Order confirmation emails resending every few hours - Paypal standard plugin

[DOITSolutions]

Hello,

Only payment method published = Paypal standard

When a user generates an order they get an email that the order has been placed. Then when they pay via paypal they get a confirmation email. This email shows the invoice with "Your payment for order 1XXK08 has been confirmed by PayPal" as a note.
However, now every 5-6 hours they then keep getting a new email that their order has been confirmed again, and again.
Also, the shop vendor email address also gets a confirmation email every few hours at the same time, but the shop owners email is not the confirmation email, it is the order placed email, over and over again.
(Is it / paypal looping the order status?

I am not sure what is causing this loop, but this is the only thing stopping me from going live.

The only reference to a similar issue (but different plugin) is here:
https://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=139404.0
However this was for a different payment plugin and no resolution was found.
This thread states it is likely the payment plugin. I am using the stock standard Paypal standard plugin that comes with Virtuemart. It is on live mode with all API details entered. Payments work well.

I am running:
Joomlla 3.8.7 (very recent)
Virtuemart 3.2.14 (very recent)

Please help.
M.A.

[Jörgen]

Hello

Can You see in the order history that the email has been sent more than one time ? It looks to me like there can be some issue with Your mail server that tries to resend these emails.

Just to make sure, disable ALL payment plugins in Joomla, not only disable in VM back end. Enable only standard payment plugin and a standard payment. Use this and see if the issue persists. If it works without resending emails, please turn on ONLY Paypal plugin and payment.

Are You using some kind of custom template ? If it still isn´t working turn this off and test with Protostar.

regards
Jörgen @ Kreativ Fotografi

[GJC Web Design]

As the emails are triggered by a Status change .. e.g. pending to Confirmed -- unless u can see the status being changed ( in payment history or search your server logs for multiple IPNs from Paypal) I agree with Jörgen.
It seems more likely the mail server resending than VM triggering off multiple mails.
In fact I believe the code was changed in the last year to ignore multiple IPNs unless they made sense .. i.e ignoring attempts to reset the the same status etc

[AH]

Check any VM paypal logs

See if multiple IPN messages have been received

Emails are sent once per change in status (for a status that requires an email)

So it is unlikely to be VM and more likely to be your server

[DOITSolutions]

Thank you for your replies,

Thus did not occur with the virtuemart standard plugin.
i will check the logs and investigate further tomorrow.

Looking at the payment plugin settings for paypal standard, it might have to do with the status set for completion (keeps emailing until the shop admin marks the order as confirmed). let me test this also and get back to you.
Thanks,
M.A.

[GJC Web Design]

the status should be complete when the IPN is received from Paypal

all PP gets back is a 200 response  -- if the response is something else then it will keep retrying but this will all be in your PP IPN log

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-ipns-history&nav=0.3.5

[DOITSolutions]

Tried this:
Changing the status of these orders to confirmed changes nothing.

Problem still occurring:
I still get an email twice a day to the admin and the user.

"So it is unlikely to be VM and more likely to be your server"

"It seems more likely the mail server resending than VM triggering off multiple mails"

Why would a server resend emails without software prompting it to? This is strange to assume as a likely cause. I am interested in ruling this out, but I don't even know where to start. I am running CPanel (WHM) on a dedicated CentOs 7 server.

the status should be complete when the IPN is received from Paypal
all PP gets back is a 200 response  -- if the response is something else then it will keep retrying but this will all be in your PP IPN log
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-ipns-history&nav=0.3.5

OK, I will check that IPN log out. But lets say the response is something else, what causes that? What does it keep retrying? the email confirmation? I will have more info on the logs soon, hopefully this will shed some light.

Doing this next:
I am going to get the website owner to follow that paypal IPN log link and let me know what it shows.
I have also turned on logging to file to see if I can find any clues that way.

[AH]

If the status of an order does not change - ie order is status of confirmed and an IPN message tries to "set"  confirmed - you should not get another email regardless of how many IPN messages

Emails should only be automatically sent when changing from one status to another - and when the new status is configured to send an email

[Jörgen]

Just to make sure, this is the VM standard Paypal plugin You are using no other downloaded version ?
What does the order history show when You look in the back end or at the user account ?
Are there a number of status updates shown or are there none?

