PayPal emails me: IPNs are no longer processed

-- HikaShop version -- : 2.3.3
-- Joomla version -- : 2.5.19
-- PHP version -- : 5.4.31

Since a few days, I'm receiving a warning e-mail from PayPal saying that PayPal's Instant Payment Notifications (IPNs) are no longer processed by my server. I've changed nothing in the last weeks/months on payment method settings, do you have any idea where this comes from?

Thanks!

Eppo

Hi,

Please check in the payment log file in Configuration > Main > Files if there is any error reported.
If not, so there is maybe more clues in your php log file (server side).

Hi, in the payment log file no errors reported.

On the server side access logs, I'm seeing this message: [30/Oct/2014:12:24:27 +0100] "POST /index.php?option=com_hikashop&ctrl=checkout&task=notify&notif_payment=paypal&tmpl=component&lang=nl HTTP/1.0" 403 1520 "-" "PayPal IPN ( www.paypal.com/ipn )" "-" "-" 173.0.81.1 [mydomain].com pid:32049 713784 0 8000 312020 64004 157.55.39.205 - -

And this is -according to PayPal's email the URL causing troubles sending IPNs to:
http://www.[mydomain].com/index.php?option=com_hikashop&ctrl=checkout&task=notify&notif_payment=paypal&tmpl=component&lang=nl

Hi,

The payment log file is empty because the notification doesn't reach HikaShop.
You can see in your apache log that the status of the payment notification is 403.
This indicates that the payment notification was stopped by the SEF system of Joomla.
Your PayPal IPN URL is missing the Itemid parameter in it which helps the SEF system of Joomla finding the correct extension.
Instead of
/index.php?option=com_hikashop&ctrl=checkout&task=notify&notif_payment=paypal&tmpl=component&lang=nl it should be /index.php?option=com_hikashop&ctrl=checkout&task=notify&notif_payment=paypal&tmpl=component&lang=nl&Itemid=XXX where XXX is the id of a menu item of HikaShop (ideally a HikaShop checkout type menu item that you selected in the "force a menu on checkout" option of the HikaShop configuration.

Hi Nicolas,

OK, and how can I change this IPN URL?

The current itemid parameter is passed to PayPal by the PayPal plugin automatically.
I see two potential reasons why you might not have it:
- the "force a menu on checkout" option of the HikaShop configuration is not set to a menu item of the type hikashop checkout that you can create via the Joomla menu manager (as I explained in my previous message).
- you have entered the IPN URL in the options of your PayPal merchant account and thus it overrides the one sent by your website.

So please check these.

Hi,

I am also having trouble with IPN errors.

- The IPN history shows the item as 'Retrying', with error 403
- The URL it's trying to send to is
annpickardsugarcraft.com/index.php?optio...t&lang=en&Itemid=117
- 'Force a menu on the checkout' is set to the correct menu item ('Online shop': Id is 117)

So why can't Paypal locate this page?

Hi,

If you have enter some IPs in the Paypal configuration ; the plugin can return a 403 error page if the call is not made by a listed IP.
So you can empty the field "IPs" or use the button "refresh IPs".
But when such error came out, the plugin send you an email to notify you.

The plugin can also generate an 403 error when it can't reach the paypal server to confirm the IPN.
It try to open a socket to the paypal server and if it can't, it send an email to you and generate a 403 error page.

So please, check these two elements and check your emails to get more details.

Regards,

Thanks for your help, Jerome. I emptied the IPs field and now the IPNs seem to send correctly. I will keep an eye on things but hopefully this seems to have been sorted out now.

Similar issue here:

I've refreshed the IP's about 4 or 5 days ago as we were getting delayed confirmations through up to 48 hours after having already shipped customers orders. This of course meant the order which had already been dealt with suddenly reappeared as a new order.

Having refreshed the IP's although Hikashop doesn't process the order to the next stage for Paypal orders from created to confirmed we are now no longer having the delayed confirmation and reappearance issue.

Today we have now received an email from Paypal below:

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

www.acrespetproducts.com/index.php?optio...t&lang=en&Itemid=XXX

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 "

So not sure how to proceed. Have checked the Configuration / Main / Files Report and it shows:

"Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification Could not load any order for your notification"

Any help would be appreciated before Paypal blocks our IPN's.

Many thanks

Acres

Hi,

This indicates that you entered the URL www.acrespetproducts.com/index.php?optio...t&lang=en&Itemid=XXX in the IPN URL field of your PayPal merchant account.
First, when you do that, you should enter the id of the Itemid not XXX.

Normally, emptying the IPN field of your PayPal merchant account, like @Leilahodgkins did should avoid the problem.
But otherwise, you can check this documentation:
www.hikashop.com/support/documentation/i...or.html#notification
Check each point, look at your server's access log for the payment notification URLs and you should find information on why your payment notifications are not going to HikaShop with all the data from PayPal.

Hi Nicholas

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for your quick response.

Wolkietalkie.com is a different domain to ours ....

Can you re-post the link to the documentation you mention as the link posted is broken.

I'll read through the over the Christmas break and correct and test

The XXX - I removed the 3 digits from the link as I didn't know if they were important to the security of the website??

All the best

Acres

Hi,

The link I gave is working fine. Just click on it and you'll see that it works fine.
The XXX simply indicate the menu item id, it doesn't change anything in terms of security for your website.