Has anyone had success using PayPal SoftDescriptors? - paypal

Paypal provides access to a parameter called "SoftDescriptor" in a number of their payment request API calls, in the classic API (either NVP or SOAP). In theory, this parameter lets you send transaction-specific data along with your request, which will be passed along to the buyer's credit card statement.
This parameter is available on at least:
DoCapture
DoReferenceTransaction
DoExpressCheckoutPayment
I cannot, for the life of me, get this to work. None of these calls seem to set the softdescriptor for the initial descriptor (Which shows up in the bank statement while the charge is pending, before the payment posts). I've been waiting a few days for the payments to post to see if it will change at that point, but I'm skeptical.
Has anyone successfully used the SoftDescriptor? Did it require extra account setup?

This might be very late.
Soft Descriptors is supported only for US,UK and CA merchants.
Your account needs to be enabled for Soft Descriptor.You can contact Businesss/Customer Support to get this enabled.
https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/release-notes/merchant/PayPal_Merchant_API_Release_Notes_115/#softdescriptorforpro

Sorry, I know this is an old post, but I was looking for the same answer to the same question and I thought I would share what I found.
You should be able to use the following link to move past this error. In my case, I had a comma after the wrong right curly brace. Just copy and paste the example, in the aforementioned link, and change the values to meet your needs.
And I am about to post my own question about why the transaction amount is considered invalid

Related

Roadblocks with using PayPal Recurring Payment Subscription with ASP.Net Membership?

I'm using ASP.Net Membership Provider for logging into the premium content of this web site. The content isn't downloads, it's web pages of information and discounts, etc. That part is done. We want them to also have a PayPal Subscription annual payment to see the premium content. I would like ASP Membership and PayPal Subscription to work together as much as possible, but for the minimum I am thinking they will have to create a MemberId before they pay. Then I will send that MemberId to PayPal to associate the two.
I think I can do that like this:
Set "Auto Return" on in the interface so that it will redirect to return URL when payment is made.
Set "return URL" query string to MemberId. This requires not using the precompiled "Saved" buttons. I'll have to set it in Code Behind with Name Value Pairs, "NVP" to PayPal. I was hoping to just paste the stupid button.
But then, there were those "Advanced Variables" in the Button maker. Problem was they are compiled into the Saved button, so I can't change them for each person. But maybe that one parameter could be separate from the compiled parameters? Is this better than hacking the return URL? Are "Advanced Variables" good for anything?
All the details about the transaction will be POSTed to the return URL if I put in the right code, which might be rm=2. (Right?) Then I can record it.
This process is said to be unreliable, though, and PayPal recommends using a secondary system that they have, "IPN". PayPal sends the transaction details to me. I send them back http 200 code. Then I send it back to them in the same order I got it. Then they send me http 200. Then we all know it's good. This sounds like a few hours research to me, but if you've already done it once, it sounds like copy and paste. I hate reinventing the wheel. Is there a .Net sample of this IPN handshake/dance?
Also, if I do the IPN thing, maybe I don't need Auto Return. Maybe I add MemberId to "notify" URL instead of "return" URL. Then PayPal can handle the confirmation page, email, etc. Is that better?
Assuming we get the Subscription paid for and recorded with the MemberId, at least once per user session, after they log in, I have to check if they have paid their PayPal subscription and if it's up to date. "GetRecurringPaymentsProfileDetails" does this, but it is an API operation. That makes sense, but I was hoping to avoid learning their REST API. (Is there a "NVP" version?)
REST API OAUTH tokens expire every few minutes, but the only way it tells to get one is by using "Bash" to "cURL" some Linux commands. Again, this seems like the kind of thing that would only ever have to be written once. Does this already exist as a sample code somewhere?
(I don't want to use the API to do the Subscribe, because I don't want the Credit Card numbers to ever go to our site. Too much liability. That's why I wanted PayPal.)
Will this even work? I know PayPal has 18 ways to do everything and they all exclude each other, and I'm just getting the feeling that I'm creating a patchwork of unrelated ideas to fool myself into believing there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I've already been researching and experimenting for 10 hours or so. I really thought, going in, I'd just be pasting a stupid button.
If you want to just "copy the stupid button" then you'll have to stick to Payments Standard, and then you'll be limited with what you can do. For example, you won't be able to use GetRecurringPaymentsProfileDetails for a standard subscription.
Instead, you'll need to use Express Checkout and / or Payments Pro. There is indeed an NVP API available for these, and there is also a SOAP/XML version. Details on those can be found here: https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/
Specifically, for Express Checkout, you'll want SetExpressCheckout, GetExpressCheckoutDetails, DoExpressCheckoutPayment, and CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile. Some of those calls are optional depending on how exactly you're configuring things with the checkout flow.
For Payments Pro you'll use either DoDirectPayment / CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile or PayFlow depending on what version they put you on.
In any case, IPN is definitely the way to go for post-transaction processing.
.NET IPN Sample - https://github.com/paypal/ipn-code-samples/blob/master/paypal_ipn.asp

