoping this is something simple I can change a setting etc to fix?

Has anybody else experienced this?

Cheers!

Tom

ZC version - 1.5.5d

@teaj, you indicated

So perhaps it is to do with the IPN, I have checked the settings in my paypal account - this is enabled but it does use the original site URL (/ipn_main_handler.php) as the notification URL. In the guide it states this is fine and ZC will automatically substitue the appropriate address.

To which **guide **are you referring?

If your PayPal settings indicate that the IPN call-back URL is www.original_site.com all IPN requests are destined to that site and the ipn_main_handler running there has no clue that the IPN is actually destined to www.new_site.com.

Thanks, it's this guide here - https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/payment/paypal_multiple_sites/

...and specifically -

Many people wonder what to do about specifying the Return URL or Notification URL. Simply set the URLs to the appropriate address for one of your stores. It must point to a valid address; that is, a valid address for ANY of your stores. When processing transactions from your various Zen Cart stores, the appropriate address for each store will be substituted automatically by Zen Cart.

To confirm it's - www.original_site.com/ipn_main_handler.php

I'll try switching it to the new site and see if the reverse occurs!

I think I've found the cause - the original site had a free order (freecharger) payment module setup (to enable select customers to checkout for free - not sure if that is default or an extension), but that is what the blank order payment method came through as.

So I disabled that on the original site and have since had another order on the new site that has come through fine without the strange blank order on the original.

Hopefully that is it resolved, although the free charge module is no longer active (not a problem for me now, but might be if you need it!).

Cheers

teaj:

Thanks, it's this guide here - https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/payment/paypal_multiple_sites/

...and specifically -

To confirm it's - www.original_site.com/ipn_main_handler.php

I'll try switching it to the new site and see if the reverse occurs!
I'll save you some time ... it will!

Many, many years ago (like 2012) I wanted to have two sites associated with the same bank account. I contacted PayPal's MPP department and got a business parent/child relationship set up between the two sites. Each site has its own PayPal account/credentials/IPN notification, but the 'child' site's payments-received are automatically gathered each day and deposited into the 'parent' site ... and the 'parent' site is what's tied to my bank account.

If you do contact PayPal, make sure that you're talking to someone who knows about business accounts. The 'regular' PayPal service people will get confused because you can (as a parental entity) set up a personal account for one or more of your children that also funnels back to your parental account!

lat9:

I'll save you some time ... it will!

Many, many years ago (like 2012) I wanted to have two sites associated with the same bank account. I contacted PayPal's MPP department and got a business parent/child relationship set up between the two sites. Each site has its own PayPal account/credentials/IPN notification, but the 'child' site's payments-received are automatically gathered each day and deposited into the 'parent' site ... and the 'parent' site is what's tied to my bank account.

If you do contact PayPal, make sure that you're talking to someone who knows about business accounts. The 'regular' PayPal service people will get confused because you can (as a parental entity) set up a personal account for one or more of your children that also funnels back to your parental account!
While the above instructions are valid, my overall response wasn't.:blush:

The site's paypalwpp/paypaldp payment modules indicate the URL to which PayPal should return after the payment's processing, and that overrides the PayPal account's IPN Notifications URL.

Yes, it's is a pain that you can only link one paypal account to your bank account... I wasn't aware of your solution so thanks for pointing that out.