Difference between PayPal IPN and PayPal Express?

I am going to use paypal along with a merchant account so I am wondering what the exact differences between PayPal IPN and PayPal Express are. I know with PayPal express it puts the express button on the cart screen, which im not really fond of.

Thank to anyone who can assist

neither express or IPN require the merchant account,
paypal IPN requires users to create a unique login and then process order

express will let users go straight to paypal and approve the sale then come back to your site and users then confirm order,
does not require a user to create an account, ( cretes it for them based on their paypal information )

I have a PayPal Webpayments standard account, is there anyone to not have that anymore because I would much rather only use paypal for people who want to pay with paypal since ill have a merchant account elsewhere

Thanks for the info!

Nevermind, I think I better stay with Web Payments Standard due to the extra fee's required for a person account rather then that business I already have set up.

So just to sum it up, it looks like the biggest difference between express and ipn are admin functionality and the express button below the cart.

Correct me if I am wrong

Thanks!

the difference is IPN requires a user to create an account ON your site

paypal express does not

Perfect, Thanks!

do people require to have a paypal account or can they just pay via credit card without having a paypal account set up??

There is a way for your customer to skip signing up for a paypal account with IPN, but it is not very noticeable.

I have been studying this thread.
I made myself a $.01 product and began shopping from myself using non-Paypal cards/emails.

I had BOTH IPN and EXPRESS installed. I actually hade ZC credit card grabber installed too, I tried to learn what it did (it gathered partial info- then emailed me the missing numbers so if I had a terminal CC machine I could use it).

With IPN
I saw the little tiny link that said "continue without setting up a paypal account", when purchasing stuff as a logged in customer on my site.
With Express
So, "not logged in" customer selects "CHECKOUT WITH PAYPAL" this is Express, they are required to get a PP acct eventhough I made it "optional" via Paypal!

So, I removed Express from the payment modules and left only IPN and did it again:
Not logged in customer adds to cart, "Paypal CHECKOUT" button is NOT there...
they are forced to create an account on MY site...
they create an account or login....
then they can choose either check/MO or Paypal IPN....
Then they click checkout, THEN they can find the little words that say
DONT HAVE A PAYPAL ACCOUNT? USE YOUR CREDIT CARD OR BANK ACCOUNT, CONTINUE...

Then they enter their info, and may use any credit card not attached to a Paypal account.

Can we make it easier? Can strangers make a shopping cart and enter their info just once with Paypal IPN?

Talk to PayPal ... there is an itty bitty link to just do credit cards but you'd never know it as it reads something like Create a PayPal Account ...

Note: to see what a NEW customer who has NEVER been to PayPal sees, delete all PayPal cookies and you will see a different screen altogether ... :blink:

so how can i use paypal so that customers leave my site to a custom paypal page, then enter there credit card details or there paypal login etc then pay, then come back to my site???

I have the same problem, I have 2 clients, who would like users to create an account in their zencart and proceed to paypal, and be given the option to either login to paypal, or simply pay with their credit card.

I set up one site a few weeks back and it does just that. However I set up an account on friday and they are only given the option to login to paypal, not to pay without have a paypal account.

Anyone have any ideas?? Im stumped

Since you have been to paypal it recognizes the cokie on your PC, Since it knows you have an account its not going to show you the link to pay with out an account,

clear your cookies and your cache and you will see the link again
look hard though: its LITTLE