Paypal IPN sending information if user made a payment or cancels a recurring payment

Question

I'm building a website that has a subscription functionality and I have a few question about Paypal IPN and recurring payment method.

Would the IPN be sent over to you if it is the due date for a recurring payment to be made?

For example:

User subscribed your product on September 1, then on October 2(payment due) the user made a payment( automatic deduction via paypal's recurring payment ). Would an IPN be sent over on your server and tell you that this user has paid you?

And just a follow up question. If a user cancels his/her recurring payment, would an IPN sent over in your server so that you'll be able to know that he/she cancelled the recurring payment?

If No, how would I be able to know that the user has cancelled its payment?

Thanks! Your help would be greatly appreciated and rewarded! :-)

Answer 1

AFAIK the answer is yes to all. PayPal will inform you whenever a payment is made, even if this payment is after a long time. (see here at Recurring Payments Notifications section)

PayPal notifies you of recurring payments events through IPN and email. Typically, however, you can call GetTransactionDetails to obtain the information you need.

Moreover PayPal sends IPN messages when a cancellation is beeing made.

However it's your responsibility to simulate and handle the diferent situations inside your php script in order to make sure when it's about a cancellation IPN message or a recurring payment.