Help! Orders are NOT recording

We just started directing traffic to our new Zen shopping cart. Approximately 1 out of every three payments received in the past couple of weeks have no order details. The customer's name and address is being recorded under customer details and PayPal is processing the payment for the order but the cart has no record of their order details.

Our customers have had to e-mail us with a list of the items they wanted. In talking to them we discovered that at some point during checkout each one had backed up to edit their order, shipping address or to simply login. We were hoping that if they logged-in prior to check out it will prevent any order details from being lost, and we have posted a notice on the main page of our store, recommending that they login prior to adding items to the cart. It's too soon to tell if this will actually solve the problem.

I logged on here hoping to find another solution. If anyone else has found a way to solve the problem of order details being lost during checkout I would love to hear about it!

Greetings, I seem to be having the same problem as mentioned above with the opening post.

However, I am aware that I made some changes to some .htaccess files and also some permission changes to directories after my cart got hacked. My problem has only been noticed with one order so far, but it is clear there is a problem with the IPN situation.

The changes I made to the .htaccess files were actually to prevent paypal snooping around on my site as they previously blacklisted me and froze my funds for sellnig "unacceptable" items. After these changes were made my shopping cart processed several orders succesfully, with reporting, order completetion, etc. I got the IP addresses from another post on this forum and they were said to be only the addresses Paypal uses to snoop and not the IPs used for IPNs. My experience post changes leads me to believe this is truth, as all worked great.

Then, I realized my site got hacked encoded with base_64 decode BS and links added to the bottom of every page of my google "cached pages" to BS illicit sites. I replaced many of the php files with the installation versions and figure I got the hacked garbage thoroughly removed. I don't think this is the problem either (the php file replacement),

I am guessing the problem may lie in the .htaccess files as I removed the 'write" permission from many of my zen-cart directories. So, I think this is a good place to start looking. Here is my question: Which folders need the write access enabled for zen-cart to function properly? Which could be messing up the IPN by having write access removed? Any help on this would be appreciated.

Also, many thanks to the authors of Zen-cart I have been having great experiences with it and alot of fun. I know nothing about php but I am good at learn-as-you-go and this forum has been great reads for helpful ideas... Thanks!

I have not yet run through some sample orders in debug mode but I am about to do that and see if that helps. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Even if I do end up fixing the problem in the next hour or so, I would still appreciate the knowledge of which folders should be allowed writeable. As far as I am concerned I would like to remove write permission from every folder except the ones needed for zen-cart to function properly.

Thanks Zen-Cart team, you people rock!

:)

stellarlight:

The changes I made to the .htaccess files were actually to prevent paypal snooping around on my site as they previously blacklisted me and froze my funds for sellnig "unacceptable" items. After these changes were made my shopping cart processed several orders succesfully, with reporting, order completetion, etc. I got the IP addresses from another post on this forum and they were said to be only the addresses Paypal uses to snoop and not the IPs used for IPNs.
Um ... whether that's related or not, I don't know. But ... blocking PayPal from "snooping" sounds like you're doing something which warrants them shutting you down. If you have to hide, then ... well ...

I think the following information verifies my hunch-
I checked Paypals IPN logs and it countinues to "retry" sending reporting for the order mentioned above, but only gets a 404 response:

10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No
indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or
permanent. The 410 (Gone) status code SHOULD be used if the server
knows, through some internally configurable mechanism, that an old
resource is permanently unavailable and has no forwarding address.
This status code is commonly used when the server does not wish to
reveal exactly why the request has been refused, or when no other
response is applicable.

I changed permissions on so many directories, really not sure which ones to put back to read/write, so help would be appreciated on this matter. Maybe a small list of directories which need write enabled. Thanks much, BTW- I just donated some money in appreciation for the help and the fine code.

Peace and blessings,
Stellar

PayPal only talks to your server's ipn_main_handler.php file. No "write" permissions would prevent it from working.
A list of troubleshooting steps one could take has been posted earlier in this thread, but here it is again: http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/PayPal

DrByte:

Um ... whether that's related or not, I don't know. But ... blocking PayPal from "snooping" sounds like you're doing something which warrants them shutting you down. If you have to hide, then ... well ...

