Some registrations do not work

I’ve noticed that occasionally (maybe 10% of the time) someone will purchase a membership, and their paypal payment will go through correctly but they will get no opportunity to register (ie, after they pay, they are not redirected to the registration page.) Some users report never receiving an email — others say that the link in the email gives them the error “Your link expired.”

I’m sort of baffled by this. Some members are able to sign up just fine, others are not. Is there any reason why this might be happening?

It seems this may have happened to my latest user… but with one additional twist. I created the button as non-recurring annual payment, but the registering user was processed as a recurring annual user. I know this because I received an e-mail from Paypal indicating the recurring annual subscription was cancelled.

And to support the original post, the paying subscriber does not appear in my database, at all. I’m running Multisite (not offering blogs) and have checked both User areas, and the user is not present.

This is the first time I have experienced this problem, and the only difference between the last user and this one was the recent upgrade.

@Buck

It seems this may have happened to my latest user… but with one additional twist. I created the button as non-recurring annual payment, but the registering user was processed as a recurring annual user. I know this because I received an e-mail from Paypal indicating the recurring annual subscription was cancelled.

Are you sure it’s being processed as a “Buy Now” transaction and NOT as a “Subscription”? You can have a non-recurring “Subscription”, which will support an optional Initial/Trial period. If you are not offering an Initial/Trial Period and the charge is non-recurring; it’s best to use “Buy Now” functionality.

See: Dashboard -› s2Member® -› PayPal® Pro Forms -› Membership Level # Forms

@Daniel @Buck

Please enable s2Member’s logging routines for your Payment Gateway integration and once you have some log files, please send us a Dashboard login privately and we’ll run diagnostics for you. I’m not getting a widespread report about this issue, but I’ll be happy to investigate it to be sure there is no problem we’ve missed. At the very least, we can help you diagnose the underlying cause on your installations.

See: Dashboard -› s2Member® -› PayPal® Options -› Account Details -› Logging

Okay, I’ve enabled Logging. My site is extremely low traffic at this time, so it may be a couple weeks before any new transactions are made. Also, I did not use the PayPal Pro button creator. It was PayPal (Subscriptions) One Time (for one year, non-recurring).

Thanks

@Buck

Okay, I’ve enabled Logging. My site is extremely low traffic at this time, so it may be a couple weeks before any new transactions are made. Also, I did not use the PayPal Pro button creator. It was PayPal (Subscriptions) One Time (for one year, non-recurring).

Gotchya. Keep in mind that s2Member’s Button Generator has these same options. Please be sure that you selected “Buy Now” and not “Subscription” when setting up your Button. That’s the only way a Subscription will be used. If a “Buy Now” Button is generated, this is no Subscription involved whatsoever. We’ll be able to tell more from your log files.

Details received. Thank you!

~ Investigating now.

Thanks for your patience.

Buck

It seems this may have happened to my latest user… but with one additional twist. I created the button as non-recurring annual payment, but the registering user was processed as a recurring annual user. I know this because I received an e-mail from Paypal indicating the recurring annual subscription was cancelled.

I just reviewed your s2Member® log files. I find that all of s2Member’s IPN processing on your installation has been against log entries related to “Buy Now” transactions. I did not find any with txn_type=subscr_signup.

Repeats of this — indicating “Buy Now” transactions…

'txn_type' => 'web_accept',
'item_name' => 'Pay What You Want Membership / 1 Year',
'mc_currency' => 'USD',
'item_number' => '1::1 Y',
'residence_country' => 'US',

Is it possible that you have another software integrated with the same PayPal® account? I have no idea why PayPal® would be sending you any notices related to “Subscriptions”, because from what I’m seeing in your log files, there has been no activity like this between s2Member® and PayPal.

And to support the original post, the paying subscriber does not appear in my database, at all. I’m running Multisite (not offering blogs) and have checked both User areas, and the user is not present.

This is the first time I have experienced this problem, and the only difference between the last user and this one was the recent upgrade.

Please post a reference to this User (i.e. a Transaction ID, or something we can use to backtrace this particular case in your logs and we’ll report back on this for you). Thanks!

Note… it appears that you’ve integrated with PayPal® Buttons and not with Pro Forms. With PayPal® Buttons the customer registers AFTER checkout is completed. Therefore, it is always possible (though unlikely) that a paying customer would either choose not to register after checkout; or that a customer was unable to reach the registration page after checkout (i.e. they never received an email receipt, or they got lost after checkout). You might consider moving to Pro Forms to prevent this possibility.

See: Knowledge Base » s2Member® Pro Forms

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Daniel

I’ve noticed that occasionally (maybe 10% of the time) someone will purchase a membership, and their paypal payment will go through correctly but they will get no opportunity to register (ie, after they pay, they are not redirected to the registration page.) Some users report never receiving an email — others say that the link in the email gives them the error “Your link expired.”

Once you have log files we’ll investigate this for you as well. I’m not aware of any widespread problems like this, but taking a look at your log files should unveil the underlying cause. It sounds like s2Member’s post-processing is failing once in awhile on your installation. Have you experienced any server connectivity issues in or around the times when this occurred? Have you enabled logging since your original post?

Hi Jason. Thanks for the diligence and exceptional customer support in this matter.

> Please post a reference to this User (i.e. a Transaction ID, or something we can use to backtrace this particular case in your logs and we’ll report back on this for you).

I manually created a user account for this individual, so the website did not create any transaction numbers. The customer e-mailed me the notices they received from PayPal, which includes an Automatic Payment ID. Is that the number to provide? If so, I will e-mail it privately.

> Therefore, it is always possible (though unlikely) that a paying customer would either choose not to register after checkout

That may very well be the case… I’m afraid many of the members that this site attracts are “computer-impaired” (apologies if that’s offensive to any, but I’m having to make instructional videos that demonstrate how to create a gmail address….).

I have re-created buttons using PayPal Pro Buy Now and published them onto the Membership Options page.

I would like to keep Enable Logging Routines set to Yes until a few customers join under the new PayPal Pro buttons that I created.

Thanks,
Buck

Hi guys,

I sent in the confidential support request a few days ago. Any updates?

Thanks for your patience.

I manually created a user account for this individual, so the website did not create any transaction numbers. The customer e-mailed me the notices they received from PayPal, which includes an Automatic Payment ID. Is that the number to provide? If so, I will e-mail it privately.

If it was an ID they received as a result of a transaction that s2Member® processed, please send that over privately for review. However, it sounds like the Automatic Payment ID was sent in response to something you did manually at PayPal. Is that correct? If that’s the case, s2Member® will have very little information about this, and it’s not likely to help in diagnosing the issue. We need to see an ID related to a transaction that s2Member® processed for you (e.g. not one that was generated from the PP Virtual Terminal).

I have re-created buttons using PayPal Pro Buy Now and published them onto the Membership Options page.

I would like to keep Enable Logging Routines set to Yes until a few customers join under the new PayPal Pro buttons that I created.

OK. Thank you. I’m going to review your logs again for any activity after the 12th. Please stand by.

Your recent log entries look great! Please let us know if you have further trouble.