Our online donation forms won't connect to Paypal

[GVP2024]

Our SPCA website has a couple of online forms that use Paypal and IPN to receive donations - have been working fine for a long while. Now we are not able to connect to Paypal after submitting the form:

"Things don't appear to be working at the moment. Please try again later."

The page url shows:

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/shoppingcart/error?flowlogging_id=f571187e6dabc&code=INTERNAL_ERROR&m...

The forms work fine in the Sandbox environment.  Any suggestions as to where to look - the error message above isn't very helpful?

[MTS_Narendra]

Hi @GVP2024,

Thank you for posting to the PayPal community.

Regarding the issue you are facing, please cross-check your PayPal Business account and make sure it is verified and confirmed without any account limitations. If you encounter any difficulties during this process, please reach out to our PayPal Customer Support Team for further assistance.

While testing the payment flow, please make sure to use a different account or a different card that has not been added to your PayPal account as PayPal does not allow self-payments.

Additionally, it seems you utilized a PayPal Payments Standard Buy Now button to receive donations. We have a specific PayPal Donate button loaded with new features designed for donation purposes.

To create and use a donation button kindly follow the below steps:

1. Login to your Business account
2. Click on the setting icon from the top right corner
3. Select the Website payments under the PRODUCTS & SERVICES menu
4. Click the update next to the PayPal button option
5. Click on the Donate button
6. Select the Customize a Button option
7. Choose your button style and text.
8. Once finished you'll get a Shareable link, QR Code & Donate button code
9. Use them on your website based on your requirement to receive donation payments

Note: PayPal Website Payments Standard (WPS) is a legacy integration. 

We recommend merchants integrating our latest PayPal's Donate SDK product. Please follow the steps provided in the below detailed guide links : 

https://developer.paypal.com/sdk/donate/

If you have any other queries or concerns, please create an MTS ticket via -  https://www.paypal-support.com/s/?language=en_US with detailed information. We will be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,
Narendra Nath Laha
Global Technical Support
PayPal, Inc.