PayPal keep getting invalid ipn

Question

Here's my IPN handler:

<?php
include 'constants.php';
include 'classes/class.database.php';

$raw_post_data = file_get_contents('php://input');
$raw_post_array = explode('&', $raw_post_data);
$myPost = array();

foreach ($raw_post_array as $keyval) {
    $keyval = explode ('=', $keyval);
    if (count($keyval) == 2)
        $myPost[$keyval[0]] = urldecode($keyval[1]);
}

$req = 'cmd=_notify-validate';

if(function_exists('get_magic_quotes_gpc')) {
    $get_magic_quotes_exists = true;
}

foreach ($myPost as $key => $value) {
    if($get_magic_quotes_exists == true && get_magic_quotes_gpc() == 1) {
        $value = urlencode(stripslashes($value));
    } else {
        $value = urlencode($value);
    }
    $req .= "&$key=$value";
}

if(USE_SANDBOX == true) {
    $paypal_url = "https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr";
} else {
    $paypal_url = "https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr";
}

$ch = curl_init($paypal_url);

if ($ch == FALSE) {
    return FALSE;
}

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION, CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $req);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 2);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FORBID_REUSE, 1);

if(DEBUG == true) {
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 1);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLINFO_HEADER_OUT, 1);
}

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 30);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Connection: Close'));

$res = curl_exec($ch);

if (curl_errno($ch) != 0) // cURL error
    {
    if(DEBUG == true) { 
        error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "Can't connect to PayPal to validate IPN message: " . curl_error($ch) . PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
    }
    curl_close($ch);
    exit;
} else {
    if(DEBUG == true) {
        error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "HTTP request of validation request:". curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HEADER_OUT) ." for IPN payload: $req" . PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
        error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "HTTP response of validation request: $res" . PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
    }
    curl_close($ch);
}

$tokens = explode("\r\n\r\n", trim($res));
$res = trim(end($tokens));

if (strcmp ($res, "VERIFIED") == 0) {
    $status = $_POST['payment_status'];
    $currency = $_POST['mc_currency'];
    $receiver = $_POST['receiver_email'];
    $buyer = $_POST['payer_email'];
    $buyer_name = $_POST['custom'];

    $db = new Database($sql_host, $sql_user, $sql_pass, $sql_data, "payments");
    $db->connect();

    for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
        if (isset($_POST['item_name'.$i])) {
            $db->addPayment($_POST['item_name'.$i], $_POST['item_number'.$i], $status, $_POST['mc_gross_'.$i], $currency, $buyer, $receiver, $buyer_name);
        }
    }

    if(DEBUG == true)
        error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "Verified IPN: $req ". PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
} else if (strcmp ($res, "INVALID") == 0) {
    if(DEBUG == true) {
        error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "Invalid IPN: $req" . PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
    }
}?>

And here's what the IPN's returning:

INVALID
[2016-02-28 05:55 UTC] Invalid IPN: cmd=_notify-validate&mc_gross=0.01&protection_eligibility=Eligible&address_status=confirmed&item_number1=36&payer_id=7GXJG3SBPYHEY&tax=0.00&address_street=&payment_date=21%3A55%3A22+Feb+27%2C+2016+PST&payment_status=Completed&charset=UTF-8&address_zip=&mc_shipping=0.00&mc_handling=0.00&first_name=&mc_fee=0.01&address_country_code=GB&address_name=&notify_version=3.8&custom=Alex&payer_status=verified&business=&address_country=United+Kingdom&num_cart_items=1&mc_handling1=0.00&address_city=&verify_sign=AzEkqtmA1WmF4x7TDnCOWp34hPjAASvAQSuGR4.BNB0U46x2nInwBmEo&payer_email=&mc_shipping1=0.00&tax1=0.00&txn_id=50446034DM994872C&payment_type=instant&payer_business_name=&last_name=&address_state=&item_name1=test+%28do+not+buy%29&receiver_email=***&payment_fee=0.01&quantity1=1&receiver_id=RJ5DJ76VDC7RC&txn_type=cart&mc_gross_1=0.01&mc_currency=USD&residence_country=GB&transaction_subject=&payment_gross=0.01&ipn_track_id=487a9f43c92

any help would be great.

This doesn't address your problem per say. When I first started working with Paypal IPN, I did the exact same thing that you're doing now, but what happens when you have to write another handler? You're going to end up writing (or copy-pasting) the exact same code. Debugging also becomes a pain. I ended coming across this implementation that takes care of all the nitty-gritty stuff and works well. — Mikey

Zhao Samanta Zhao Samanta · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-03T06:20:54

It looks like you didn't post back IPN message to https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr , in this case, you need to check your IPN script related log, maybe there are some error message that can indicates some connection issue, then you can fix the issue accordingly.

PayPal keep getting invalid ipn

2 Answers