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Ecommerce Templates > ASP Version Help > Payment Processors > PayPal Payments Standard
PayPal Payments Standard and Ecommerce Templates
Click here to create an account with PayPal.
Once you have created your account, you need to setup the instant
payment notification. This is necessary so that sales are automatically
validated. To do this log into your PayPal account and click on
the "Profile" tab. Now click on the link instant payment
notification preferences link. The URL that you want to enter is
the one to the file ppconfirm.asp in your admin directory. So for
instance it might be
http://www.yourstore.com/vsadmin/ppconfirm.asp
After entering this URL, just click the checkbox to activate instant payment notification and you're all done.
You now just need to go to the Edit Payment Providers link on your store admin, chose Modify for PayPal and enter the email address that is associated with your PayPal account.
Testing using the PayPal sandbox
Version 4.9.0 saw the introduction of a demo mode for PayPal testing. To use this feature, check the "Sandbox" box in the payment provider admin page for PayPal and then sign up for a developer account at https://developer.paypal.com/ so you can use their sandbox feature.
Troubleshooting
Setting up PayPal IPN is quite simple but if you have tried the
above instructions and your orders are still not automatically
authorized, then we have some troubleshooting information here
for you.
Your host will need the XML pack installed on the server for IPN
to work. You can check this by opening the ppconfirm.asp page directly
in your browser by entering the URL like so:
http://www.yourstore.com/vsadmin/ppconfirm.asp
(you will of course need to change yoursite.com for the URL of
your own site)
If you just get a blank page then probably the XML pack is installed.
If you receive an error then please send a note to your host asking
them if they will install the XML pack. It is available free here…
http://www.microsoft.com/xml/
Or comes as standard when IE6 is
installed on the server.
PayPal has introduced a new Merchant Tools feature called “Auto Return”. If you select this option in your account, PayPal has you add in the URL you would like your customers to return to on your website. What actually happens is that you are directed to the Thank You page that gives an error message “Sorry there has been an error”. You will also not receive order confirmation, so don't use this PayPal feature with the ecommerce templates.
The Auto Return feature can be used though in conjunction with PDT - Payment Data Transfer (Version 5.1.0 minimum required). You will need to add your PDT key to the admin payment provider PayPal page. Implementing this will allow customers to return to your store without clicking on the "Return to Merchant" link from PayPal.
If in your admin orders page your PayPal payments are showing with a status of "Pending: unilateral" then you will need a verified Premier or Business account for PayPal IPN. The message of Pending: unilateral comes up when the account isn't verified. The solution is to check again that you have completed all the verification steps for your account and that it is a Premier or Business account.
If the shipping cost is not being passed on to PayPal even though
this is showing correctly in the cart then go to this URL
when logged in to your paypal account . . .
https://www.paypal.com/en/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-shipping
Then check the setting of . . .
Click here to allow transaction-based shipping values to override
the profile shipping settings listed above (if profile settings
are enabled).
You will also need to add this parameter to vsadmin/includes.asp
splitpaypalshipping=TRUE
AVS and CVV Checking and codes
In the orders admin page you should see something like the following after a successful PayPal order.
The AVS column refers to whether the PayPal address is verified (Y) or unverified (N). The CVV column refers to whether the PayPal account is verified (Y) or not (N).
In the first example above payment was received from a non-verified address but a verified account. In the second example both the account and address are verified and in the third neither.
Adding extra parameters
PayPal offer a range of extra parameters that some may find useful. The list is available here. So that you can include these without your changes being overwritten by updaters we set up a system in Version 6.1.4 where these can be added to your vsadmin/includes.asp file.
For example, if you want to change the text for the "Return to Merchant" link, you'll see from PayPal guide that uses the "cbt" variable. The line you would add to vsadmin/includes.asp for this example would be
payprovextraparams1="<input type=""hidden"" name=""cbt"" value= ""Your return message goes here"">"
...where payprovextraparams1 defines the payment provider (in your payment provider admin page you'll see the identifier for PayPal is 1 but this can be used for other processors too), cbt is the variable available from PayPal and the Value is the text you want to appear as the link customers click on to go back to your store following payment.
Please do read our guide here on credit card fraud.