This documentation refers to CiviCRM 4.1, currently in beta. Please introduce all documentation changes and new material here.

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This page refers to CiviCRM 4.1, current beta version.

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CiviCRM 4.1 Documentation

Support and Participation

Developer Resources

CiviCRM books!

Make sure to check out our Online User/Administrator and Developer Guides! You can also support this project by ordering a hard copy.

Or support us by buying an eBook or hard copy of Using CiviCRM from Packt Publishing.

Overview

What is the basic business idea of paypal?
Every user has his account with paypal where he has some money he can use to pay online, using various means like e-mail, web etc. Once a user has a paypal account he cannot do transactions with paypal without logging into his account.

Beware: If your account has some unresolved conflicts it will not let you do things you want but will just show the account overview where you could select the next actions.

Note for registered non-profits: If you start a non-profit account with Paypal you must provide acceptable documentation to Paypal of your legal status as a non-profit, or Paypal will disable your account.

What is the principle of using a sandbox at paypal?
They have tried to use exactly the same software as the live system with the same screens and behaviour. To enter the sandbox you first log in to your paypal developer account, then select a test user (the role depends on your needs) and enter the sandbox. From then on you are like a user in the live situation.

CiviCRM Configuration for PayPal Website Payments Standard

 Enable CiviContribute

  • Log into CiviCRM as an administrator.
  • Select Administer CiviCRM >> Global Settings >> Enable Components
  • Ensure that CiviContribute is enabled.

Add a Payment Processor

  • Select Administer CiviCRM >> Global Settings >> Payment Processors
  • Click » New Payment Processor
  • Select PayPal - Website Payments Standard for Processor Type.
  • Enter into Merchant Account Email Address the email which is used for your Paypal account for live transactions.
  • Enter the Merchant Account Email Address linked to your PayPal Sandbox merchant account (e.g. paypal_1207343391_biz@example.com) in the Processor Details for TEST Payments section, if you are using a testing sandbox.  If not, enter the same email address as the step above.
  • If you'd like to process live payments on the site, you can generally accept the default values for Site and Button URLs.

Note: If you are still developing the site, and would like to test the work-flow on the site (and accept no live payments), copy the "Test Payments" values to the "Live Payments" section.

Note: If you see an API URL field for Paypal_Standard, you can ignore it.

Assign this Processor to your Contribution or Event Registration Page(s)

You must assign your new Payment Processor to your Contribution Page or Event Registration before you can test-drive them.

  • For Contribution Pages - go to Manage Contribution Pages » Configure » Title and Settings and select your Website Standard processor, then click Save.
  • For Event Registration - go to Manage Events » Configure » Event Fees and select your Website Standard processor, then click Save.

Enabling Recurring Contributions

If you are using PayPal Website Payments Standard - you can give users the option to make a recurring contribution on any of your Contribution Pages.

  • Administer CiviCRM » Manage Contribution Pages
  • Click Configure for the page where you want to enable recurring contributions
  • Click Contribution Amounts
  • Check the Enable recurring payments box.

Configure Paypal to Talk to CiviCRM

CiviCRM can receive feedback from Paypal after the contribution is made.  This requires making some changes within your Paypal account Profile at https://www.paypal.com

Instant Payment Notification
  • To configure Instant Payments Notification (IPN) for your PayPal account Click: Profile > My Selling Tools > Instant Payment Notification > Update
  • Enable Instant Payments Notification (checkbox checked)
  • Enter your CiviCRM site home page (e.g. http://www.example.com) as the Notification URL. This is a placeholder. CiviContribute will pass the exact IPN 'listener' URL to PayPal automatically during each transaction.
  • Click Save
Then Set the Auto Return So the Contributor Goes Back to Your Site
  • Click: Profile > My Selling Tools > Website Preferences > Update
  • Set Auto Return to On
  • Enter your CiviCRM site home page as the Return URL. This is a placeholder. CiviContribute will pass the exact return URL to PayPal automatically during each transaction.
  • Set "Payment Data Transfer" to "Off"
  • Click Save

Creating A Testing Sandbox Account at Paypal Developer Central

https://developer.paypal.com
If you don't have an Developer Central account, follow PayPal instructions to register a developer account and create a sandbox (test) merchant account.

1. Launch your merchant sandbox

Login as your Developer Central account (e.g. paypaldev@example.com) and create two new "sandbox" accounts.  "Create Account:" -> "Preconfigured"

  • Create a "seller" - this is your website.  E.g. paypal_1207343391_biz@example.com
  • Create a "buyer" - this is your test donor/customer.  E.g. paypal_1208220862_per@example.com

Configure CiviCRM with the "seller".  Use the "buyer" to test the site.  If you "reset" the seller account, be sure to repeat these steps.

2. Profile >> Instant Payment Notification Preferences

From your Developer central account (e.g. paypaldev@example.com ) at https://developer.paypal.com

  • Test accounts -> Select the "seller" account (e.g. paypal_1207343391_biz@example.com) -> Click "Enter Sandbox Test Site" -> Login
  • You should now be at https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/...

Trouble-shooting

Contributions remain in PENDING status

In order for contributions to be marked as COMPLETED, PayPal's Instant Payment Notification (IPN) must post back to CiviCRM an acknowledgement that the contribution was completed. In order for this to happen, your CiviCRM site must be accessible on the public internet (i.e. not running on localhost or behind a firewall). Interactions with PayPal IPN are logged to a file called CiviCRM.log or CiviCRM.<33char string>.log located in your configured Temporary Files Directory (<drupal_root>/files/civicrm/upload/CiviCRM.log or files/civicrm/templates_c/en_US/ConfigAndLog (depending on your version) by default on Drupal installations). Check this file for errors if your contribution statuses are not being set to COMPLETED.

One issue when using the Paypal test account is that you sometimes need to confirm your payments in PayPal- possibly only when dealing with multiple currencies. If you see a message in the CiviCRM.log file:

 [info] returning since contribution status is pending.

If this is the case:

  • Log into into your test PayPal account:
  • On the overview page you will see that the payment will be in an Unclaimed status - click Accept in the Order status/Actions column.
  • The IPN will be resent and you should get a message similar to:
    [info] Contribution record updated successfully
    [info] Success: Database updated and mail sent

Unexpected errors from PayPal

Occassionally there are technical / availability problems with the PayPal Sandbox servers. You can check Sandbox status here.
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