Community Support Forums

Does s2Member (free) require SSL to work with the PayPal buttons.

We are getting the 'ERROR: Unable to verify $_POST vars.' error and our site passes the fopen test which is provided in a thread here. I can't think of what else to do at the moment.

The reason I ask is that I am pretty sure https:// isn't accessible on our server unless SSL is purchased from the host. And the only reason we aren't going Pro, is because we are wanting a budget solution just to get ourselves started.

Is there a workaround maybe, if it does come back to the domain on https?

I have enabled logging and hope to get some information next time someone registers.

No, you don't need SSL to use PayPal buttons, since the payments happen over at paypal.com, not your site.

If you're getting that error, and your server test was fine, then you're probably entering the domain name incorrectly in your custom attribute of the shortcode. Even a www could be the problem if your site doesn't use it. Read this thread, please: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1066

I hope that helps.

Thanks for the reply. I had to wait a bit to get a decent log to show you.

The funny thing is, it is happening for some people but not others... what would you suggested is the cause? There is 4 buttons... do you think there might be something wrong with a certain button shortcode, they look fine to me though.. looking quickly, its about a 1 in 6 occurrence.

I have attached a log to show you what happens for some people. I have removed information, there was some garbled (encoded) data that I figured safer to remove.

Code: Select all

PHP v5.2.17-pl0-gentoo :: WordPress® v3.3 :: s2Member® v111220
Memory 22.54 MB :: Real Memory 22.75 MB :: Peak Memory 22.69 MB :: Real Peak Memory 22.75 MB
www.domain.com/?s2member_paypal_return=1&s2member_paypal_proxy=paypal&s2member_paypal_proxy_use=x-preview
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:12.0a1) Gecko/20120123 Firefox/12.0a1
array (
  'subscr_gateway' => 'paypal',
  's2member_log' =>
  array (
    0 => 'Test preview of Return Page `proxy_use`: ( `x_preview` ).',
    1 => 'Redirecting Customer to the Home Page. Test preview of Return Page `proxy_use`: ( `x_preview` ).',
  ),
  's2member_paypal_proxy' => 'paypal',
  's2member_paypal_proxy_use' => 'x-preview',
)

PHP v5.2.17-pl0-gentoo :: WordPress® v3.3 :: s2Member® v111220
Memory 22.28 MB :: Real Memory 22.50 MB :: Peak Memory 22.41 MB :: Real Peak Memory 22.50 MB
www.domain.com/?s2member_paypal_return=1&s2member_paypal_return_tra=GARBLED&tx=GARBLED&st=Completed&amt=3.00&cc=AUD&cm=www%2edomain%2ecom&item_number=&sig=GARBLED%3d
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; GTB7.2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; AskTbORJ/5.14.1.20007)
array (
  's2member_log' =>
  array (
    0 => 'Unable to verify $_POST vars. This is most likely related to an invalid configuration of s2Member, or a problem with server compatibility.',
    1 => 'If you\'re absolutely SURE that your configuration is valid, you may want to run some tests on your server, just to be sure $_POST variables are populated, and that your server is able to connect/communicate with your Payment Gateway over an HTTPS connection.',
    2 => 's2Member uses the `WP_Http` class for remote connections; which will try to use `cURL` first, and then fall back on the `FOPEN` method when `cURL` is not available. On a Windows® server, you may have to disable your `cURL` extension; and instead, set `allow_url_fopen = yes` in your php.ini file. The `cURL` extension (usually) does NOT support SSL connections on a Windows® server.',
    3 => 'Please see this thread: `http://www.primothemes.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2636` for details regarding the ideal server configuration for s2Member.',
    4 => 'array (
  \'s2member_paypal_return\' => \'1\',
  \'s2member_paypal_return_tra\' => \'GARBLED\',
  \'tx\' => \'GARBLED\',
  \'st\' => \'Completed\',
  \'amt\' => \'3.00\',
  \'cc\' => \'AUD\',
  \'cm\' => \'www.domain.com\',
  \'item_number\' => \'\',
  \'sig\' => \'GARBLED\',
)',
    5 => 'Redirecting Customer to the Home Page, due to an error that occurred.',
  ),
  's2member_paypal_return_tra' => 'GARBLED',
)



I am now forcing www as per that thread, may aswell try anything to help it