Recieved Money but PayPal didn't enroll student or log transaction

Recieved Money but PayPal didn't enroll student or log transaction

by Randall Kujawa -
Number of replies: 7

Moodle Version Moodle 2.3.8+ (Build: 20130719)

I've been working with Moodle a little over 18 months and am still learning.  Our site has been live for about 3 months, with about 1600 users.
Student create accounts through email based self registration with some manual accounts.  We use the PayPal Plugin (version 2012061700) for most enrolments and manually enrol the rest.

Today a student called to find out why she hadn't received her books when she paid almost a month ago.  The manager went through old emails and found a notice from Paypal that the student had in fact purchased the class on October 10 through Moodle.  I've been going through everything I know of but can find anything in Moodle to show she purchased the class:

  • Student is not enrolled in the class
  • Logs do not indicate she had anything to do with the class
  • Looked at database with ad-miner.  Found column that list txn_id which corresponds to Paypal's Transaction ID. The Transaction ID on the receipt presented to me today is not in the database.

I don't have access to any error emails Moodle may have sent on that date (long story) - but surely there should be some log entry.  I am confident all settings are correct.  Over 700 Paypal transactions have worked with no problem. 

In my research, I found a bug that had similar symptoms - but that was in a much earlier release than I am using.  Supposedly it was fixed 5 releases ago.

Anybody?  Any suggestions?  Where can I find some log entry?  The manager that brought this to me hates Moodle and misses the old program.  I am constantly defending Moodle and REALLY need to solve this.

Thanks in advance!!!

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In reply to Randall Kujawa

Re: Recieved Money but PayPal didn't enroll student or log transaction

by Randall Kujawa -

Update:  It has now happened twice and I think I've figured it out.  Same course, same exact issue.  To date, only two students have signed up for the course and now both student have experienced the same issue as described above.  I verified all the settings and everything for this course is set up EXACTLY as all the other courses are.  I looked up the IPN details with PayPal and the transaction was made, but for some reason Moodle was not getting the message from PayPal.  According to PayPal, they sent the message, retrying 15 times until the message to Moodle Failed. 

Since this course is set up exactly as all the others that are working, I am assuming there is some corruption in background???  I deleted the paypal method for this course and then reinstalled it.  Now I will monitor it.  It's not a popular course, so it may be a while before someone else signs up for it.

To summarize what is happening,

  1. Student purchases course in Moodle with PayPal
  2. Paypal sends us a Paypal acknowledgement that a student has purchased a course
  3. There is no record in Moodle ANYWHERE that the student has purchased the course

Has anyone else had a similar issue.  Or does anyone have any suggestions??  I still think there must be a log somewhere that would indicate the transaction failed......

 

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In reply to Randall Kujawa

Re: Recieved Money but PayPal didn't enroll student or log transaction

by Sarah Jane -

Hello Randall

Yes, I am getting a similar issue. Student pays for the course, paypal acknowledges the payment the student is redirected back to moodle but see the message saying this payment is pending (or something very similar) but nothing - if they select continue they can't get anywhere.

I then receive an email from moodle as admin

Personal Development Hub - Online Coaching Programs:  Transaction failed.

Status not completed or pending. User unenrolled from course

txn_type => subscr_signup
subscr_id => S-4PS71046WM207120T
last_name => Caban III
option_selection1 => Sam Caban
residence_country => US
mc_currency => USD
item_name => Career Coaching Program
amount1 => 9.00
business => action@personal-development.org
amount3 => 9.00
recurring => 1
verify_sign => AiOTRkfbfjCMPz7yyDMsaahjKFh1AH.EIlLOap4tfd7k6iNlKJT1f609
payer_status => verified
payer_email => samcabaniii@gmail.com
first_name => Samuel
receiver_email => action@personal-development.org
payer_id => PVXP9SBR2GMTG
option_name1 => User
reattempt => 1
item_number => Career
subscr_date => 22:29:08 Dec 09, 2013 PST
custom => 628-25-82
charset => UTF-8
notify_version => 3.7
period1 => 30 D
mc_amount1 => 9.00
period3 => 1 M
mc_amount3 => 9.00
ipn_track_id => fca9919f75c7
userid => 628
courseid => 25
instanceid => 82
payment_gross =>
payment_currency => USD
timeupdated => 1386656959

This is very frustrating for the paying student. Can anyone please help to make this payment go through smoothly please.

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In reply to Sarah Jane

Re: Recieved Money but PayPal didn't enroll student or log transaction

by Sarah Jane -

Hello to any Moodler who can help me please.

I still am having difficulties with the paypal subscriptions.

Using Moodle 2.5

Sarah x

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In reply to Sarah Jane

Re: Recieved Money but PayPal didn't enroll student or log transaction

by Gerald Grow -

I don't know whether this will solve your particular issue, but I solved a similar problem with Paypal when I discovered that, inside my Paypal account (the one Moodle is paying to), I needed to enter a specific web address for the Moodle file that processes Paypal's IPN (Instant Payment Notification).

It may be difficult to find the place in your Paypal account where you enter the IPN address. Here's the path in a recent Paypal (they sometimes change the navigation):

Under your Paypal account (the symbol of a person on your first page), choose Profile and Settings.

Then choose My Selling Tools, and look there for Instant Payment Notification. When you click this, you'll see a place to enter an http address for the Moodle file that handles Paypal IPNs.

Presently, that address looks something like the following (substitute your server and moodle name):

https://yourserver.com/moodle/enrol/paypal/ipn.php

If we fail to re-set this IPN address inside Paypal every time we create a new Moodle, students start having problems getting enrolled through Paypal.

Make sure the Paypal IPN address points to the ipn.php file in an active copy of Moodle.

I hope this helps.


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In reply to Gerald Grow

Re: Recieved Money but PayPal didn't enroll student or log transaction

by Doyle Lewis -

You shouldn't have to enter the IPN address in PayPal anywhere, the form submitted to PayPal contains it:


<input type="hidden" name="notify_url" value="<?php echo "$CFG->wwwroot/enrol/paypal/ipn.php"?>" />

This is really the proper way to do it, so more than one script can be posting to your PayPal account and getting the correct IPN notifications.

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In reply to Doyle Lewis

Re: Recieved Money but PayPal didn't enroll student or log transaction

by Moses Yusuff -

Good day,

I have the similar problem. Has anyone  found the solution? And where do i get the form submitted to paypal  so i too can check if it is using the right path to the file?

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In reply to Moses Yusuff

Re: Recieved Money but PayPal didn't enroll student or log transaction

by Joseph Thibault -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

I had a similar issue and it was the paypal ipn setting within my paypal account (not in Moodle)

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