Hi, well actually I am not doing anything unacceptable. I figured it would be out of context so I did not mention it. So let it be known- I was selling Papaver somniferum seed. Under pressure from the FDA paypal and ebay teamed to remove all possibility of people selling this seed. Propaganda if you ask me, and it was the point of the matter. Paypal has also froze peoples funds for selling KAVA KAVA. So, it is my opinion that Paypal is in the wrong and I dont want them policing my site because I follow the letter of the US governments law in my sales, and somehow the FDA has circumvented this law and is being allowed to manipulate all the customers of Payapl and restrict sales of certain herbs, and FLOWER SEED? Ridiculous.

Anyway, I stopped selling the Papaver seed because paypal froze my account and strongarmed me. We are good terms now, paypal and I, because I submitted to them and I no longer sell the seed. I would prefer their snooping IPNs blocked from my site just for the point of the matter. I dont like being manipulated by corporate giants.

BUT, I will glady remove the IPN blocking if it truly is the cause of the disfunctional cart. Since I know that is it not, as orders have been processed just fine since, I continue to ask for help in the form of a list of directories which should not be blocked. The directories zen-cart requires writeable in order to function. I am not really seeking a moral debate, more like technical help.

Please provide information to this question and I think I can fix my problem just fine.

Thanks.

DrByte:

PayPal only talks to your server's ipn_main_handler.php file. No "write" permissions would prevent it from working.
A list of troubleshooting steps one could take has been posted earlier in this thread, but here it is again: http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/PayPal

Thank you, I will review this post and stop bothering you. I appreciate the help and since I know no write permissions change anything then I will move on to another aspect of the troubleshoot. Have a nice day.

stellarlight:

The directories zen-cart requires writeable in order to function.
From the online FAQs: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=9

Hello, wondering if someone might be able to point me in the right direction for help. Since Sunday 11th Oct, I have been having issues with orders not completing correctly. Paypal takes the customers money, sends me a confirmation email but the customer is not redirected back to the store, so no order is competed.

I have read over this thread and checked everything I can -

Store:
Zencart 1.3.8a moded
Running on present host for the past year with no issues
PayPal IPN - Website Payments Standard (debug mode on now)
Tested ipn_main_handler.php - OK
Tested ipncheck.php - OK
Uninstalled the Payment Mod twice (once by mistake...doh)

PayPal:
Website Payment Preferences - correct
Auto Return for Website Payments - on

I could see from the PayPal IPN log all transactions not completed - retrying

I did a test purchase via credit card, PayPal accepted payment but did not redirect me back to the store. No order recorded in the store.

Monday re-read all instructions listed here, rechecked all settings, retested php files. Did two test purchases Monday and Tuesday using another family members PayPal account, from two different IPs both orders completed with no issues.

Wednesday payment comfirmation from PayPal received for an order but no order received in the store.

Log:
Oct 14 2009 19:14 -- Keys for submission: Array
(
[charset] => iso-8859-1
[lc] => US
[page_style] => paypal
[custom] => zenid=011xxxxxxxxxxxxxx6c
[business] => [email protected]
[return] => https://scrappindigikreations.com/shop/index.php?main_page=checkout_process&referer=paypal&zenid=011xxxxxxxxxxxxxx6c
[cancel_return] => https://scrappindigikreations.com/shop/index.php?main_page=checkout_payment&zenid=011011xxxxxxxxxxxxxx6c6c
shopping_url] => https://scrappindigikreations.com/shop/index.php?main_page=shopping_cart&zenid=011011xxxxxxxxxxxxxx6c6c
[notify_url] => https://scrappindigikreations.com/shop/ipn_main_handler.php
[redirect_cmd] => _xclick
[rm] => 2
[bn] => zencart
[mrb] => R-6C79xxxxxxxx5591R
[pal] => 9E82xxxxxxxxPLQ
[first_name] => Kxxxxx
[last_name] => Exx
[address1] =>
[city] =>
[state] => IN
[zip] =>
[country] => US
[email] => xxxxxxxxxx######################
[no_shipping] => 1
[upload] => 1
[currency_code] => USD
[cmd] => _ext-enter
[item_name] => Scrappin Digi Kreations Purchase
[item_number] => Store Receipt
[amount] => 18.20
[shipping] => 0.00
[tax] => 0.00
[tax_cart] => 0.00
)

