How To Setup PayPal IPN post show you how to log into your PayPal account and set up your IPN settings.
Last Updated: April 16, 2016
Latest News: I have edited the grammar a bit and corrected some spelling errors.
If you are using PayPal on your website as a payment method you probably want to communicate between PayPal and your website. You need to configure your Instant Payment Notification (IPN) settings in your PayPal account. It allows you to get immediate notification and authentication of the PayPal payments you receive, which is very important.
This setting is something that people forget to set up and then have issues when someone makes a payment on their website.
How To Setup PayPal IPN Steps
Note: If you are using the old classic style go to Step 1 ) if you are using the New layout go to Step 4 ).
Step 1 ) If you are using the classic PayPal layout click on the following Profile tab. See image below. 
Step 2 ) If you are still using the old style click on My Selling Tools. See image below.
Step 3 ) Click on Choose IPN Settings. See image below.
Step 4 ) Log into PayPal and click on Summary -> Seller preferences. See image below.
Step 5 ) In the following image Instant payment notifications click on Update link. This will allow you to edit the settings.
Step 6 ) The following image allows you to set up the following options.
- Notification URL
- IPN messages = Receive IPN message (Enabled) if you want to communicate between your website and PayPal.
- Click on Save button once you have completed your settings
I will be updating this tutorial from time to time so keep coming back for the latest. If you have any questions please let me know.
Enjoy
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Manuel Ballesta Ruiz is a web developer, Blogger and WordPress Enthusiast.
Do I have to have to have IPN? Can’t PayPal simply send me an E-mail? When referencing “Notification URL”, is this a page on my web-site? Do I have to create a “Response Page” on my site in order to receive order notification? Thanks for your time? HD
Hi Henrik, in regards to enabling IPN the answer is yes. That is how PayPal can correspond backward and forward between your website and PayPal.
hi manuel,
thanks for your informations! I did what you said, but still have the problem that there is a big time gap ( 5 hours) between the sell of the user and the notification mail that automatically is been sended to him.
because of the fact that the notification mail for the seller contains the download link for the sold ebook thats really a big problem for my shop.
any ideas how to fix this problem?
thank you from berlin
rasani
Hi Rasani, thank you for your question. In your case it would be best to investigate further, if you have a connection delay. The reason why I am saying this is because you mentioned above that it takes 5 hours for the seller to receive the download link. This tells me that PayPal IPN is working. Perhaps you might like to speak to your website host? See if they can come up with some clue as to why it is taking 5 hours.
I hope the above helps you.