Paypal status updater

Owned by Michael Kalnicki
Last updated: Jun 17, 2024 by Sam Louk
3 min read

To ensure that donations made using the Paypal payment type do not stay as “Pending”, clients need to set the notification URL to our callback URL, which internally calls PayPal to check the status of the transaction. Paypal calls this IPN (Instant Payment Notification).

Applying the callback URL

Here are the steps to take in order to have these changes apply to your Engaging Networks platform.

Gather information you’ll need in order to apply these changes

  1. You will need your PayPal business account username and password

  2. You will need to know which data center your Engaging Networks data is stored in. To check which data center you are in, check the URL you log on to when you are accessing your Engaging Networks platform. If your login URL is “https://us.engagingnetworks.app/index.html#login” then you are in the US data center. If your login URL is “https://ca.engagingnetworks.app/index.html#login”, then you are in the CA data center. If you are not sure, please email support at support@engagingnetworks.community.

Set up notification URL

  1. Go to your business profile settings in your Paypal account at this link.

  2. Login with your PayPal business account, then go to ‘My Selling Preferences’ on the left hand side then click on the update link next to ‘Instant payment notifications’ under the section ‘Getting paid and managing my risk’. 

     

  3. Click the button ‘Choose IPN Settings’ on the next screen.

  4. On the next screen, copy and paste the URL for your data server (which depends on your data center from Step 1.2) into the box under Notification URL:
    – CA: https://ca.engagingnetworks.app/paypalipn.do
    – US: https://us.engagingnetworks.app/paypalipn.do
    – Then, under ‘IPN messages’ mark the radio button next to ‘Receive IPN messages (Enabled).

     

  5. You should see the message below if you’ve setup your IPN correctly.  To test all scenarios related to Instant Payment Notification (IPN), visit this link. 

Expected Behavior in Engaging Networks 

  • The PayPal status updater will update successful gifts from “Pending” status to “Successful” in Engaging Networks.

  • If the status from PayPal comes back as “Expired”, “Failed”, “Declined”, or “Denied”, the status in Engaging Networks will be set to “Rejected”.

  • If the transaction is abandoned by the supporter not logging into PayPal after submitting the Engaging Networks page, the status will persist as “Pending” in Engaging Networks.