Jörgen @ Kreativ Fotografi

[DOITSolutions]

1) This is definitely the Paypal Standard plugin that came with Virtuemart 3.2.14
2) When I open the order, there are only the 4 status changes I made. I received an email when making these status changes ok.

Interesting:
I noticed that when I scroll down on the order in the back end, The right half of the page is headed
"Payment Method"

Then this
Date   2018-07-25 03:58:39
Payment Name   Paypal / Credit CardPay with your Paypal account or use your credit card.
Total   0.01000 AUD

Then it shows what looks like a repeated entry for every email I have been bugged with!
I will paste it here in a code field:

Code Select Expand


Date 2018-07-25 04:01:16
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 04:02:05
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 04:03:32
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 04:06:18
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 04:11:43
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 04:22:41
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 04:44:07
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 05:26:55
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 06:52:24
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 09:43:13
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-25 15:24:37
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-26 02:47:27
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-27 01:32:54
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-28 01:33:04
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log
Date 2018-07-29 01:33:11
Transaction identification number 61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID 62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status unverified
Payment type instant
Full amount of the customer's payment 0.01
Transaction fee 0.01
Currency AUD
Payment Status Completed (The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.)
Eligibility Ineligible (Merchant is not protected under the Seller Protection Policy.)
View transaction log


Why is this payment method repeating indefinitely?

Paypal logs:
I do not have access to the client's paypal account to check the logs on that side, until I next see him, but I want to solve this to present it working when I next see him.
Look, lets assume that paypal is sending some sort of code every 10-12 hours. What can I do?

Any insight would be much appreciated.
M.A.

[Jörgen]

Date   2018-07-25 04:02:05
Transaction identification number   61Y49600UY210554Y
Unique customer ID   62FJBZSYY9CXN
Payer status   unverified
Payment type   instant
Full amount of the customer's payment   0.01
Transaction fee   0.01
Currency   AUD

Why is the order only 0.01 AUD ?

You must have some issue with the order total ??

What is the first entry ?  Is this also 0.01 AUD ?
The transactions tell US every minute a transaction right ? Then it slowes down an makes bigger intervals.
I can see a probem for Paypal to send 0.01 AUD and taking away 0.01 AUD. This does not compute, maybe therefore the resending ??

Do we see the first entry ? if that is the case this is an abnormal order, should be more than 0.01 AUD to work I guess.
This is probably the reason for the infinite loop !!!!

The first entry should refelct the total order sum, why doesn´t it do that ?
Check You currency settings and order totals. Don let this kind of total get through.

regards

Jörgen @ Kreativ Fotografi

Jörgen

[DOITSolutions]

This is a test order. It contains one product with a price of 1 cent.

I have put through another order with one product with a price of 20 cents.

The same problem happens, one email every minute for the first 5 minutes or so then slows down.

I will next try a $3 payment.
Paypal should be able to accept payment of 20 cents though!
I do not think this is the issue. I am running out of things to try.

[DOITSolutions]

I have now even tried it with a $3.20 payment...

The exact same problem every time. Please don't give up on this issue. What could cause so many emails to go out? The payment plugin and or paypal are definitely looping here.

[DOITSolutions]

New info:

I am not sure, but maybe, I think this might onyl be happening when the site is marked "offline" and I am logged into the offline mode site to test it.
Maybe Paypal doesn't get responses from teh site when it is offline, so it keeps trying?
This might be it... I'll let you know if the problem returns, I am reverting all my crazy settings for testing now.

(Is it meant to do that?)

M.A.

[Jörgen]

Testing the site offline sounds like a bad thing to do. As you have already seen there are things that break and I can not imagine that the Ipn communication was designed to handle this scenario. Testing the site with Paypal in sandbox mode had it's quirks. At the end off the day live testing on a live site has to be done to verify that everything works as expected.
Try to test this under more realistic circumstances.

Jörgen @ Kreativ Fotografi