Cannot connect to PayPal API via cURL

Question

I'm trying to set up PayPal Express Payment via the "Classic" NVP API.

Trying to connect from my server to the PayPal-Sandbox using cURL, the connection stalls and times out after about 2 minutes.

I'm using the example call from the docs:

curl -v --insecure  https://api-3t.sandbox.paypal.com/nvp  -d  "USER=platfo_1255077030_biz_api1.gmail.com&PWD=1255077037&SIGNATURE=Abg0gYcQyxQvnf2HDJkKtA-p6pqhA1k-KTYE0Gcy1diujFio4io5Vqjf&METHOD=SetExpressCheckout&VERSION=78&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_PAYMENTACTION=SALE&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT=19&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_CURRENCYCODE=USD&cancelUrl=http://www.yourdomain.com/cancel.html&returnUrl=http://www.yourdomain.com/success.html"

Shell output is:

* About to connect() to api-3t.sandbox.paypal.com port 443 (#0)
* Trying 173.0.82.83... Connection timed out
* couldn't connect to host
* Closing connection #0
curl: (7) couldn't connect to host

When I try to do this via PHP curl I don't get any errors and simply an empty resource handle.

I can easily do the requests (and get the correct data back) from my local machine and from other servers that I can access so I guess this is some server side misconfiguration going on. Not being a server person I am a little clueless.

cURL is enabled and logs the following in phpinfo:

libcurl/7.21.0 OpenSSL/0.9.8o zlib/1.2.3.4 libidn/1.15 libssh2/1.2.6

openSSL is enabled as well. Also, I'm having the same issues when trying to connect to the live version of the API.

Maybe there's some firewall rule on your server blocking these requests, are you able to access with curl other websites from this server? what about other HTTPS websites? — talkol
Thanks, strangely I can easily use curl for other domains, including https connections. — m90
look at the comments here stackoverflow.com/questions/12936733/… they are all related to an outbound firewall restriction.. and someone even mentions paypal :) — talkol
if you have good server support I would open a ticket about it, if not, try to figure out which firewall you have installed and then google how to see active rules. maybe you'll get some hint from your cpanel and likes — talkol
(I'm with PayPal) yes, the API user is fine as-is. I agree with everything @talkol said. — Robert

Korat Prakash Korat Prakash · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-11T12:33:25

Try

$ch = curl_init();
# Merchant Account Credentials
$ppUserID = "User Id Email"; //Take it from sandbox dashboard for test mode or take it from paypal.com account in production mode, help: https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/apiCredentials/
$ppPass = "User Pass"; //Take it from sandbox dashboard for test mode or take it from paypal.com account in production mode, help: https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/apiCredentials/
$ppSign = "Paypal Sign"; //Take it from sandbox dashboard for test mode or take it from paypal.com account in production mode, help: https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/apiCredentials/

$ppAppID = "APP-80W284485P519543T"; //if it is sandbox then app id is always: APP-80W284485P519543T

$paypal_header_options = array();
    $paypal_header_options[] = "X-PAYPAL-SECURITY-USERID: $ppUserID";
    $paypal_header_options[] = "X-PAYPAL-SECURITY-PASSWORD: $ppPass";
    $paypal_header_options[] = "X-PAYPAL-SECURITY-SIGNATURE: $ppSign";
    $paypal_header_options[] = "X-PAYPAL-REQUEST-DATA-FORMAT: NV";
    $paypal_header_options[] = "X-PAYPAL-RESPONSE-DATA-FORMAT: NV";
    $paypal_header_options[] = "X-PAYPAL-APPLICATION-ID: $ppAppID";

$URL = 'https://api-3t.sandbox.paypal.com/nvp'
    .'?USER='.$ppUserID
    .'&PWD='.$ppPass
.'&SIGNATURE='.$ppSign
    .'&METHOD=SetExpressCheckout' 
    .'&VERSION=93'
    .'&RETURNURL=https://localhost/express-checkout-single-product/success.php?success=true'
    .'&CANCELURL=https://localhost/express-checkout-single-product/index.php'
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_CURRENCYCODE=USD'
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT=250.00'    #The payment amount for the first receiver   # Merchant(Primary AC) Account Amount
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_ITEMAMT=225.00'                         # Merchant(Primary AC) Account Email
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_TAXAMT=25.00'    #Receiver designation (there can be only 1 primary receiver)
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_PAYMENTACTION=Order' 
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SELLERPAYPALACCOUNTID=email' 
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_PAYMENTREQUESTID=CART110-PAYMENT0'    #The payment amount for the second receiver   # Seller(Secondry AC) Account Amount
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_1_CURRENCYCODE=USD'
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_1_AMT=75.00'    #The payment amount for the first receiver    # Merchant(Primary AC) Account Amount
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_1_ITEMAMT=65.00'                          # Merchant(Primary AC) Account Email
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_1_TAXAMT=10.00'    #Receiver designation (there can be only 1 primary receiver)
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_1_PAYMENTACTION=Order' 
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_1_SELLERPAYPALACCOUNTID=email' 
.'&PAYMENTREQUEST_1_PAYMENTREQUESTID=CART110-PAYMENT1' 
    .'&L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NAME0=Departs2'
    .'&L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NAME0=Sunset'
.'&L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_QTY0=1'
    .'&L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT0=125'
    .'&L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_TAXAMT0=15'
    .'&L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NAME1=Departs'
.'&L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_QTY1=1'
    .'&L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT1=100.00'
    .'&L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_TAXAMT1=10.00';
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $URL);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
  //  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $paypal_header_options);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);

    $paypal_response = curl_exec($ch);

$responseAr = explode('&', $paypal_response);
$parsedResponseAr = array();
foreach($responseAr as $i => $value) {
    $tmpAr = explode('=', $value);
    if(!empty($tmpAr))
        $parsedResponseAr[strtoupper($tmpAr[0])] = urldecode($tmpAr[1]);
}
print_r(json_encode($parsedResponseAr));
curl_close($ch);

Cannot connect to PayPal API via cURL

4 Answers