PayPal production doesn't work like a sandbox

Question

I created an application that sends the notification URL with the GUID of the registered user to PayPal, and after the purchase is completed, the URL is called, and after checking, the entry in the user database updates the purchased column from 0 to 1.

Then the user presses the back button to the application, and the premium functionality is displayed based on the purchased column.

I have tested this over the last few months in the sandbox. 100% time-tested (including after this problem) the premium tab is displayed after the purchase is completed.

The client is delighted, and gives the opportunity to go to production. I configured IPN with the same URL, I didn’t change anything except switching from www.sandbox.paypal.com to www.paypal.com and changing the account specified in the business sandbox to a personal business.

The problem is that the button is no longer displayed, until you refresh the screen. By clicking the "return to application" button, which previously worked as expected, the premium tab is no longer displayed. As soon as I click Refresh, a message will appear. If I switch everything back to the sandbox settings, boom - it works fine again.

Here is the BuyNow button code with the production account:

 <form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" id="buynowForm" target="_top"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="ACCOUNT EMAIL"> <input type="hidden" name="lc" value="US"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Product"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="10.00"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> <input type="hidden" name="button_subtype" value="services"> <input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="1"> <input type='hidden' name='notify_url' value='http://app.com/purchase/<?php echo $data[0]['uid'] ?>'> <input type='hidden' name='return' value='http://app.com/'> <input type="hidden" name="rm" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cbt" value="Return to Product Plus"> <input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-BuyNowBF:btn_buynowCC_LG.gif:NonHosted"> <input type="submit" class="hidden-print visible-print" border="0" name="buysubmit" value="Click For Product Plus" alt="Click for Product Plus"> <img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1"> 

And here is the processing route that is called above:

 $app->post('/purchase/:uid', function ($uid) use ($app) { $request = Slim::getInstance()->request(); $inputs = json_decode($request->getBody()); $db_conn = conn(); $req = 'cmd=_notify-validate'; foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) { if (get_magic_quotes_gpc()) { $_POST[$key] = stripslashes($value); $value = stripslashes($value); } $value = urlencode($value); $req .= "&$key=$value"; } $url = "https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr"; $ch = curl_init(); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FAILONERROR, 1); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,1); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 3); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $req); $result = curl_exec($ch); curl_close($ch); if (strcmp ($result, "VERIFIED") == 0) { $sql_st = 'UPDATE `user_data` SET `purchased` = 1 WHERE uid=:uid'; $sql = $db_conn->prepare($sql_st); if ($sql->execute(array('uid'=>$uid))) { $data = array('status' => "Ok"); } else { $data = array('status' => print_r(mysql_error())); } } else { // Did Not Process IPN Properly } }); 

REALLY hoping this is just incredibly stupid of me. Any help / guidance is appreciated.

Answer 1

Essentially, the solution here is one of two options -

• Create a secondary termination method — in other words, IPN is not the first line of defense for an acquired software update. Everything at my end works, but the IPN call time (notify_url) is too slow for instant updates to not be instant. Return them to the page that performs the update and then redirects.

• Save the updated features for another route - this was a PayPal offer. Essentially, there is app.com/basic and app.com/upgraded. This is not an ideal option, and I do not propose it as a permanent solution.

Counted - This is a known issue with PayPal. The sandbox and production workflows are mostly different - not by function or API, but by use - the performance level account gets more, and the time spent on processing notifications is much slower.

Hope this helps someone.