Integration Guide
Table Of Contents
- Order Management Integration Guide
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Payment Data Transfer (PDT)
- Instant Payment Notification (IPN)
- Transaction History and Reporting Tools
- IPN and PDT Variables
- About These Tables of Variables
- test_ipn Variable in Sandbox
- IPN Variables in All Posts
- Buyer Information
- Basic Information
- Advanced and Custom Information
- Website Payments Standard, Website Payments Pro, and Refund Information
- Currency and Currency Exchange
- Auctions
- Mass Payment
- Subscriptions
- Dispute Notification Variables
- PDT-Specific Variables
- Downloadable History Logs
- Index
Order Management Integration Guide March 2008 19
Payment Data Transfer (PDT)
PDT and PayPal Account Optional
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For security, the identity token is not sent to you; however, once you have enabled PDT, it
permanently appears below the Payment Data Transfer On/Off radio buttons on the Website
Payments Preferences page.
PDT and PayPal Account Optional
The PayPal Account Optional does not require your customers who are new to PayPal to
create a PayPal account to complete a purchase—they go through an alternate checkout and
have the option to sign up afterward. Customers who already have PayPal accounts will
continue to enjoy the privileges of those accounts, such as payment history and integration
with eBay Auctions, and their checkout experience will remain the same.
This PayPal Account Optional feature is available for Buy Now, Donations, and Shopping
Cart buttons, but not for Subscription buttons.
PayPal Account Optional is enabled by default. If the merchant has turned on Payment Data
Transfer and has not disabled PayPal Account Optional, a new user will not be automatically
directed back to the merchant website, but will be given the option to return. When the buyer
clicks the Continue button, the transaction ID associated with the transaction is sent. The
merchant returns the transaction ID, along with their identity token, and PayPal then sends the
merchant payment information that confirms that the payment is complete. The buyer is
directed back to the merchant site where the transaction information is displayed. However, if
the buyer does not click the Continue button, they will not be directed back to the merchant's
site and PDT will not be initiated.
PDT Notification Synch
After you have activated PDT, every time a buyer makes a website payment and is redirected
to your return URL, a transaction token is sent via a FORM GET variable to this return URL.
To properly use PDT and display transaction details to your customer, you should read the
transaction token from the variable tx and retrieve transaction details from PayPal by
constructing an HTTPS POST to PayPal. This is called notification synch or synchronization.