Oct 14 2009 19:15 -- IPN INFO - POST VARS to be sent back for validation:
To: www.paypal.com:80
POST /cgi-bin/webscr HTTP/1.1
Host: www.paypal.com
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-length: 101
Connection: close
Array
(
[cmd] => _notify-sync
[tx] => 75Y3xxxxxxxx1330X
[at] => ltWGb**********We1sa
)
Oct 14 2009 19:15 -- IPN INFO - Confirmation/Validation response
0
Oct 14 2009 19:15 -- IPN WARNING :: PDT Transaction was not marked as SUCCESS. Keep this report for potential use in fraud investigations.
IPN Info =
0
Oct 14 2009 19:15 -- PDT Returned Data Array
(
)
Oct 14 2009 19:15 -- PDT WARNING :: Order not marked as "Completed". Check for Pending reasons or wait for IPN to complete.
[payment_status] =>
[pending_reason] =>
Oct 14 2009 19:15 -- PDT WARNING :: Transaction already exists. Perhaps IPN already added it. PDT processing ended.

Not really sure what I am looking at here, so I don't know where the problem is my Store or PayPal.

Any help on what to check or try next would be most appreciated.

Thank you in advance :)

Am i right in saying that the wiki page for paypal is a little outdated?

It says to Set the URL to: http://www.myz_domain.com/MY_SHOP/ipn_main_handler.php.

But if your using version 1.38a then it needs to point to '/extras/ipncheck.php'?

Please correct me if i am wrong

Ignore my last post :)

Scott

I know at least 30 shop owners in the UK that are all having this problem as of this morning, orders are registering in paypal but not in Zen Cart admin.

This is worrying to say the least. I'm having to email customers and ask them what they ordered :(

it's looking like this has effected every Zen Cart shop in the UK that is using paypal IPN!

Yeh this affected my client, but he was randomly missing the ipn_main_handler.php file (no idea how that happened). So that wouldnt help the communications between paypal and zen cart

Now just need to wait and see if that fixes the problem, if not then he is in the same boat as the many other uk zen shop owners you mentioned !

Badvoc:

I know at least 30 shop owners in the UK that are all having this problem as of this morning, orders are registering in paypal but not in Zen Cart admin.

This is worrying to say the least. I'm having to email customers and ask them what they ordered :(

it's looking like this has effected every Zen Cart shop in the UK that is using paypal IPN!

It's the same for me too. Everything working last night, today emails from PayPal coming through but no order listed in the admin. I've just put a few test orders through and the Order Number given on the checkout_success page has been wrong each time (it was the same number for all 3 orders which is also the same as an already existing order.)

I really don't understand what has happened. Looking in the IPN History within my paypal account, everything looks ok.

Rob

I am not in the UK and this happened to me this morning. I am in Canada and the customer is in France. So where is the problem?? It only happened on this last order, and nothing was wrong before and Monday was a very busy day.

reply from paypal:

In relation to your query about the update that has affected zencart users.

After carefully analysing your concern, it appears that not just one
zencart user has been affected by this recent update but almost the whole zencart users group.

I would recommend that you contact zencart and ask them to probably get in touch with PayPal to have the matter looked into.

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing PayPal.

I am also having this issue which just started yesterday. I have received several payments with no shop orders on record. The shop records the user info, but not the order.

This is so frustrating. I've tried everything in these threads, but still not working. Did PayPal maybe change something yesterday? I know they were doing maintenance between 9-12 last night.

Running latest version.

The issue this morning is PayPal

[1] Notification: This notification is to inform you of the following issue with Instant Payment Notifications (IPNs).
(Sent Oct 14, 7:14 AM PDT by KD)

EVENT DETAILS

Service: Live Site

During the time listed below you may have or currently are experiencing the following:
Merchants may be experiencing errors with Instant Payment Notifications (IPNs).

Affected Product(s):

• Order Management (IPN / PDT)

Start Time: Oct 14, 2:30 AM PDT (Oct 14, 10:30 AM BST)

End Time: On-Going

Our technical teams are working diligently to resolve the issue. We will provide updates until the issue is resolved.

We apologize for any impact caused by this incident.

Sincerely,
PayPal Merchant Technical Services

Contacting PayPal

Just saw on Paypal's Site: http://www.pdncommunity.com/t5/blogs/blogpage/blog-id/mts_updates

disciple:

The issue this morning is PayPal

LOL! Just posted that link too ;) Thanks!