Paypal Recurring Payments IPN

Question

I set up an IPN inside Paypal to hit every time a Recurring Payment using Payflow Pro is set to go through. How can I make it send back the variable for the custom ID I need to make sure that I can use to extend the membership?

So far I have tried ProfileID, payer_business_name, option_name1, rp_invoice_id, invoice, and custom, none are sent back when it goes through.

Answer 1

The custom variable should certainly work, if it was included in the POST. Alternatively you can add any variable name=value pair you like to the notify_url, as long as they don't conflict with PayPal's IPN variables.

Answer 2

rp_invoice_id is returned in both recurring_payments_profile_created and regular recurring_payment IPN's. Here's a sample of both.

Array
(
    [payment_cycle] => Monthly
    [txn_type] => recurring_payment_profile_created
    [last_name] => Parr
    [next_payment_date] => 02:00:00 Jan 02, 2014 PST
    [residence_country] => US
    [initial_payment_amount] => 0.00
    [rp_invoice_id] => 5416
    [currency_code] => USD
    [time_created] => 11:40:24 Jan 02, 2014 PST
    [verify_sign] => A0AUpo6gn8Mp.jtr-HUe-oSqCFb6A0LWR7wKLHmMMUUwszTktyPfL8DU
    [period_type] =>  Regular
    [payer_status] => verified
    [tax] => 0.00
    [payer_email] => [email protected]
    [first_name] => Don
    [receiver_email] => [email protected]
    [payer_id] => F5T99998MN
    [product_type] => 1
    [payer_business_name] => Testers, LLC
    [shipping] => 0.00
    [amount_per_cycle] => 1.95
    [profile_status] => Active
    [charset] => windows-1252
    [notify_version] => 3.7
    [amount] => 1.95
    [outstanding_balance] => 0.00
    [recurring_payment_id] => I-WK69LR0DU8DU
    [product_name] => USBSwiper Monthly Subscription
    [ipn_track_id] => 6ddc294dddb3f
)

Array
(
    [mc_gross] => 1.95
    [period_type] =>  Regular
    [outstanding_balance] => 0.00
    [next_payment_date] => 02:00:00 Feb 02, 2014 PST
    [protection_eligibility] => Ineligible
    [payment_cycle] => Monthly
    [address_status] => confirmed
    [tax] => 0.00
    [payer_id] => F59999MN
    [address_street] => 96 east granada drive
    [payment_date] => 11:41:08 Jan 02, 2014 PST
    [payment_status] => Completed
    [product_name] => USBSwiper Monthly Subscription
    [charset] => windows-1252
    [rp_invoice_id] => 5416
    [recurring_payment_id] => I-WK69LR0DU8DU
    [address_zip] => 08723
    [first_name] => Blah
    [mc_fee] => 0.34
    [address_country_code] => US
    [address_name] => Testers, LLC
    [notify_version] => 3.7
    [amount_per_cycle] => 1.95
    [payer_status] => verified
    [currency_code] => USD
    [business] => [email protected]
    [address_country] => United States
    [address_city] => brick
    [verify_sign] => AoumLIHoQx0AdOelHJVEVpKjHTDiArY--xdOStWxP3msX12oC3zHxpWw
    [payer_email] => [email protected]
    [initial_payment_amount] => 0.00
    [profile_status] => Active
    [amount] => 1.95
    [txn_id] => 5DL77590UR008354X
    [payment_type] => instant
    [payer_business_name] => Testers, LLC
    [last_name] => Blah
    [address_state] => NJ
    [receiver_email] => [email protected]
    [payment_fee] => 0.34
    [receiver_id] => M5VRAQYEFCSK6
    [txn_type] => recurring_payment
    [mc_currency] => USD
    [residence_country] => US
    [transaction_subject] => USBSwiper Monthly Subscription
    [payment_gross] => 1.95
    [shipping] => 0.00
    [product_type] => 1
    [time_created] => 11:40:24 Jan 02, 2014 PST
    [ipn_track_id] => 8e2c922895e5c
)

If you're not getting rp_invoice_id in your IPN's then it must not be getting included in your API request correctly.