Passing PayPal Invoice Number Back In Notification Email

Question

I need to make a modification to our custom cart. Basically as it currently stands when we get a payment we use IPN to post back to our site and display the details of the purchase, we then get an email from PayPal with all the details in.

I have an excel spreadsheet that then accesses Outlook and prints an Invoice based on this email and adjusts the stock database etc, at this point the order is given an Invoice number.

However, I want to make it that the invoice number is given at the checkout stage, now I know you can set the 'invoice' variable as a pass thru variable, however, what I am unable to determine from the online literature is whether or not this 'invoice' value is returned in the the PayPal instant Payment Notification email, so my excel spreadsheet can use it?

If the invoice number is not sent in the email, is there any field you know of that is?

All the best and thank you in advance.

Answer 1

First, it sounds like you're confusing IPN and PDT. They're very similar, but if the data is getting sent to your return URL then that would be PDT. IPN gets POSTed to a separate script outside of your checkout altogether.

IPN is the recommended method of updating things and sending out emails, etc. because even with Auto-Return enabled there is no guarantee your buyers will make it back to your return URL (when using Payments Standard.) IPN will always be triggered regardless.

So, back to your question, yes, the invoice number will be sent with IPN notifications if you pass it to PayPal with the payment request. The parameter is called "invoice". You can see all the available parameters that IPN works with in the PayPal documentation .