[Forum] PayPal Instant Payment Notification Warning

[vskylabv]

What does this mean? and how do I fix this?
I use subscription based forums.

Please check your server that handles PayPal Instant Payment Notifications (IPN). IPNs sent to the following URL(s) are failing:

http://www.artoftravelblogging.com/forums/subscriptions/paypal.php

If you do not recognize this URL, you may be using a service provider that is using IPN on your behalf. Please contact your service provider with the above information. If this problem continues, IPNs may be disabled for your account.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this issue.


Thanks,

PayPal

[Steve Machol]

If you are receiving the IPN failure emails or your payments seem to have stopped working, please do the following to troubleshoot:

1. Check your Paypal IPN settings (in your Paypal account) and make sure that IPNs are not currently disabled. If they are disabled, then contact Paypal to get them re-enabled. You can check if IPNs are disabled by check
ing your IPN history and seeing if your recent IPN messages have a status of "disabled". (My Account => History => IPN History)

2. Check your Paypal IPN settings and make sure your Notification URL is empty. This needs to be empty because (a) it is not necessary, since vBulletin sends Paypal the correct URL to send the IPN to along with the payme
nt request. (This is the notify_url parameter in the subscription_payment_paypal template). (b) The other reason this needs to be empty, is that if you have your vBulletin URL there, then Paypal will send IPN messages fo
r all of your Paypal transactions, not only the ones that originate from your vBulletin installation. This will eventually cause Paypal to disable IPN for your account due to the failed IPNs.

3. Make sure your Forum URL is correct in your vBulletin settings. (vBulletin Options => Site Name / URL / Contact Details => Forum URL) It should be the URL to your forums, with no trailing slash (/).

Another thing to note is when the transaction log in the Admin CP shows 'failure' for a transaction, that does not mean that the Paypal IPN failed, it only means that the transaction was not a charge or a reversal.

[vskylabv]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the help. There's an issue though.
Paypal says: "You must enter a properly formatted URL into the Notification URL field in order to activate Instant Payment Notification."
This is in the Edit Instant Payment Notification (IPN) settings under Profile -> Instant Payment Notification Preferences.
It does not let me save.

[Steve Machol]

Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about this. Try contacting PayPal.

[vskylabv]

I'm sorry Steve but that makes no sense. You have in your directions to enable IPN without putting in a URL when that is not even possible. I believe you may to need to revise how vBulletin works with Paypal.

I'm contacting Paypal if this is even possible and I will update you. If Paypal tells me it's not possible, then vBulletin officially does not work with Paypal in its latest version.

[Steve Machol]

Okay. Please report this in the vB4 Bug Tracker here:

http://tracker.vbulletin.com/secure/Dashboard.jspa

[vskylabv]

Steve,
I just created a forum, an entire CMS section with dozens of articles, and bought a new license around the entire fact of using Paypal with vBulletin. I'll submit the bug but this is REALLY going to put me off the edge if it doesn't work --- soon... I pray and hope there is a solution to this.
Thanks for the quick replies as always.

[vskylabv]

For anyone wanting to follow along, here is the bug report page.

http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBIV-11168

Please comment, vote, whatever - get this to be heard. This is a complete showstopper for anyone using Paid Subscriptions with Paypal on vb4.

[ENF]

Hi there,

If you follow the setup instructions here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/paymentapi_paypal

It works fine. We're having no problems with IPN and VB4. (I ran test to be sure, and the payment and IPN went through successfully)

Using the dummy URL works wit PayPal Premier accounts.

Good Luck.

[vskylabv]

What URL exactly are you using?

http://www.example.com/forums/payment_gateway.php?method=paypal

is not a working URL

Also that goes against what Steve says about putting a URL.

This needs to be empty because (a) it is not necessary, since vBulletin sends Paypal the correct URL to send the IPN to along with the payment request. (This is the notify_url parameter in the subscription_payment_paypal template). (b) The other reason this needs to be empty, is that if you have your vBulletin URL there, then Paypal will send IPN messages fo
r all of your Paypal transactions, not only the ones that originate from your vBulletin installation. This will eventually cause Paypal to disable IPN for your account due to the failed IPNs.

Another note: The directions on the URL are VERY old. The comments from December 2005 says that IPN's are no longer needed.

[ENF]

I realize that, but I'm telling you that the instructions work.

URL I have used: http://www.example.com/forums/payment_gateway.php?method=paypal

I updated your JIRA Entry with screen-shots.

PayPal *DOES* require a URL, but it doesn't have to be real. The PayPal API gets the correct info from the VB input.

[ENF]

Last update for this thread:

http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBIV-11168

I've updated the ticket with screen shots of:

1) User CP - Sucessful Subscription/Purchase
2) PayPal IPN Settings (URL)
3) PayPal IPN Log (transactions)
4) AdminCP - Transaction Log (Showing Transaction/Message ID's)

Hope this helps.

[vskylabv]

Thanks for the update! I've just included the dummy URL and going to test it out now. Weird though that the URL I put in earlier gave me errors while this dummy URL seems to work. What difference does it make what URL is on there if it goes to a nonworking URL anyway? So strange.

[ENF]

Thanks for the update! I've just included the dummy URL and going to test it out now. Weird though that the URL I put in earlier gave me errors while this dummy URL seems to work. What difference does it make what URL is on there if it goes to a nonworking URL anyway? So strange.

Maybe formatting... but it works. That's all I care about.

[MacroPhotoPro]

I am having this same trouble too, and am getting no response from the Ticket system. This is very serious, because (like the OP) the entire reason I purchased this software was to get paid subscriptions, and if the system shuts down that is a deal-breaker.


Does this dummy URL still work for you ENF?

Any updates?

Once again I thank you for your time,

Jack