Paypal Pro Sandbox fails with no error message

The log directory is not something that needs to be created. It comes with WooCommerce by default and it’s located at /wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/logs. Within that you should find the actual log file(s) if you have logging enabled.

It sounds like you may be getting a completely blank response back, which could mean you don’t have cURL enabled on your server. Can you confirm whether or not cURL is enabled?

Hi, thanks very much for helping.

The log directory definitely isn’t there, and I double checked the Woocommerce download zip and it doesn’t contain a log file: https://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce/

Just as a test, I created a directory with 777 permisions but still no log file appeared.

I have had error messages returned for previous transactions. For example, I initially didn’t have Payments Pro enabled (it’s a UK website) and I got an error saying the merchant configuration was incorrect.

Curl is enabled, this is the relevant section of my PHPInfo:

cURL support enabled
cURL Information 7.15.5
Age 2
Features
AsynchDNS No
Debug No
GSS-Negotiate Yes
IDN Yes
IPv6 Yes
Largefile Yes
NTLM Yes
SPNEGO No
SSL Yes
SSPI No
krb4 No
libz Yes
CharConv No
Protocols tftp, ftp, telnet, dict, ldap, http, file, https, ftps
Host x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu
SSL Version OpenSSL/0.9.8b
ZLib Version 1.2.3

Invalid Merchant Configuration would mean you’re attempting to use the DoDirectPayment API without it being enabled on your PayPal account. For UK Pro you would need to be using PayFlow instead of DDP.

We’re simply piggy-backing off the built in WC logs, so it’s tough to say what could be causing them not to show up.

Do you have any other plugins that could be conflicting? I would try disabling any other plugins you have to see if the problem goes away. If so, then you could re-enable one-by-one until you find the culprit.

I disabled all plugins except Woocommerce and Paypal for Woocommerce, and switched to the 2012 theme, but I’m still getting the blank error message.

Currently I’m using “PayPal Website Payments Pro (DoDirectPayment)” because according to this https://developer.paypal.com/webapps/developer/docs/classic/howto_product_matrix/ Payflow isn’t supported in the UK. Should I be using “PayPal Payments Pro 2.0 (PayFlow)”? I actually just tried using Payflow to see what would happen, but got the message ’26 – Invalid vendor account’.

Which version of Payments Pro do you have enabled on your account? It sounds like you may have Payments Advanced instead of Pro. Or sometimes they call it Pro Hosted. Does that sound familiar?

I don’t think it gives an option of advanced vs pro. To double check, I just created a new Sandbox business account and there is an “Upgrade to Pro” button to convert it into a pro account, but no mention of advanced. Here is the screenshot: https://wordpresstest.com.gridhosted.co.uk/sandbox-settings.png

So you don’t have Pro yet active on your live account..??

I’m almost certain if you’re in the UK you would need Payments Pro 2.0, which works on PayFlow. They first made it available to UK with Pro 1.5, which they called Payments Pro PayFlow Edition.

When using that, though, you would go through your account at https://manager.paypal.com in order to set things up.

Unfortunately, PayPal makes this all very confusing by calling different products by the same name. Drives me nuts, but we just need to figure out which version of Pro you’ll be using on your live account and then I can help you more. You may need to call PayPal to verify.

The sandbox account I have been using does have Pro active. That screenshot was from a new test account I created to show you the option I was presented with.

I last set up a Paypal pro account 2 years ago and that was a complete nightmare. It seems they’ve succeeded in making it even more complicated!

I’ll see if I can contact Paypal and get them to clarify.

If you’re working solely in the sandbox and you used the pre-configured account generator to create a Pro account then DDP should work for you. It’s tough to say why you’d be getting a blank result back, though. Could be any number of things. I’d have to troubleshoot your system more directly, but that would involve premium support.

Any luck on this or are you still struggling?

I ended up going with the paid plugin which gave me an error indicating the debit card was wrong. I was using test card numbers which I have used in the past but obviously they don’t work anymore! Using a card number which I generated by setting up a buyer account in Sandbox fixed the problem.

I haven’t tested whether this was what was resulting in the blank error being returned by your plugin, but there is a high chance.

By the way, I confirmed with Paypal UK that they do currently use Website Payments Pro (DoDirectPayment).

That doesn’t always mean that’s what you have active on your account, though.

Do you have logs at the root of your site, by chance? Somebody else just recently said they didn’t have logs where I asked you to look, and they wound up finding them at the site root under a /wp-logs or /wc-logs or something like that. Maybe you’ve got something similar going on..??

At this point are you going to stick with the paid plugin or are you going to try mine again? Just curious if I should close this ticket or not..??

Ah yes, there is a directory called wc-logs in the WordPress root.

I’ll stick with the paid plugin at least until the license runs out, so please do close the ticket. Thanks for your help.

Ok, thanks!