Hi there,
I run a website that allows sellers to receive payments into their PayPal accounts. My code has the authority to create payment buttons on their behalf, and uses IPN to verify that the transaction has been completed. I use the BMCreateButton call to do this, and the notify_url parameter to provide a callback url to my website.
Most of the time, this all works fine. However, it seems that sometimes the seller's PayPal account gets its IPN notifications turned off and my website can no longer tell if a transaction has been completed.
Sometimes, this happens in the middle of everything - the integration works fine for a year or more, and then something turns the IPN's off without the seller intending to do so.
To resolve the issue, I walk the seller through enabling notifications again through this page: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-ipn-notify-edit - if they check the "Enabled" box and put in my site's URL in the URL field, the notifications start working again.
This isn't an optimal solution, as I'm not sure if this prevents them from using their accounts on other platforms.
What else could I be doing here? Is there a way I can override this behavior so that the URL in notify_url gets an IPN no matter what the seller's other settings are?
Alternatively, is there an upgrade path to an API that is less fickle? The great thing about BMCreateButton is that my platform doesn't need to be a party to the transaction, and the seller is responsible for refunds and all that.
