Pro forms Paypal error if user is not logged in to paypal

[rclear]

I'm using a ProForm with paypal express checkout. When a user clicks the checkout with paypal button the get this message from paypal:
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Error Detected

We are sorry, we are experiencing temporary difficulties. Please try again later. If this error occurred while making a payment, avoid duplicate payments by checking your Account Overview before resending a payment.

Message 3005
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However if the user has logged into paypal recently everything works fine (even if they've logged back out.)

You can see the web page here: http://members.clearstaichi.com/?page_id=683

This is a live page. - You can get the error message by filling out the info and clicking checkout but if you have logged into paypal recently and do not get this error please do not continue and signup.

[Cristián Lávaque]

Could you show me the pro-form's shortcode you're using, please?

You know that using the pro-form with PayPal Express Checkout will require the buyer to have a PayPal account, right? But it should still not give an error, just ask the person to login to PayPal.

[rclear]

Yeah we're going with paypal only for now. here's the shortcode:

[s2Member-Pro-PayPal-Form level="1" ccaps="" desc="Clears Tai Chi Online - $20.00 USD / Monthly ( recurring charge, for ongoing access )" ps="paypal" lc="" cc="USD" dg="0" ns="1" custom="members.clearstaichi.com" ta="0" tp="0" tt="D" ra="20" rp="1" rt="M" rr="1" rrt="" rra="2" accept="paypal" accept_via_paypal="paypal" coupon="" accept_coupons="0" default_country_code="" captcha="0" /]

[Cristián Lávaque]

Thanks.

Well, I searched for that error message and in the PayPal forums I found a reply from a PayPal employee about it:

The error message you are receiving is almost always intermittent although it can last for extended periods of time as you have experienced. As there are many different reasons it can happen my best suggestion is to try again after 24 hours.

I've seen it suggested to clear your cookies and cache, and try again.

[rclear]

Thanks for trying to find something.

I've seen it suggested to clear your cookies and cache, and try again.

The opposite of this seems to be true with this error. If you've logged into paypal recently it works but if you clear your cookies and cache you then get the error.


Any other ideas about what might be causing this problem or were I could look for a solution?

[lewayotte]

I'm getting this error too, I just signed up for PayPal Pro today (and was approved today). It's really weird, must be something wrong with PayPal.

I tried in Chrome received the "Message 3005" then logged into PayPal in Chrome and didn't receive the 3005 message. I logged out of PayPal and it still worked no problem.

Then I opened IE and tried signing up, received the "Message 3005" error again. Went back to Chrome, and it still worked fine. I suspect it's may be a cache issue, if you have never logged into PayPal from a specific browser, then PayPal errors out.

To test my theory, I opened Chrome in incognito mode and received the Message 3005 error again, but it is still working in the normal Chrome window. I closed Chrome, reopened it and it still worked. I cleared my browsing data for the last day in Chrome and try again and it failed. Logged back into PayPal and the pro-form works again.

Lots of people having similar problems: https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/eBa ... 6590#M9891

Lew

[Cristián Lávaque]

Hey Lew! Long time no see.

Yeah, I've seen that thread and others where people complain about this issue. I hope PayPal fixes it soon...

[lewayotte]

Yeah, it's been a while...

I posted a ticket in https://ppmts.custhelp.com/, hopefully we get some resolution soon. I suspect (hope) that this will be affecting only the few people who meet specific situations.

[Cristián Lávaque]

Yeah, hopefully not many. Let us know when they answer.

[lewayotte]

Got this from PayPal overnight: "We are aware of this issue and our senior engineers are actively working to resolve these issues. I don't have a estimated time of arrival for when this issue will be resolved at this time. You will be updated further via this ticket as we receive more information from our engineers (I set up status "Pending Fix"). I apologize for the impact this issue is causing. The issues you are experiencing are considered a high priority."

Unfortunately, I literally have a ticket with PayPal that has been in this status since August 2010. But that ticket was much more obscure, hopefully this is effecting enough people that it will get quicker attention. Will keep you updated as I get more info.

Lew

[rclear]

I posted a ticket in https://ppmts.custhelp.com/, hopefully we get some resolution soon. I suspect (hope) that this will be affecting only the few people who meet specific situations.

Thank You. Hopefully paypal will get their act together soon.

Does anybody have any ideas on a way around this that is a little more elegant than just asking users to log into paypal before registering?

[Jason Caldwell]

FYI: I've had this problem myself in the past. Sometimes it happens to site owners that create PayPal Sandbox accounts and perform extensive tests. It seems to be related to a session/cookie issue. Clearing browser cache and all cookies, restarting your browser and logging back in seems to help.

Yea, I hope they resolve this quickly. I reported this bug myself about 3 months ago.

[lewayotte]

PayPal replied to the ticket this morning:

We appreciate your patience. This message is to inform you that the issue was resolved through a recent live site update.

Please contact us again if you feel the issue is not resolved and provide additional supporting details to help us identify or reproduce the issue.

PayPal Merchant Technical Services

I haven't tested it yet... FYI

[rclear]

PayPal replied to the ticket this morning:

We appreciate your patience. This message is to inform you that the issue was resolved through a recent live site update.

Please contact us again if you feel the issue is not resolved and provide additional supporting details to help us identify or reproduce the issue.

PayPal Merchant Technical Services

I haven't tested it yet... FYI

Awesome! Just tested and it works now.

Thank you everybody for the help.

[Cristián Lávaque]

That's awesome, Lew! Thanks for keeping us up-to-date and making PayPal resolve it so soon!

For some reason you get fast response from them. Now I know who to contact when I have an issue with PayPal.

[lewayotte]

I find the https://ppmts.custhelp.com/ portal usually gets quicker (and smarter) responses... not always though

[Jason Caldwell]

Thank you!

[Cristián Lávaque]

Great! Thanks!