PayPal received but no order in system

Ok, I called my server host just now, and talked with them, and they don't show that the port 80 is blocked....(i just got off the phone with them.)

And while what you are saying makes sense in a way, why is this happening with only some of the orders and not all of the orders? If the port was blocked, then wouldn't they ALL not go through?

Why did I not have this problem at all until I did the upgrade of the zen cart to the current version? When i was on the 1.3.6 version, or any of the previous versions, I did not have this problem.

Also, I received a private message today from another user asking if this issue had been resolved for me, because they too started having the same problem when they upgraded recently.

I'm really really frustrated with the whole thing, becuase I just go in loops.
1 Paypal says its not a problem on their end, because I am getting payment notification from them, they are showing the transaction was completed in full, and I have to agree, because I can see it in my Stuck orders module

2. the host is saying it's not a problem on their end, they just checked for me, and there is no block on port 80, which would make sense to me becuase it's not ALL the orders that this happens to, so it's communicating somehow.

3. and now zen cart is saying it's not a problem on their end, even though i didn't have the problem until I upgraded.

So where do I go from here?

If some orders are going through and some are not, then I'll need to see a collection of log files showing these in order to have a better response for potential soutions ...

Can you zip up your log files and provide a link to them ?

Do you just want me to zip up the /includes/modules/payment/paypal/logs FOLDER?

I've never done this before, so want to make sure I'm providing you with the correct information.

Ok, i'm thinking that is what you wanted, and here is a link where you can get it.

If I was wrong, let me know, and I will get you the right thing!

*** link removed for privacy ***

With this one, there was a problem when your server tried to connect back to PayPal:

Mar 21 2007 5:23 -- IPN PROCESSING INITIATED.
*** Originating IP: 216.113.188.202 notify.paypal.com

Mar 21 2007 5:38 -- IPN INFO - Confirmation/Validation response
HTTP/1.0 504 Gateway Time-out
,While trying to retrieve the URL:
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr
In fact, you had two notifications at that same time, and both failed to connect back to PayPal.

Several more had the same problem:
Mar 21 2007 5:23
Mar 20 2007 12:27
Mar 20 2007 12:21
Mar 20 2007 8:38
Mar 20 2007 8:23
Mar 20 2007 8:07
Mar 20 2007 8:06
Mar 20 2007 7:51
Mar 19 2007 23:53
Mar 19 2007 23:52

This seems to point to a problem communicating between your server and PayPal's server.
The fact that 504 errors are being returned suggests that you're using a proxy server which isn't responding properly.
The logs seem to consistently show a 15-minute timeout while waiting for a response when these gateway errors occur.

1. Do you have a proxy address specified in your Admin->Configuration->My Store settings? Is it set to True ? If so, then that particular proxy host is what's reporting the errors.
2. If you do not have the CURL PROXY REQUIRED set to True, then your webserver is attempting the communication itself and is experiencing the timeout. Whether it's sending its fsockopen traffic via a gateway or not, it's encountering the timeout. Time to talk to your host again.

More info on 504 errors:
http://www.checkupdown.com/status/E504.html

Sorry...was in a hurry, try the link again, it works now!

Yes - I got the files. I used the data in them to prepare my last post ... There are a few things you might want to try doing ...

paperthreads, in our version, the simplest way to have the orders show up in paypal and release the download links is to go through on paypal's end and refund the customer .01 (one cent).

We have had this happen a few times in our cart and this always works and you will only be out a penny.

HTH

I did try that on several orders, because I did see it suggested elsewhere, but that didn't work for me, unfortunately. The order still never appeared, until I got that "push" to work in the Paypal Session viewer.

I'm glad to report that since installing the latest patch, I haven't had any other stuck orders.

paperthreads, check DrByte's previous post, 5 posts above, I also believe the problem is with your server.

I did read it :) Thanks.

And I have been back in contact with my provider, but still a no go. They are saying it isn't a problem, that the port 80 is open.

Per the suggestions, I did check My Admin settings, and:

1. There is no proxy address specified
2. cURL proxy is set to FALSE.

I've forwarded the information in Dr. Bytes post to my provider...and have several calls in, and they have at this point not found a problem with it on their end. I have had all my orders today and yesterday make it through just fine, so it is definitely not a consistent thing. And I guess I just continue to wait and see if they can figure out anything from their end.....

super frustrating :(

Switch hosts.

