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PayPal Payments Standard: getting PayPal transactions, but no corresponding ShopSite order

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I am receiving PayPal payments in my PayPal account, but I am not receiving the order notification emails from ShopSite and don't see orders corresponding with the PayPal payments listed in my ShopSite backoffice Orders menu. I am using PayPal Payments Standard. What is the problem, and what can I do about it?


With the older PayPal Payments Standard method, the order is not completed into ShopSite until ShopSite receives an IPN callback from PayPal that the status of the payment is 'Completed'. So if the order(s) is not showing in ShopSite, then it is because ShopSite did not receive this IPN callback from PayPal. Some examples of reasons it may not have been received are:

1) the transaction does not have a Completed status yet, it is still in a Pending status in your PayPal account. If it is Pending because of some fraud control settings that you have, then you can try resolving the Pending status so that it becomes Completed, that may help. If shoppers pay via echeck (which you can optionally disable in your PayPal account), the echeck payment will remain with a Pending status until the check clears, usually 3 to 4 business days.

2) technical issues with PayPal's IPN callback system may delay or drop IPN callbacks. PayPal often reports instances of technical difficulties with their various payment solutions, including delayed IPNs, via the following status website: https://www.paypal-notify.com//eventnotification/search?eventSearchType=PayPalSiteStatus

3) the store's callback URL (URL to the secure thankyou.cgi) changes or there is something wrong with it like a bad or expired SSL certificate.

4) IPN callbacks can be disabled in PayPal on a per-account basis, usually this happens automatically if #3 happens for an extended period of time. In this case, you have to re-enable IPNs in the PayPal account. Normally this doesn't have to be setup in the PayPal account, because ShopSite sends the correct IPN URL to PayPal, but if PayPal has disabled IPNs for the account, then you have to provide an IPN URL when re-enabling it.

Note that we strongly recommend switching to the newer PayPal Express Checkout method. It has an improved checkout flow (the shopper doesn't have to enter address info twice and the shopper is sent back to ShopSite to complete the order and sees the same ShopSite thankyou page as non-PayPal shoppers) and doesn't rely on PayPal's IPN callback system before showing the orders in ShopSite.


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Last Updated
20th of July, 2017

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