When I thought everything is working fine with Paypal payments, I just got into this problem. May be I need to understand more about various PayPal Notification Codes. Is there any help file that talks about the following STATUS codes in detail?

Before redirection to PayPal   
Redirect Successfully   
Redirect After Cancel   
Completed (Standard)   
Failed
Pending   
Denied
Refunded

Here are My Settings:
1. Send Email to User about Successful Transaction:
Completed (Standard) is CHECKED

2. Redirect to "PayPal Payment Successful" page
Redirect Successfully is CHECKED
Completed (Standard) is CHECKED

3. 2. Redirect to "PayPal Payment UnSuccessful" page
Redirect After Cancel is CHECKED
Failed is CHECKED
Denied is CHECKED

Here is the Problem:
When a User faced some problem on the PayPal page (incorrect entry in the Credit Card data), he is redirected to "PayPal Unsuccessful" page. So far so good.

But the user went back to PayPal page using Broser BACK button, and went through the PayPal payment process and completed the transaction.

My Form did not recognize this and as such the "Payment Successful" email didn't come out. Except for the email from PayPal, there is no record of the user's Registration Information. We lost!!!

Question: Why didn't our DF module capture the Successful Payment status when the user  went back to PayPal and completed the transaction?

How long does DF maintain "connection" with PayPal? If DF gets a "Failed" message, will it close further communications with PayPal? What if the user takes 1 or 2 hours to complete the transaction?
The fact that the user was able to "pay" thru PayPal, shows that the Item and price data passed on to PayPal by the DF module was still valid (except that the user got to that page by using browser's "BACK" button)

Any ideas on how to prevent such problems? (losing Registration data due to failed PayPal transaction)

Thanks in advance!
VJ

Hi VJ,

This happened because the user was actually on the Redirect page and not on the DF page.  It's not really about how long the connection is maintaind.  As soon as the user cancelled the transaction, it was actually over.  Using the Back Button is not recommended.

To help users, I always put something like this on the Cancel Redirect page:

You were directed to this page because you aborted the PayPal transacton.  If you got here in error and would like to complete registration, please fill out the registration form again.  (Then offer a link back to the page)

Other tweaks I recommend:

#2 only needs Redirect Successfully

#3 only needs Redirect after Cancel

Again, this is only when the user aborts the transaction and never actually completes it.  A failed transaction has more to do with the payment not processing through even when it looks like the transaction completed (usually after a Pending Status)

An alternative option to consider is to allow everyone to register for free at the beginning and then offer the paid membership option on a separate instance of the moudle which will then be integrated with PayPal.  Just something to consider.  (are you using Dynamic Forms or Dynamic Registration for this?)

Thanks!
Candace

Hi Candace,

Thanks a lot for a detailed response!

I changed my settings based on your response. Now it seems to be working fine. Let me test it more thoroughly

Thanks again,
VJ

Hi Candace,

I need your help!!!

My PayPal setup is not working properly.

Current Situation: It is executing Events NOT associated with PGateway = PayPal condition. When this condition is TRUE, the control is going to PayPal website and the Pyament process is going well. At the end, it was just staying at PayPal page. When I click on "Go Back to Seller" page, it comes to "PayPal Successful" page. Earlier it used to execute all the events associated with the Paypal based on the Status received from PayPal.

I have created a variable, PayPalStatus and indicated that on the payPal payment page under DF.

What settings should I have on my PayPal account page (on paypal website?):
Profile >> Website Payment Preferences:
- Auto Return for Website Payments: Now I made it ON
- Return URL: I gave the URL of the "PayPal Successful Page" of my site.

Payment data Transfer: Currently it is OFF
There is a very long Identity Token. I never used it earlier with DF

Any insights please ?

Hi Candace,

I removed the "PGateway" feature and separated the Paypal processing on a different page (my old configuration before I learned about the "PGateway" feature.

Now all the PayPal related events are happening properly.

Thank you.
VJ

Hello Vr1001,

We are glad to hear that you're issue has been resolved. If you ever have any questions please feel free to ask.

Thanks,

Ryan