Error – Could not initiate PayPal Checkout

I just realised I had debugging on so here is a section of the log from today:

I can email the whole current log file if you let me have an email address

[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - SUCCESS :pp_create_order ajax request received for createOrder. Cart ID: 1755, On Page Button ID: wpsc_paypal_button_1
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - SUCCESS :Shipping preference based on the 'all items digital' flag: GET_FROM_FILE
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - SUCCESS :[New Token] Creating a new PayPal API access token for environment mode: production
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - FAILURE :Error occurred with the PayPal API (by URL) request. Error message: cURL error 28: Operation timed out after 30001 milliseconds with 0 bytes received
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - FAILURE :PayPal Debug ID: , Request URL: https://api-m.paypal.com/v1/oauth2/token?grant_type=client_credentials
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - SUCCESS :Executing order create (v2/checkout/orders) using URL and args.
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - SUCCESS :PayPal Debug ID from the REST API (by URL) request. Debug ID: 4cddc27c3fac5, Request URL: https://api-m.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - SUCCESS :PayPal Order ID:
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - SUCCESS :pp_create_order ajax request received for createOrder. Cart ID: 1755, On Page Button ID: wpsc_paypal_button_1
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - SUCCESS :Shipping preference based on the 'all items digital' flag: GET_FROM_FILE
[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - SUCCESS :[New Token] Creating a new PayPal API access token for environment mode: production
[01/10/2025 3:30 PM] - FAILURE :Error occurred with the PayPal API (by URL) request. Error message: cURL error 28: Operation timed out after 30001 milliseconds with 0 bytes received
[01/10/2025 3:30 PM] - FAILURE :PayPal Debug ID: , Request URL: https://api-m.paypal.com/v1/oauth2/token?grant_type=client_credentials
[01/10/2025 3:30 PM] - SUCCESS :Executing order create (v2/checkout/orders) using URL and args.
[01/10/2025 3:30 PM] - SUCCESS :PayPal Debug ID from the REST API (by URL) request. Debug ID: 6aa4f354b471c, Request URL: https://api-m.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders
[01/10/2025 3:30 PM] - SUCCESS :PayPal Order ID:
[01/10/2025 3:31 PM] - SUCCESS :pp_create_order ajax request received for createOrder. Cart ID: 1755, On Page Button ID: wpsc_paypal_button_1
[01/10/2025 3:31 PM] - SUCCESS :Shipping preference based on the 'all items digital' flag: GET_FROM_FILE
[01/10/2025 3:31 PM] - SUCCESS :[New Token] Creating a new PayPal API access token for environment mode: production
[01/10/2025 3:32 PM] - FAILURE :Error occurred with the PayPal API (by URL) request. Error message: cURL error 28: Operation timed out after 30001 milliseconds with 0 bytes received
[01/10/2025 3:32 PM] - FAILURE :PayPal Debug ID: , Request URL: https://api-m.paypal.com/v1/oauth2/token?grant_type=client_credentials
[01/10/2025 3:32 PM] - SUCCESS :Executing order create (v2/checkout/orders) using URL and args.
[01/10/2025 3:32 PM] - SUCCESS :PayPal Debug ID from the REST API (by URL) request. Debug ID: f0942bebb9c2d, Request URL: https://api-m.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders
[01/10/2025 3:32 PM] - SUCCESS :PayPal Order ID:
[01/10/2025 3:34 PM] - SUCCESS :pp_create_order ajax request received for createOrder. Cart ID: 1755, On Page Button ID: wpsc_paypal_button_1

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by stevemarsden.

Thank you for reaching out to us.

[01/10/2025 3:29 PM] - FAILURE :Error occurred with the PayPal API (by URL) request. Error message: cURL error 28: Operation timed out after 30001 milliseconds with 0 bytes received

The above error is related to your server. You need to get in contact with your host. They should be able to help you with your issue.

Let me know how you go.

Kind regards.

Before contacting our host (IONOS), I thought I would try again now and the problem seems to have resolved itself so whatever was happening at the server has been fixed.

Thanks for your help

That is good news ?? You are most welcome. I am marking this thread as resolved.

Kind regards.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by mbrsolution.

Hi

The above problem has returned.

I have contacted the server hosting IONOS and their technical support have said we need to get the developer to increase the timeout value. Can you advise please and is this something you can change in the plugin.

Thanks

Steve

Thank you for reporting back. I have changed the thread to not resolved and submitted a message to the developers to investigate further.

Kind regards.

Hi, We will update the plugin in the next release to increase the timeout values for PayPal API requests.

Currently, the timeout for creating the PayPal API access token is set to 30 seconds, so it’s surprising to hear that this is timing out on your site. Regardless, we will double the timeout value and introduce a filter hook to allow further customization if needed.”

Hi

Thank you for the response and potential fix. That sounds great.

I do agree that you would think 30 seconds was long enough. There is a noticeable delay between clicking the PayPal button and the error appearing. I haven’t timed it so it may be 30seconds.

After doing some research on GitHub, I found this post

You can increase the curl timeout in WordPress to, let’s say 300, simply by adding this line in your wp-config.php file: ini_set( ‘default_socket_timeout’, 300 );?

and so I have added the line ini_set( ‘default_socket_timeout’, 60 );?

This seems to have resolved the error but the problem was intermittent and has gone away previously without any changes only to reappear but for now this change seems to have solved it.

Interestingly though, there now doesn’t seem to be any delay between clicking the button and it proceeding to PayPal. i.e. it works but not after a 30 second delay so I agree with your comment about 30 seconds being a long time to timeout and wonder if something else is going on at their end.

It has also previously worked since going live about 6 months ago without any issues on the same server so not sure if they have changed something at IONOS.

I will remove the wp-config line and try the updated version when done and keep you informed.

Thanks again for your excellent support (and product!)

Steve

Sounds good. Thank you for the update.