In the last week, my PayPal payments has stopped working. I thought maybe I needed to update, so i updated the ecommercetempales to version 7.8.6 and I am still getting the same error message

Error, couldn't connect to https://api-m.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders (-2147012739).<br>An error occurred in the secure channel support

I've tried several times to erase my PayPal set up on ecommercetemplates them re-connect the PayPal and still getting unauthorized orders all saying the above error

https://www.beanbag.com/wjsails.htm

Scott

Just ran the test on my site and got

Testing URL: https://ipnpb.sandbox.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr
Result : INVALID
This is a good/correct result as it shows that communication with the PayPal server was successful and the transaction was of course rejected as invalid.

Scott

When I try to order I get a pop up when I choose pay with a credit card

Error: Unexpected token 'E', "Error, cou"... is not valid JSON

Scott

Hi Scott
Is it possible you are using an older Windows server? I've been working through an issue with another merchant and I think this was because of the TLS cipher suites that PayPal would accept but I have reason to believe it may be resolved now. Could you check again?

Vince

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Still getting the same result

Error: Unexpected token 'E', "Error, cou"... is not valid JSON

Everything worked a week ago, then it stopped.... so I updated to 7.8 and still is not working
Checked any my server is using TSL 1.2

I was using a Braintree SDK - for Live Account and there seems to be no way to erase that sdk... but I have gone thru the PayPal setup now about 20 times and it created new SDK and connected using them

I'm using a new ViciSoft_SL SDK and it is live??? SO PayPal setting seem ok.


I have not gotten any orders to process since last Friday... I'm loosing orders now.


In my admin under PayPal Checkout I see this message

PayPal: The all-in-one checkout solution

Error!
#10005; There was an error connecting your PayPal account.


Error!
#10005; There was an error connecting your PayPal account.


Funny thing is when i go to try to run an order, I can not get into Paypal, or venmo, or where you enter a credit card 99% of the time. But out of about 40 tries at placing an order, I did connect 2 out fo those 40.... thought I had it fixed only to fine out next order failed again giving the
Error: Unexpected token 'E', "Error, cou"... is not valid JSON

Just checked with my host Hostek.com and they replied
Our servers are updated to use ColdFusion 2023. Can you please make sure that the codes are compatible to work with ColdFusion 2023 version with the help of the developer?


Scott

Hi Scott

quote:

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Is it possible you are using an older Windows server?

---

If you go to the admin home page and scroll down you should see the Server Software near the bottom. Can you let me know what that is?

quote:

---

Checked any my server is using TSL 1.2

---

It may be but it may not be using a cipher suite that is compatible with PayPal.

quote:

---

Our servers are updated to use ColdFusion 2023. Can you please make sure that the codes are compatible to work with ColdFusion 2023 version with the help of the developer?

---

ColdFusion doesn't really have anything to do with this.

Vince

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Debug Info
Server Software: Microsoft-IIS/10.0
VBScript Version: VBScript 5.8


Hostek.com just replied back the following when i showed them the error

Hello,
This appears to be a JSON parsing issue. It's a coding error caused by the assumption that the input data is in JSON format when it isn't. The data should be validated or inspected before attempting to parse it. It's advisable to wrap the JSON parsing logic in a <cftry> block to handle errors gracefully. This should be reviewed and corrected by a ColdFusion developer.
Regards,
Nivin

Scott

Hi Scott
The actual error here is that the server you are on can't connect to PayPal to get the access token. Can you send me the site FTP login to my email (vince AT ecommercetemplates DOT com) and I'll set up a test so we can illustrate this to your host.

Vince

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Vince

Just emailed you the ftp login

Also, Hosting company Hostek finally wrote back and said

Hello,
Can you please let us know if your application connects to PayPal via the URL "https://api-m.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders" as stated in your 'ChatGPT' reply, or a different URL? Once we have the PayPal URL your site connects to, we can obtain the SSL from that site and add it to the ColdFusion 2023 java keystore to resolve this issue.
This addition to the Java keystore will require a restart of the ColdFusion 2023 service to complete, we cannot restart until after 10 PM tonight to prevent disruption of other sites on the shared server.

Is that the correct address they should be fixing?



Scott

Hi Scott
I replied to your email but yes, it's https://api-m.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders and all URL's from https://api-m.paypal.com/

Vince

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Mr.BeanBag, I have an identical error, was this resolved for you?

NO...


I asked my Hosting company to switch server, thinking that would fix it. They did, and it seemed to fix it for about 6 days... before I'm getting the same issues. I submitted a ticket to my Hosting company (Hostek) and they replied the following

Hello,

Thanks for the details. I've taken a deep dive on this type of error, and can confidently confirm that what you’re encountering is an application-level issue, not something on the server or hosting environment.

