PayPal module not passing product info

Hi all,

Please bear with me as I explain my situation. This is a zen cart thing......

Up until recently, I've been an oscommerce user. I have one shop using the old ms2 version, with a PayPal IPN contrib. The contrib resolved the issue I describe below.

I set up a new shop with the newest oscommerce version, and ran into the problem:

When the checkout goes to PayPal, the item names and item numbers aren't passed along.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a php programmer, but I'm the kind of person that likes to try to figure things out myself before asking for help. After much headache, I resorted to the osc forums to find answers, but have had no response for 2 months.

So...... I decided to give Zen Cart a shot. I've installed the software, and done most of my customizing. I decided to investigate the PayPal payment module and alas have come across the same issue. So as to give some insight, I have read many many posts here and around the web looking for the answer. I just gone through http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/PayPal and tried the trouble shooting tips:

• I ran the ipn_main_handler.php and got 'Nothing to process. Please return to home page.'
• I ran the ipncheck.php and got 'IPNCHECK.PHP - Version 1.0

IPN TESTING - POSTING to PayPal via: ssl://www.paypal.com:443

IPN TESTING - Confirmation/Validation response: RESPONSE RECEIVED - Communications OKAY

Script finished.'

• I finally turned on the debugging log and went through the checkout process (to the point where you have to log in to your paypal account and it shows the items - or lack thereof in this case - and total at the top of the page). I got the response below.

Keys for submission: Array
(
[charset] => iso-8859-1
[lc] => GB
[page_style] => Primary
[custom] => zenid=099aa5819aab3441af6bb30c3d2c79c6
[business] => [email protected]
[return] =>
http://www.humanbeatbox.com/shop/index.php?main_page=checkout_process&referer=paypal
[cancel_return] =>
http://www.humanbeatbox.com/shop/index.php?main_page=checkout_payment
[shopping_url] =>
http://www.humanbeatbox.com/shop/index.php?main_page=shopping_cart
[notify_url] => http://www.humanbeatbox.com/shop/ipn_main_handler.php
[redirect_cmd] => _xclick
[rm] => 2
[bn] => zencart
[mrb] => R-6C7952342H795591R
[pal] => 9E82WJBKKGPLQ
[first_name] => 'removed'
[last_name] => 'removed'
[address1] => 'removed'
[city] => 'removed'
[state] => 0
[zip] => 'removed'
[country] => 'removed'
[email] => 'removed'
[address2] => 'removed'
[H_PhoneNumber] => 'removed'
[night_phone_b] => 'removed'
[day_phone_b] => 'removed'
[no_shipping] => 1
[upload] => 1
[currency_code] => GBP
[cmd] => _ext-enter
[item_name] => The Humanbeatbox.com Shop Purchase
[item_number] => Store Receipt
[amount] => 19.50
[shipping] => 0.00
[tax] => 0.00
[tax_cart] => 0.00
)

As you can see just above, the item_name and item_number are generic and don't show the correct info.

This site needs to go live very soon. I don't think this is a massive fix, and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Archangel

the_archangel:

When the checkout goes to PayPal, the item names and item numbers aren't passed along.

... the item_name and item_number are generic and don't show the correct info.Sorry, at the present time, that's how it operates. There's no easy switch to flip to tell it to change the way it does it. There are a number of reasons for this, which are enumerated several times in responses to other threads on the same topic.
It may change in the future.

Thanks for the reply.

Ok. Hmm. One of the reasons this worries me, is that with the osc store, alot of the orders don't actually get logged in the system. The only way I know that someone has paid for something is from the email I get from paypal.

Is this a problem that's arisen with Zen Cart?

Occasionally that can happen, depending on your own server configuration and on PayPal's server performance.

That's why Express Checkout is better ... it confirms the payment immediately, and doesn't wait for PayPal's servers to notify your server in the background, thus the orders don't go missing.

Thanks for your help Doc. Much appreciated. I'll go with the express option and hopefully all will run smoothly!