Change the IPN url on existing subscription

Question

we plan to change the domain name for our service. Therefore we need to update the IPN-url for our existing customers. I have tried googling a solution on how to change the IPN-url for current subscriptions, but I haven't been able to find anything.

Any help is appreciated.

best regards Thomas

Titanomachy

2 years have passed... Anything new? – Originative

Lesson learnt. Always use an ipn forwarding service for the ipn urls – Polycarp

Answer 1

I ran into this problem today.

Folks who are saying that you can change the IPN URL on an existing Paypal recurring payment are incorrect; you can't, you can only change the IPN URL for future notifications.

To resolve this, I used an Apache rewrite:

RewriteRule ^sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/ipn.php$ https://example.org/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/extern/ipn.php [R=307,L]

The magic is the R=307. A 307 redirect indicates that a POST request must be resent as a POST. Otherwise you lose the IPN data.

Yseulte

Answer 2

I had exactly the same problem .... I had to move servers which meant my IPN url changed. I have spoken to 3 different paypal reps and even had a meeting with a tech support guy from there.

Unfortunately, there is NO WAY to change the IPN url for existing customers/subscriptions.

I have been advised that all existing customers/subscriptions would need to be setup again, your customers would then need to start a new subscription based on the new IPN url. This is a right PITA ... I have just over 1500 customers I need to do this for, and I can guarantee I will lose some due to the hassle of this.

Sorry this wasn't the answer you were looking for :(

Magna

Anything new on this front? – Originative

Still can't edit ipn urls. That's why I always use a forwarding service webhooks.in – Polycarp

@AlexTaylor what about making a PHP script on the old url and forward and POST request to the new url? – Imperator

Choonkeat, yeah, what happens when they rebrand themselves or go out of business. You're sabotaging your own business by using an external service that receives the IPN notifications. – Sky

@SvetoslavMarinov yep, that webhooks.in link's dead now! – Poseidon

Still the same now in 2020. We are ditching PP for this and many other bugs. Waiting 10 years to fix things is just unacceptable. – Cazzie

i would use: ipnforwarder.com then, when ever you need to change the url, you just change it there and not in paypal – Durham

Answer 3

If you need to chnage IPN Url make sure that it is still turned on check from History>IPN History and turn it on.

IPN can be enabled in one of 2 ways.

In the PayPal account Profile Passing an IPN URL as a parameter in an API call or button code. To enable IPN in your account profile follow these steps:

1. Log into your account at https://www.paypal.com
2. Click on the Profile
3. subtab In "My selling tools" click Update in the Instant Payment Notifications section.
4. Click the Edit button or Choose IPN settings
5. Enter your IPN URL in the Notification URL field Make sure the radio button for 'Receive IPN messages (Enabled)' is selected
6. Click Save

IPN can be enabled directly in this section of the account: https://www.paypal.com/ie/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-ipn-notify-edit (access requires login)

To pass an IPN URL as a code-level parameter you should refer to the documentation of the feature you are implementing. Typically the API variable you would pass is 'NotifyURL' but it can differ based on the API call, if the API is Name-Value-Pair (NVP) or SOAP format or if you are using non-hosted PayPal Standard button code. For standard buttons the variable is "notify_url".

This profile setting is frequently overridden by shopping carts. Still, IPN should be enabled in the account.

Nodababus

The URL above worked for me. YES! No need to navigate through the impassible maze of the PayPal UI. – Couchman

But does it change sending IPN notification to your already subscribed profiles? If you set ipn through notify_url via subscription button when they subscribed? – Imperator

This does not answer the question. The question relates to changing IPN URL for existing subscriptions. – Pollard

Answer 4

It's 1 May 2013 & PayPal has changed the location for the IPN.

Login, go to Profile -> My selling tools ->Instant Payment Notifications...(Update)

This shows your current IPN URL, and there is an EDIT button.

Fragonard

I can confirm that this works; you can edit the URL to change it, or turn off notifications. – Sorenson

BUT, this will not cause old subscription IPNs to be sent to the new URL, unfortunately. You will still need to set up a redirect to get the old URLs pointed to the new ones (be sure to preserve the query string in the redirect—Apache's mod_rewrite needs the QSA flag set). – Sorenson

this doesn't change the IPN notification for old/existing subscriptions. – Imperator

Answer 5

In the absence of a solution from Paypal, I would encourage anyone to submit a support ticket requesting a manual change. If enough of us do this, they will have to provide this option eventually.

Contact Paypal Technical Support here.

EDIT: I managed to successfully change all my prior IPN URLs via a ticket with Paypal Support. They told me it has to be done manually, but obliged my request. It took about a week. They were very helpful. Hope this helps someone.

Pollard

Answer 6

Dec 2022 update:

There is IPN URL settings at https://www.paypal.com/merchantnotification/ipn/preference . I changed the IPN URL and since then all IPN notifications are coming to the new IPN URL. I do not know if super old subscription notifications will also come to this URL or not, but I can confirm that 1.5 year old subscriptions are going to this new URL now.

Chlordane

Answer 7

I have just done it.

Login, go to Profile -> My Account Settings ->Instant Payment Notifications...(Update)

This shows your current IPN URL, and there is an EDIT button, which works.

This is April 2013, so PayPal might have changed since this question was posted

Rorrys