Everyone can say its not on their end but... if it is INTERMITTENT (which you've said it is) then it CANT be the cart!! It can only be PayPal or your server. If its PayPal... then there's nothing you can do about it anyway. If its your server... well, they can say "not us" all they want, but try another server and see if it goes away.

• Steven

s_mack:

if it is INTERMITTENT (which you've said it is) then it CANT be the cartOf course it can. Why can intermittend problems not be related to the script? Not saying that it is now, or even that it's likely, but I am sure it can. There are many possible causes for a script to fail intermittend.

paulm:

Of course it can. Why can intermittend problems not be related to the script? Not saying that it is now, or even that it's likely, but I am sure it can. There are many possible causes for a script to fail intermittend.

Have you any solutions and/or suggestions in this case then ?

DrByte:

Have you any solutions and/or suggestions in this case then ?Hmmm, good question DrByte :-)

I only wanted to say that we can not rule out the script just because the problems are intermittent. Not that I know what the causes are in this case.

I heard form a Dutch zenner that he had problems with Paypal only when somebody order about 30+ products. This happened after he upgraded to 1.3.x, he said he didn't have this issue using 1.2.x. But I assume if that was the case here it would have already be mentioned. So he had intermittent Paypal problems which seemed to be caused by the script. But we didn't find the cause so we can't be sure.

A really wild gues would be that it's related to the stream blocking mode. Please don't ask me what that exactly is, it's not something I figured out myself. But I know setting the stream blocking mode and timeout often solves intermittent problems with a Dutch payment module (iDEAL) on some servers (maybe those are "bad servers" after all of course, but it's solved by the script in this case).

Again: it's just guessing, it might be totally unrelated and I am not saying that it can't be server problems.

Well... ok... by my definition of intermittent (which is what people above are describing), it can't be the script.

Scripting is line-by-line execution of code. Every time it executes, the EXACT same thing happens! So if you do the SAME test, and it happens once but not the next time... its NOT the code - it is an external factor.

In your example... if he had a problem EVERY time 30+ items were ordered, then that's not intermittent - it is 100% reproducible and could then be a bug in the code. That's not the case here... sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't. I was having the same problem everyone else was but now I'm not... and I didn't do anything. Yet some people are still having the problem. Same code... different results.... its not the code. At least not solely.

• Steven

Hi Steven,

I understand what you mean about the intermittent definition and you may be right (I don't know the official definition of intermittent, I only know what I think others mean by intermittent). If all circumstances are the same every time, the script will probably give the same results. But I think the circumstances are not the same at all in this case, and if several users say they have an intermittent problem it probably means they get varying results, and they don't know the exact circumstances (does anybody?).

About the (bad?) example: of course the shop owner did not know right away it was related to the number of items. An order with 30+ items will probably ring a bell quite soon, and after a couple of those orders you would be quite sure it's related to the number of items (depending on how many items are usually ordered). But until you find that relation one would call it intermittent, I suppose.... So we would first have to know the cause to even be sure if it is really intermittent by that definition.

Anyway I would not assume that the problems can not be solved by the script (even if technically not "caused" by the script). But I guess you agree on that.

Update to my previous 2 post:

The "30+ products per order problem" I mentioned above appeares, after looking into it a little further, not to be related to the Paypal module. It's a speed issue, the script exceeds timeout). So it's server related after all (although the speed is also determined by the script of course ....).

Hey everyone, it appears I'm now having this issue too. My weird variation is the first orders I have had problems with were the first ones where the customer paid via their checking account, rather than a credit card. Is this a coincidence? Sorry if this was already addressed. No notification, no order, no nothing. Just money sitting in my PayPal account.

-steven

willits:

Hey everyone, it appears I'm now having this issue too. My weird variation is the first orders I have had problems with were the first ones where the customer paid via their checking account, rather than a credit card. Is this a coincidence? Sorry if this was already addressed. No notification, no order, no nothing. Just money sitting in my PayPal account.

-steven
Steven,
Have you installed the PayPal patch for v1.3.7 yet?
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56216

The latest patch includes all the earlier fixes in that discussion, including some echeck issues.