PayPal Connector Troubleshooting 


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PayPal Payment Button Doesn't Display

There are several possible reasons why a PayPal payment button will not display:

Connector is not enabled
Visit the Connectors page of your form and verify that the PayPal Connector is set to enabled.
No items are mapped for sale
Visit the PayPal Connector configuration page and verify that there are items for sale and that each item has both a quantity and price value mapped.
Item prices contain non-decimal value
Visit your Connectors page and verify that there are no currency signs or spaces in the price field for each item.

PayPal is Unable to Process Payment

If PayPal shows the error: "Sorry, an error occurred after you clicked the last link" and you published your form in an iframe:

  • If possible, use a different method to publish your form. PayPal does not allow the payment page to be embedded in an iframe.
  • Or, force the Pay Now button to open the PayPal site in a new window. To do so, copy & paste the following code in your Custom Code box in your form:
    <script>window.onload = function() { document.forms[0].setAttribute('target','_blank')}</script>

If PayPal fails to process a payment or shows an error message to the respondent:

  • Verify that your shipping address options are set correctly. If you continue to experience issues, try setting your shipping options to No Shipping is needed, then re-enable the options once you verify the form is working properly.
  • Verify that your encryption options are set correctly. If you continue to experience issues, disable encryption, then re-enable encryption once you verify the form is working properly.

FormAssembly Response Not Updated When a Payment is Received

Most likely, we're not receiving the Instant Payment Notification (IPN) from PayPal. To check this:

  1. Log into your PayPal account and go to My Account → History → IPN History.
  2. Make sure you have IPN entries matching the payments you received.
  3. Click on the Message ID to see the detail of one of these entries.
  4. Check the Delivery Status. If it's disabled, you'll need to enable IPN notifications in your PayPal Profile:
    • Go to My Account Profile Instant Payment Notification Preferences.
    • Click Edit Settings and check Receive IPN messages (Enabled). The notification URL is required, but the value doesn't matter here, so any URL will do (e.g., http://google.com).
    • From the IPN history screen, resend the IPN notifications by checking the boxes and clicking resend selected. After a few minutes, check your responses in FormAssembly. They should be updated with the payment information.

See also: IPN Operations on PayPal


User Not Automatically Directed to Form's Thank You Page or Redirected URL

Users who choose to pay by credit card in the PayPal system will be presented with a receipt page that they can print for their records. This page will include a link to be taken to the form's Thank You page or URL.

Note that this behavior is different than what is experienced by users paying with their PayPal account, as they will be taken to the form's Thank You page directly.

See also:  How does PayPal direct users back to my site?


PayPal Doesn't Display the Pay by Credit Card Option on Checkout

After you create a PayPal account, PayPal places a cookie in your browser that causes the Pay by PayPal menu to appear when you go to checkout on the PayPal site.

Users without a PayPal account will still see the Pay by Credit Card option. To replicate the behavior your users will experience, clear your browser's cookie cache, then test your form.

After completing the form, you will be presented with the Pay by Credit Card option on the PayPal checkout page.

See also: Why can't I pay for checkout by credit card?

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