PayPal REST API - Redirect Error Handling

My question is simple yet I can't find any SO posts or PayPal documentation to answer it.
In the event of a PayPal user having some error being redirected after completing their checkout (internet goes out, browser crashes, they close their browser before the redirect goes through, random networking issues, etc.) How are we suppose to handle that?
I thought using the following REST API
GET /v1/payments/payment/<Payment-Id>
Would solve my problem but since the state returned from this request does not change from created to approved until the funds have been executed it is useless. In the case of having some redirect error you will not have been able to execute the funds and thus it will simply be in the created state still which does not help you.
Additionally I thought maybe PayPals IPN system used for CLASSIC API would be the answer to my problem but again it fails. The IPN system does not contain relevant information such as transaction ID which is needed to link the two systems together.
Is there no way to do automated error handling using the REST API?

PayPal callback API NO_SHIPPING_OPTION_DETAILS ignored

I'm using the callback API to prevent someone selecting a non-UK shipping address. I've supplied a callback url, I've set CALLBACKVERSION to 61.0.
When I go into the sandbox and choose an address I know the callback page is being called as I've added code to email me the values submitted to it and the value returned to PayPal. For anything with a SHIPTOCOUNTRY that isn't GB the response is
METHOD=CallbackResponse&NO_SHIPPING_OPTION_DETAILS=1
I've also tried setting a fuller response in case it doesn't like some required field to be missing
METHOD=CallbackResponse&CURRENCYCODE=GBP&L_SHIPPINGOPTIONNAME0=Standard&L_SHIPPINGALABEL0=Standard&L_SHIPPINGAMOUNT0=2.95&L_SHIPPINGOPTIONISDEFAULT0=true&L_SHIPPINGOPTIONNAME1=Express&L_SHIPPINGALABEL1=Express&L_SHIPPINGAMOUNT1=5.95&L_SHIPPINGOPTIONISDEFAULT1=false&NO_SHIPPING_OPTION_DETAILS=1
But it's still allowing non-UK addresses and just using the shipping options set during the initial set up request.
Any suggestions on where I'm going wrong?
After opening a ticket as suggested by PayPal_Patrick the problem was that I was adding the callbackversion in the wrong place. The full response to reject a shipping address on callback is:
METHOD=CallbackResponse&NO_SHIPPING_OPTION_DETAILS=1&CALLBACKVERSION=61
There are different transaction ID's for Buyer and Seller accounts.
I think this might be an issue caused by the country associated with the buyer account being used. I'm going to reach out to the product team for Express Checkout and see if it is intended functionality or not - I don't believe it would be.
If you want to stay updated on the issue I would recommend creating a ticket to PayPal.com/mts, give me the ticket number, I'll grab it and keep you involved.

PayPal (Payflow Pro) Error 52

I am trying to set up a test process to get some authorizations completed. I managed to get a response other than Invalid Vendor (I had set up the account wrong), but now we get this response:
RESULT=52&PNREF=XXXXXXXXXXXX&RESPMSG=Insufficient permissions to perform transaction
Any thoughts on how to correct this? Request string:
TRXTYPE[1]=A
&VERBOSITY[4]=HIGH
&ACCT[16]=411111XXXXXX1111
&TENDER[1]=C
&AMT[4]=1.99
&CURRENCY[3]=USD
&USER[8]=MyPayFlowUser
&VENDOR[8]=MyPayFlowUser
&PARTNER[6]=PayPal
&PWD[10]=XXXXXXXXXX
&ORIGID[13]=XXXXXXXXXXXXX
You should have API_FULL_TRANSACTIONS. Result code 52 usually means you are trying to make a Payflow API call when you only have a Payflow Link account. Payflow Link accounts are only allowed to make an API call for the SECURETOKEN.
Without more details and looking at the account, it is hard to say what is happening. If I had to guess just based on these details you provided, it sounds like you do not have permissions to perform the type of API call that you are trying to. If you can provide the PNREF number for the transaction I can take a look at it on my end.

facebook chargeback refund details

we are dealing with heavy chargebacks and refunds. But I am unable to identify how can I get the details of chargebacks and refunds. We have published our game through third party so they own the Company Account for transactions. We have asked them, but apparently they don't have anything to help us out. I have used Graph API to log the transaction details and I have also used the debug tool to find out the reason or details of chargebacks and refunds. but even our refunds does not have any reason attached with it. Please help me out of this. I have done alot of Google on this but i am unable to find out what I need to know
Regards.
All you will actually get is a “Refund Reason Code” – which of these there are, and how to access them, is described here:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/payments/disputes/#refundcb_tracking
Edit:
It does not look like you can look up the refund reason code via the API – but Facebook will send it to you, via a ping to your callback URL:
“If the order has been refunded by Facebook, we will ping your callback with a payments_status_update for the order in questions with a status of refunded. In addition, there will be an additional field returned called refund_reason_code with one of the following values: […]”
So you will have to react to that and evaluate the refund reason code (save it to your database, …) in this callback.