PayPal PDT is not Returning a tx value in the Query String
I've gone through the (not so helpful) PayPal docs and can't find an easy answer to this problem. When the user returns from PayPal, the URL does not contain a query string and thus I do not receive the 'tx' value (or any other value for that matter).
This is an example of what I'm sending to PayPal:
<form accept-charset="utf-8" action="https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/webscr" id="paypal-form" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="[email protected]">
<input type="hidden" name="cancel_return" value="http://localhost/checkout">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="charset" value="utf-8">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="AUD">
<input type="hidden" name="custom" value="155">
<input type="hidden" name="lc" value="AU">
<input type="hidden" name="notify_url" value="http://localhost/paypal-ipn">
<input type="hidden" name="return" value="http://localhost/checkout">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="ABC Company - Order #155">
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="155">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="8.95">
<input type="hidden" name="discount_amount" value="0.00">
<input type="hidden" name="shipping" value="25.00">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_AU/i/btn/btn_buynowCC_LG.gif" name="submit" alt="Buy Now">
</form>
Thanks in advance !
Answer
You should check the settings at https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-website-payments and make sure
- Auto Return is set to ON
- You have specified a Return URL
- Payment Data Transfer is set to ON
There's another much less obvious thing I had to learn through experimentation: your form must not contain a "return" value, otherwise that will override the Return URL in your settings and prevent the Auto Return from working and you'll wind up without the necessary tx parameter. This is a relatively recent development (bug?) at Paypal, because it used to work.