Community Support Forums

Howdy, a new subscriber does not receive the confirmation email after starting a new subscription via PayPal. This has worked before. I searched the forums, but have not found a solution to this.

This is what happens:
1) A not registered user clicks on Subscribe PayPal button at Merchant site (livewebteaching.com). There is a 2 week free trial. It is a recurring subscription (monthly).
2) S/he confirms payment at PayPal
3) New Subscriber is redirected to home page of merchant (livewebteaching.com)
4) New subscriber receives an email from PayPal, stating subscription details, payment dates, etc.
5) New subscriber does not receive the confirmation email from merchant (livewebteaching.com) which s/he can register at merchant site.
6) IPN is not sent (PayPal IPN history status = retrying)
7) Just recently, I got the PayPal Instant Payment Notification Warning : "... Please check your server that handles PayPal Instant Payment Notifications (IPN). IPNs sent to the following URL(s) are failing:... " When I enter the IPN URL (http://livewebteaching.com/?s2member_paypal_notify=1) into a browser, I get a blank screen

I am using:
* S2Member, version 3.5.4 (I am not upgrading to 3.5.8 because it requires PHP 5.2.3+, and I have PHP 5.2.17)
* PayPal standard
* PayPal® PDT Identity Token is set to "on"
* The IPN URL is set correctly

Thanks for your help!

henrybcn wrote:* S2Member, version 3.5.4 (I am not upgrading to 3.5.8 because it requires PHP 5.2.3+, and I have PHP 5.2.17)

I'm pretty sure PHP 5.2.17 (06-Jan-2011) is newer than PHP 5.2.3 (31-May-2007).

Try updating s2Member and see if that helps with your problem viewtopic.php?f=36&t=247

Thanks Cristián - I just upgraded S2Member to 3.5.8, and tested again. The issues remain.

1) The confirmation email is not sent. After confirming the payment at PayPal, the subscriber gets this browser alert message on PayPal:

The page livewebteaching.com says:
Thank you! ( please check your email ).
* Note: It can take ( up to 15 minutes ) for Email Confirmation. If you don't receive email confirmation in the next 15 minutes, please contact Support.

2) The IPN is not sent by PayPal. The status at PayPal (IPN History page) = Retrying. Couldn't this be the cause? If S2Member does not receive the IPN from PayPal, it does not trigger the confirmation email. In the IPN Log I see this message:

'Unable to verify _SERVER[HTTP_HOST]. Possibly caused by a fraudulent request. If this error continues, please check the `custom` value in your Form and/or Button Code. It MUST always start with your domain name.'

This is my button code:

custom="livewebteaching.com"

The IPN notification has worked before.

Any advise on how to fix the IPN URL issue? The IPN URL (http://livewebteaching.com/?s2member_paypal_notify=1 ) is set up correctly in S2Member and PayPal.

Thanks!

OK, let me see if I can help you...

Please, make sure the www is not part of the issue viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1066

Does this error come up with every purchase or only some? Could you post the logs for all the ones with the error? Please xxxx out any private information.

Did you make sure all your PayPal configuration has been completed? IPN, PDT, Token, etc. WP Admin -> s2Member -> PayPal Options -> PayPal Account Details, PayPal IPN Integration and PayPal PDT / Auto-Return Integration.

Are you sure you're not in PayPal's Sandbox? WP Admin -> s2Member -> PayPal Options -> PayPal Account Details -> Developer/Sandbox Testing

Thanks Cristián!

I do not use www anywhere. I double-checked IPN, PDT, etc configuration. It's ok. Sandbox testing is off.

Also, the IPN ULR error has not happened initially when I set up S2Member.

Could you post the logs for all the ones with the error? Please xxxx out any private information.

Here the log from the IPN ULR error

Code: Select all

livewebteaching.com/?s2member_paypal_notify=1
array (
  'mc_gross' => '5.00',
  'protection_eligibility' => 'Ineligible',
  'address_status' => 'unconfirmed',
  'payer_id' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'address_street' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'payment_date' => '09:10:41 Feb 04, 2011 PST',
  'payment_status' => 'Completed',
  'charset' => 'windows-1252',
  'address_zip' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'first_name' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'mc_fee' => '0.52',
  'address_country_code' => 'ES',
  'address_name' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'notify_version' => '3.0',
  'subscr_id' => 'I-PE6LDB2DENB8',
  'payer_status' => 'verified',
  'business' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'address_country' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'address_city' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'verify_sign' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'payer_email' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'txn_id' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'payment_type' => 'instant',
  'last_name' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'address_state' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'receiver_email' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'payment_fee' => '',
  'receiver_id' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'txn_type' => 'subscr_payment',
  'item_name' => 'Live Web Teaching: Test, no trial',
  'mc_currency' => 'EUR',
  'residence_country' => 'ES',
  'transaction_subject' => '',
  'payment_gross' => '',
  's2member_log' =>
  array (
    0 => 'IPN received on: Fri Feb 4, 2011 5:10:48 pm UTC',
    1 => 's2Member POST vars verified through a POST back to PayPal®.',
    2 => 'Unable to verify _SERVER[HTTP_HOST]. Possibly caused by a fraudulent request. If this error continues, please check the `custom` value in your Form and/or Button Code. It MUST always start with your domain name.',
  ),
  'custom' => false,
)

Hi Cristián, I changed the subscription process in that one needs to register first (as a level 0 member), before buying a subscription (=upgrading to level 1 or higher). The upgrade works.

