Two quick PayPal questions

[neilb]

Hi there,

Could someone 'in the know' please confirm the extent to which Actinic supports PayPal?

I know that the new version supports PayPal in terms of sending the purchase details across to PayPal, but my two questions are:

1) Does Actinic support PayPal's Instant Payment Notification (IPN) so Actinic can be kept up to date with the progress of 'PENDING' credit card transactions and informed immediately of 'COMPLETE' ones? If so, what Actinic script should I point PayPal IPN towards?

2) PayPal has the option of returning users with completed/cancelled payments to a page or script, and also using POST or GET to pass stuff back. Is there a particular script/page to send PayPal back to when a transaction is completed/cancelled, or is this already configured in Actinic?

Many thanks for any help.

NeilB

[cdicken]

I can answer the second point for you - the 'referral URL' (i.e. where to go back to after making the payment) is one of the variables that is transmitted to the PayPal server. Therefore, PayPay knows automatically where to return you to after making the payment.

With regards to the first point about IPN, I honestly don't know. From what I read about IPN, it needs to transmit the information back to an online server - and all Actinic's order processing happens offline so I think the answer is no. I have requested Brian at Sure Solutions (a PayPal expert) to comment on this when he gets a moment.

[BPJSURF]

The Paypal integration includes the ability to receive payments via check and multiple different paypal payment methods available from paypal. There is no need to change any scripts. IPN is built into the integration however you are notified each time you attempt to retrieve orders as a merchant.

The integration is set up so that orders are placed and the data is automatically sent to paypal in the checkout process.
the order is completed online by the consumer and a receipt page is automatically generated. The payment is pending until Paypal send the merchant the order/payment verification (what is IPN).

Actinics merchant cleint software will automatically look (ping)paypal for oustanding order payments each time orders are downloaded. Paypal / order payment verification is automatically received by the merchant with each successive download of the orders.

In some instances like echeck the payment verification could take days to receive. The merchant will immediatly receive the order with payment as pending and then several days later when the funds clear the payment / order verfication will be received and the order will change to "full Payment received".

You can expect delays with echecks, debit cards and unverified accounts. Also from expereince The international payments can take a day longer.

I have many clients using the paypal payment method along with a standard merchant account. A few receive fairly good volumes with paypal on a daily basis (5 to 10 orders every day). The merchants tell me it works as well as the traditional merchant account and is very intuitive for the consumer. I hope you will find the same user experience.

Brian

[neilb]

Hi again,

Many thanks to both of you for your very insightful comments.

I'm reassured by the fact that Actinic tells PayPal where to send the user back to. This is good news for me as it means, of course, less configuration.

With regard to IPN, the system you described makes a lot of sense in terms of getting the latest information on payment status. For me, the end result is the same - I am kept informed of the status - but I had to clarify the method of this technology to set my site up accordingly.

Thanks once again!

NeilB