Express Checkout, Transaction Details, Shopping Cart not showing options - paypal

Question

The product info is passed with SetExpressCheckout and all appears on the payment page, all the same info is sent with the DoExpressCheckoutPayment and the transaction is successful.
When reveiwing the transaction in the seller sandbox account the info sent using L_PAYMENTREQUEST_n_DESCm does not appear in the 'options' section of the shopping cart contents, the information from all the other parameters however (L_PAYMENTREQUEST_n_NAMEm, L_PAYMENTREQUEST_n_NUMBERm, L_PAYMENTREQUEST_n_AMTm, L_PAYMENTREQUEST_n_QTYm) is shown. I have also tried using L_DESCm but with the same result.
I have tried a very basic example based on this guide.
Using 3 HTML Forms I completed a transaction that replicates the problem outlined.
<form method=post action=https://api-3t.sandbox.paypal.com/nvp>
<input type=hidden name=USER value=yourusr>
<input type=hidden name=PWD value=yourpwd>
<input type=hidden name=SIGNATURE value=yoursig>
<input type=hidden name=VERSION value=93>
<input type=hidden name=PAYMENTREQUEST_0_PAYMENTACTION value=Sale>
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NAME0 value="Decaf Coffee Blend">
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NUMBER0 value=623083>
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_DESC0 value="8oz vacuum pack">
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT0 value=19.95>
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_QTY0 value=1>
<input type=hidden name=PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT value=19.95>
<input type=hidden name=PAYMENTREQUEST_0_CURRENCYCODE value=GBP>
<input type=hidden name=RETURNURL value=http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/return.html>
<input type=hidden name=CANCELURL value=http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/home.html>
<input type=submit name=METHOD value=SetExpressCheckout>
</form>
<form method=post action=https://api-3t.sandbox.paypal.com/nvp>
<input type=hidden name=USER value=yourusr>
<input type=hidden name=PWD value=yourpwd>
<input type=hidden name=SIGNATURE value=yoursig>
<input type=hidden name=VERSION value=93.0>
<input name=TOKEN value=overtype with your token>
<input type=submit name=METHOD value=GetExpressCheckoutDetails>
</form>
<form method=post action=https://api-3t.sandbox.paypal.com/nvp>
<input type=hidden name=USER value=yourusr>
<input type=hidden name=PWD value=yourpwd>
<input type=hidden name=SIGNATURE value=yoursig>
<input type=hidden name=VERSION value=93>
<input type=hidden name=PAYMENTREQUEST_0_PAYMENTACTION value=Sale>
<input name=PAYERID value=overtype with your payerid>
<input name=TOKEN value=overtype with your token>
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NAME0 value="Decaf Coffee Blend">
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NUMBER0 value=623083>
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_DESC0 value="8oz vacuum pack">
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT0 value=19.95>
<input type=hidden name=L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_QTY0 value=1>
<input type=hidden name=PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT value=19.95>
<input type=hidden name=PAYMENTREQUEST_0_CURRENCYCODE value=GBP>
<input type=submit name=METHOD value=DoExpressCheckoutPayment>
</form>

Answer 1

The DESC parameter is essentially ignored with Express Checkout. It's annoyed me for years that they include it but don't seem to use it.
If you want to provide details about item(s) in your PayPal payment you'll need to include actual cart item details in the request.
Take a look at my Express Checkout demo for my PHP class library for PayPal, which by the way, would make API calls to PayPal a lot quicker and easier on you than what you're doing.
Anyway, the demo includes a basic Express Checkout as well as one with line items. You should take a look at the one with line items so you can reproduce what it's doing.
You can also just look at the API documentation specific to cart items in Express Checkout. Just like you mentioned, you'll need to make sure to include all those details in both SEC and DECP in order for them to show up in the final payment details.
On that note, DECP does include a USESESSIONPAYMENTDETAILS parameter which you can set to true. When this is done, it will go ahead and use the details that were included in SEC so you don't have to include them again in DECP.
Hope that helps!