The URL IPN issue remains (IPN can not be send by PayPal, status = retrying).

I wrote PayPal and got this answer. Where can I ... check that the IPN script on my server is in the location specified in the IPN settings on your PayPal account.

Thanks!

Thank you for contacting Merchant Technical Services.

The email you received is part of a new IPN enhancement that sends reports to merchants when their IPN script is not responding.

The feature is designed to notify you so that IPN's do not go missing.

You will need to check your IPN settings to ensure that the URL is set correctly and also that the IPN script on your server is in the location specified in the IPN settings on your PayPal account.

You can see which IPN's are failing by checking your PayPal account history logs. To see this please follow this guide:

- Login to PayPal account and hover the mouse over "History"
- In the drop down menu click "IPN history"
- Here you will be able to see which IPN script is failing
- Clicking on the "Message ID" will show the message that was sent the number of retries and the URL it was sent to


Looking in your IPN History, it appears that the notifications are being sent to:

http://livewebteaching.com/?s2member_paypal_notify=1

which is answering with HTTP response 408:

http://www.checkupdown.com/status/E408.html

From PayPal's point of view, we will mark the notification as correctly sent only if your notification URL respond with the Standard HTTP 200 OK.


You will need to consult with your server provider to troubleshoot this issue, as we can't know from here why such response is being returned by your notification URL.

Thanks for reporting this important issue.
~ and thanks for bringing this to my attention Cristián.

henrybcn wrote:Here the log from the IPN ULR error

Code: Select all

livewebteaching.com/?s2member_paypal_notify=1
array (
  'mc_gross' => '5.00',
  'protection_eligibility' => 'Ineligible',
  'address_status' => 'unconfirmed',
  'payer_id' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'address_street' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'payment_date' => '09:10:41 Feb 04, 2011 PST',
  'payment_status' => 'Completed',
  'charset' => 'windows-1252',
  'address_zip' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'first_name' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'mc_fee' => '0.52',
  'address_country_code' => 'ES',
  'address_name' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'notify_version' => '3.0',
  'subscr_id' => 'I-PE6LDB2DENB8',
  'payer_status' => 'verified',
  'business' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'address_country' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'address_city' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'verify_sign' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'payer_email' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'txn_id' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'payment_type' => 'instant',
  'last_name' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'address_state' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'receiver_email' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'payment_fee' => '',
  'receiver_id' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  'txn_type' => 'subscr_payment',
  'item_name' => 'Live Web Teaching: Test, no trial',
  'mc_currency' => 'EUR',
  'residence_country' => 'ES',
  'transaction_subject' => '',
  'payment_gross' => '',
  's2member_log' =>
  array (
    0 => 'IPN received on: Fri Feb 4, 2011 5:10:48 pm UTC',
    1 => 's2Member POST vars verified through a POST back to PayPal®.',
    2 => 'Unable to verify _SERVER[HTTP_HOST]. Possibly caused by a fraudulent request. If this error continues, please check the `custom` value in your Form and/or Button Code. It MUST always start with your domain name.',
  ),
  'custom' => false,
)

A tell-tale sign here in this log entry is the missing "custom" value, which is what s2Member uses to verify the originating domain. Can you please post a copy of your PayPal Button Shortcode that was generated by s2Member? Or, if you're using the Full Button Code instead, please post that so we can see why this is happening. Short of that, a URL to the page where your PayPal Button is posted.

* Note * I registered ( free ) at your site and all of the PayPal Buttons presented as an upgrade are configured properly. But this log entry you posted was generated from another Button ( i.e. one that was NOT an upgrade ), where is that one?

Thanks in advance for your patience.

Thanks Jason! If you want to "buy" a subscription, to test, I'll reimburse immediately.

The strange thing is that I had no IPN error before.

This morning PayPal disabled IPN Notifications. Does impede new subscribers / upgrades / downgrades?

Here the button code (on page: http://livewebteaching.com/my-account/change-plan):

Code: Select all

[s2Member-PayPal-Button level="1" ccaps="" desc="Upgrade to Basic - Live Web Teaching Subscription Plan" ps="LWT_New_Subscriber" cc="EUR" ns="1" custom="livewebteaching.com" ta="0" tp="0" tt="D" ra="9" rp="1" rt="M" rr="1" modify="1" image="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_subscribe_LG.gif" output="button" /]

Yesterday I changed the process, hoping this would solve the IPN issue. Now, one must register first, before buying a subscription. This takes care of the initial issue that the new member does not get the Confirmation Email after paying at PayPal.

Thanks! I am really impressed by your service!

Thanks for the KUDOS! Much appreciated.

OK. Well it sounds like this problem no longer exists then, is that correct?
Do you still have the Button Code from the Button that was causing this issue before? It sounds to me like your Button Code was missing the custom="livewebteaching.com" Attribute.