Where is the 'IPN History' on the new PayPal website?

Asked 23/7, 2014 at 9:2 Answered 16/6, 2023 at 12:16

Just been trying to find the new IPN History link on the new PayPal website and I can't see it anywhere.

Are they still supporting this?

Eisenhower answered 23/7, 2014 at 9:2 Comment(1)

In the latest UI: Settings > My Selling Tools > Instant Payment Notifications click "Update". You will see a link there called "IPN History page". – Manual 14/11, 2019 at 3:14

The current PayPal for Business interface only provides a way to access IPN History if you have manually configured IPN in your PayPal account settings. In this case, you'd go to [your name] > Account Settings > Notifications > Instant Payment Notifications (click Update here), then the explanatory text there will include a link to the IPN History page.

However, that link would not appear if you have not manually configured IPN -- e.g., when your ecommerce platform automatically transmits IPN parameters to PayPal for each checkout. While you could manually enable IPN with a dummy Notification URL in order to get the IPN History link, this could result in PayPal completely disabling IPN for your PayPal account if they try sending any actual notifications to that dummy URL.

In that case, you can use this link to access IPN History directly once you're already logged into PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-ipns-history

Note that if you have not manually configured IPN in PayPal, you will see a notice in IPN History saying, "The IPN feature is turned off. You must turn on IPN in order to create history data." That notice is irrelevant if your ecommerce platform specs IPN dynamically for each checkout; in that scenario, you can still view/search your IPN History without manually turning on IPN there.

Depersonalize answered 16/11, 2014 at 21:22 Comment(9)

Even when bringing out a swanky new UI (which is highly unintuitive anyway IMO) they can screw up the most basic things. – Incalculable 19/1, 2015 at 9:28

Absolutely incredible. Re the new UI I have an issue with them that has been open for over a month whereby the old and new UIs provide statements that do not agree. New UI has different start/end dates and is missing at least one transaction altogether. This is a bank? – Yvoneyvonne 8/4, 2015 at 5:1

Thiis issue has now been open for six months. – Yvoneyvonne 26/8, 2015 at 3:36

Don't be surprised, the IPN simulator has been broken for months and there's no indication it will be fixed anytime soon. – Stenograph 2/3, 2017 at 17:3

Q3 2017 and their manual is still using ancient screen captures meaning this answer remains vital! developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/ipn/integration-guide/… – Sporocyst 10/7, 2017 at 10:27

As of Sept 2018, I am not able to see IPN history, if the IPN is switched off in the PayPal settings. My script still sends and receives IPNs, I just haven't switched on IPN in PayPal. It was useful to have the IPN history showing.... – Alvira 24/9, 2018 at 7:17

@Sol - It seems you are mistaken. I have IPN turned off in PayPal and was still able to view my IPN History via both More > Sitemap > Transactions and the direct link given above. You may need a PayPal Business or Premier account to view IPN History, and you may see the note "The IPN feature is turned off. You must turn on IPN in order to create history data." That note is normal when you have IPN turned off, but it does not prevent viewing existing history that was already created -- e.g., from before you turned off IPN, or if you are passing an IPN notify_url parameter to PayPal checkout. – Depersonalize 25/9, 2018 at 18:43

@Depersonalize - I stand corrected, it is now visible via links you mention - perhaps a glitch when I initially checked ;-) Good to know it's still visible even thought IPN is off in PayPal – Alvira 14/10, 2018 at 23:56

Thank you for the direct link. Even attempting to follow your instructions, I cannot figure out how to get to the IPN history through PayPal's clunky UI, so every time I need to I just come to this answer instead. – Demote 13/8, 2019 at 0:24

More menu -> Site map -> Transactions -> IPN History

Aleris answered 2/7, 2016 at 8:40 Comment(4)

What is the "more menu"? – Pointless 6/7, 2016 at 20:2

Thanks for this, found it as you said here! – Durrett 8/9, 2016 at 14:57

Excellent find, thanks for posting! I've amended my top-rated answer here to improve visibility of your info, with credit to you for the discovery of course. @Pointless - the "More" menu is in the header of your PayPal account summary once you're logged in. – Depersonalize 3/3, 2017 at 21:0

would you have a screenshot to find 'More menu' ? – Hardness 29/8, 2017 at 17:3

2020

Sitemap (Footer) -> Instant Payment Notification (IPN) history (under "Transactions")

Indistinct answered 23/11, 2019 at 5:52 Comment(2)

Odd there's no "Sitemap" for me. Can't find the IPN History anywhere – Hoxsie 5/8, 2020 at 2:22

Found it: sandbox.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-ipns-history – Hoxsie 5/8, 2020 at 2:24

It's still available in the same place. If you want to navigate to it

Log in
Profile link (white bar up top)
IPN settings
History link on this page

Currently it's directly at https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-ipn-notify (provided you're logged in)

Torso answered 23/7, 2014 at 18:29 Comment(2)

This is incorrect. The steps do not work between Profile link and IPN settings. – Hogweed 11/4, 2016 at 10:4

This answer is nearly 2 years old too. Looks like the history migrated to a new page but the path I provided still works for me but YMMV – Torso 11/4, 2016 at 12:18

In the latest UI: Settings > My Selling Tools > Instant Payment Notifications click "Update". You will see a link there called "IPN History page".

Manual answered 21/11, 2018 at 5:50 Comment(0)

As of May 2022, it's still convoluted.

TL;DR:

For IPN History, try https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-ipns-history

For IPN Settings, try https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/customerprofileweb?cmd=_profile-ipn-notify

Also, a few reminders:

PayPal IPN is a completely separate feature from PayPal Webhooks.
- Even though it's the exact same concept _(argh!).
PayPal IPN is associated with your normal/business PaypPal account. It is is not a part of the PayPal Developer experience.
Also, PayPal IPN is now clearly deprecated, if not effectively obsolete, so if your application code is still reliant on PayPal IPN you really should update it to use PayPal Developer APIs and the Webhook service instead.

Anyway, here's the steps I took to find it today on 1st May, 20222:

Start off on your PayPal Business Account Dashboard page:
- https://www.paypal.com/mep/dashboard
- It should look like this:
- Don't confuse this with the Developer Not
Use the top-left menu to go to Account Settings:
- https://www.paypal.com/businessmanage/account/accountAccess
On the Account Settings page, look for "Notifications" in the left-side menu:
- https://www.paypal.com/businessmanage/account/notifications
Then you'll see the link to PayPal Instant Payment Notifications.
- Annoyingly, they don't use the term "IPN" so Ctrl+Fing for that won't work.
Click the "Update" link (even though we aren't updating anything: we just want to see IPN History), and you'll be taken to a page belonging to Olde PayPal just with a new header:
- https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/customerprofileweb?cmd=_profile-ipn-notify
And the link to the History page is disguised in the page's text:
- https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-ipns-history
And you'll be welcomed back-in-time to 2005 with a page that looks like this:

TL;DR:

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