Here’s what’s happening:
The error code -2147012739 (also known as 0x80072F7D) means the application is failing to establish a secure HTTPS connection—specifically, the TLS (Transport Layer Security) handshake is failing.
PayPal now requires TLS 1.2 or higher for all secure connections. Our servers fully support TLS 1.2, and TLS 1.0 and 1.1 have been intentionally disabled in line with current security standards. This is true across all our servers—including the one you were previously on and the one you’re on now.

So why is the connection failing?
Most commonly, this issue occurs when Classic ASP applications use MSXML-based HTTP calls (Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP, Msxml2.XMLHTTP, etc.). These components don’t consistently negotiate TLS 1.2, especially in older code or when not explicitly configured to do so.

Why migrating servers didn’t fix it:
Since the issue is tied to the code itself—and not the server environment—moving to a different server that also supports TLS 1.2 doesn’t solve the problem. If the application is still calling MSXML-based components, the connection to PayPal may still fail.
It’s also not unusual for the error to appear intermittently. That’s typically because:
• Different PayPal servers enforce security requirements slightly differently
• The client machine’s TLS negotiation may occasionally succeed depending on network state, timing, or internal retry behavior
What needs to happen:
We recommend having your developer review the HTTP request method used in the application. Using WinHTTP-based calls instead of MSXML-based calls has been shown to resolve this exact issue, since WinHTTP reliably supports TLS 1.2 on modern systems. Your developer should also ensure the application isn’t relying on deprecated protocols or objects.

Let us know if there’s anything we can check or confirm from the hosting side, but this one will need to be addressed within the application itself. We’re happy to provide guidance where appropriate, but we don’t offer application development support and won’t be able to advise on specific code changes.


Is anyone else having this issue or am I the only one. I would think if the above it true its a ecommercetmepltes coding thing that tons of others would be having problems too.

I have set up Square payments in the mean time and that is working fine. However, I really like PayPal so much better and would rather be using them as soon as possible if a fix is ever found.


Scott

One here getting same error code, but on the way back from PayPal site after the payment went through.

I temporally put ;

in the incfunction.asp around ;

, but just get another error like for classic asp.

Hi Scott
Could you get the host to try this command in Windows Powershell on the server and let me know the result...

Invoke-WebRequest https://api-m.paypal.com/v1/oauth2/token -UseBasicParsing

All the best

Vince

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Hi All
A theory has been put forward that seems to make sense and that is that the DigiCert Global G2 root certificate has expired and is not being updated on these servers. So can you try this...

Open Certificate Manager: Type certmgr.msc in the search bar and press Enter.

Navigate to Trusted Root Certification Authorities: In the left-hand pane, expand "Certificates (Local Computer)" and then "Trusted Root Certification Authorities".

Locate the DigiCert Global Root G2: Look for the certificate issued by DigiCert Global Root G2.

Verify the Certificate: Double-click the certificate to view its details. Ensure it's valid and not expired.

Vince

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Mine is ok till 1/15/2038.

I don't know it's related or not but FileZilla gave the error about my server certificate like;
Common name: Go Daddy Secure Certificate Authority - G2
From 2024/11/13 16:08:41 to 2025/02/11 16:08:41 - Expired!

mine is ok until 12/31/2025

I have been battling with my server now for 4 weeks. Hostek just can't seem to make PayPal checkout work

It turns out that www.beanbag.com is currently experiencing intermittent issues connecting to https://api-m.paypal.com, and the root cause appears to be a combination of server environment limitations and possibly outdated SDK remnants.

I have had to switch to Square Payments.... but I really want to get back to PayPal. But after submitting about 15 tickets for support to Hostek, in 4 weeks, PayPal connection is failing....

Is anyone else using Hostek and PayPal checkout saucerfully right now??

Scott

Hi all

quote:

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mine is ok until 12/31/2025

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Were you trying this on your server or your local machine? This needs to be run on your server. Scott, in your case you may need to get Hostek to have a look for you.

Vince

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The setting for ID27 PayPal Checkout gave me;
Error!
#10005; There was an error connecting your PayPal account.

What's happening on my payment page is;
Error: Invalid hash check. Please refresh page and try again.

Or;
Error: Unexpected token 'E', "Error, cou"... is not valid JSON

Or;
Error, couldn't connect to https://api-m.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders (-2147012739).<br>An error occurred in the secure channel support

It seems OK now after;
I found multiple REST API apps for MyApp_ViciSoft_SL in my PayPal Developer site, API Credentials page.
I deleted all of them except the first one which I setup in my admin page.

Thanks.