Instant Payment Notification Preferences

Curious... I am troubleshooting why the product names are not showing up in either PayPal or in the admin section after a product purchase has been completed. In research/review of the postings on this topic, I noted that in my ZC admin, the suggested Instant Payment Notification URL provided after installing the PayPal IPN Module was an https:// domain location. The provided Automatic Return URL is also an https:// domain location.

Any ideas?

I'm using version ZC 1.3.8a

Thanks in advance!! - Les

I using only one form of payment on my site, that being PayPal IPN - Website Payments Standard. After installation, ZC provided the following: Instant Payment Notification Preferences URL to: https://"https server root"/"store"/ipn_main_handler.php. In addition, the Website Payments Preferences set my ```
Automatic Return URL to:
https://"https server root"/"store"/index.php?main_page=checkout_process.

The above is the information I inserted into my PayPal profile under IPN Preferences ```
[IPN is turned on] 
Instant Payment Notification (IPN) URL: https://"https server root"/"store"/ipn_main_handler.php
```  Website Payment Preferences: ```
Auto Return: On
Return URL: https://"https server root"/"store"/index.php?main_page=checkout_process

I'm running ZC 1.3.8a

The end result is that neither PayPal or ZC Admin are logging the products being purchased.

Why is ZC using my https server versus the http server? What am I missing or what might be mis-configured in install configuration? This appears out of synch with all the posts I have read on this topic.

This is what I discovered after a lot of trial / error.

When setting your Instant Payment Notification Preferences in PayPal, the URL should not point to a secured server (https://). Stick with the direction provided in just about every post in this forum regarding setting up your ipn w/in your PayPal profile :: http://www.sitename.com/storename/ipn_main_handler.php.

A second note. If you have your site password protected to lock out visitors during maintenance or development, your ipn will not process correctly. I was using a .htaccess login. After shutting this off, all orders processed as designed.

In reading how ipn works, I was led to believe that the purchaser at the end of the PayPal purchase process needed to click the "return to site" link provided in the PayPal site. This step was necessary to complete the order w/in the Zen Cart admin section. This is not true. I tested several times w/out returning to my site and Zen Cart logged all the sales data regardless.

Lastly :: if you're doing a lot of trail purchase during your development, I highly suggest that you set up a sandbox account in PayPal: https://developer.paypal.com/cgi-bin/devscr?cmd=_login-done&login_access=0. You create two sandbox identities; a business account (seller) and a personal account (buyer). Use your sandbox business account information when completing the PayPal IPN section w/in the Payment Modules section in Zen Cart. For the mode, use https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr. This saves a ton of time backing out a bunch of .01 charges to your credit card. After you complete your developement, it is a good idea to run a real credit card through the process as a final check.

lplatz:

In reading how ipn works, I was led to believe that the purchaser at the end of the PayPal purchase process needed to click the "return to site" link provided in the PayPal site. This step was necessary to complete the order w/in the Zen Cart admin section. This is not true. I tested several times w/out returning to my site and Zen Cart logged all the sales data regardless.
That's correct if you're working with a created PayPal account.
But if you're attempting to do a purchase without having created a PayPal account, then you will have to click to return to the site, since PayPal will ask you whether or not you want to create an account, before sending the IPN to your store to release the order.

At least, that's how it works at the present time. Whether they'll improve that in the future is uncertain.

lplatz:

A second note. If you have your site password protected to lock out visitors during maintenance or development, your ipn will not process correctly. I was using a .htaccess login. After shutting this off, all orders processed as designed.
That's correct, which is why it's mentioned in the PayPal troubleshooting guide here: http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/PayPal> ** Things to check if it's not working**

These are the common configuration errors:

1. If it "was" working, but stopped, make sure PayPal's services are running properly. PayPal Live Server Status
2. Make sure your site is not in down-for-maintenance mode.
   ** 3. Make sure your site does not have password-protection via .htaccess in order to get to the "store" area.
   **...For future readers, note that several additional detailed suggestions are in the same section of that article.