Collecting user information - paypal

Question

I need to collect information about our high school reunion attendees and allow them to pay via a PayPal button. I've created the PayPal Pay Now button, but not sure what if any information will be collected and sent back to me. Do I need a separate form to collect information or is there a way to make the PayPal button work as the submit button for the data I collect using a form?

Answer 1

You should use a IPN (Instant Payment Notification) for this. There are lots of good templates for this available on GitHub. Your form might look like this:
<form action="https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" >
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="YOUR PAYPAL ID">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="upload" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="ITEM_NAME">
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="ITEM_NUMBER>
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="TOTAL_AMOUNT">
<input type="hidden" name="custom" value="<?php echo $attendee_id ?>">
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" name="rm" value="2">
<input type="hidden" name="cbt" value="Return to website">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="EUR">
<input type="hidden" name="return" value="http://domain.com/success.php"/>
<input type="hidden" name="notify_url" value="http://domain.com/ipn.php"/>
<input type="hidden" name="cancel_return" value="http://domain.com/canceled.php"/>
<button type="submit">Pay using PayPal</button>
</form>