S2 Button code suddenly not working with PayPal

#1

All of a sudden, on 93 sites we have running s2member pro the S2member button code generates the screen I uploaded - a Paypal ‘shopping cart’ thing WITH NO PRICE SET!
(Everyone is using PayPal Standard not Pro)

==The s2 shortcode (from 1 site):

[s2Member-PayPal-Button level="2" ccaps="" desc="Full APP Membership / description and pricing details here." ps="paypal" lc="" cc="USD" dg="0" ns="1" custom="aisoftwaremonthly.deadeasyapps.com" ta="0" tp="0" tt="D" ra="8.72" rp="1" rt="M" rr="1" rrt="" rra="1" image="default" output="button" /]

==The Full Button Code:

<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
 <input type="hidden" name="business" value="[redacted]web-site-biz.com" />
 <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick-subscriptions" />
 <!-- Instant Payment Notification & Return Page Details -->
 <input type="hidden" name="notify_url" value="https://aisoftwaremonthly.deadeasyapps.com/?s2member_paypal_notify=1" />
 <input type="hidden" name="cancel_return" value="https://aisoftwaremonthly.deadeasyapps.com/" />
 <input type="hidden" name="return" value="https://aisoftwaremonthly.deadeasyapps.com/?s2member_paypal_return=1" />
 <input type="hidden" name="rm" value="2" />
 <!-- Configures Basic Checkout Fields -->
 <input type="hidden" name="lc" value="" />
 <input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="1" />
 <input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1" />
 <input type="hidden" name="custom" value="aisoftwaremonthly.deadeasyapps.com" />
 <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD" />
 <input type="hidden" name="page_style" value="paypal" />
 <input type="hidden" name="charset" value="utf-8" />
 <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Full APP Membership / description and pricing details here." />
 <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="2" />
 <!-- Configures s2Member's Unique Invoice ID/Code  -->
 <input type="hidden" name="invoice" value="<?php echo S2MEMBER_VALUE_FOR_PP_INV(); ?>" />
 <!-- Identifies/Updates An Existing User/Member (when/if applicable)  -->
 <input type="hidden" name="on0" value="<?php echo S2MEMBER_CURRENT_USER_VALUE_FOR_PP_ON0; ?>" />
 <input type="hidden" name="os0" value="<?php echo S2MEMBER_CURRENT_USER_VALUE_FOR_PP_OS0; ?>" />
 <!-- Identifies The Customer's IP Address For Tracking -->
 <input type="hidden" name="on1" value="<?php echo S2MEMBER_CURRENT_USER_VALUE_FOR_PP_ON1; ?>" />
 <input type="hidden" name="os1" value="<?php echo S2MEMBER_CURRENT_USER_VALUE_FOR_PP_OS1; ?>" />
 <!-- Controls Modify Behavior At PayPal Checkout -->
 <input type="hidden" name="modify" value="0" />
 <!-- Customizes Prices, Payments & Billing Cycle -->
 <!--<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="8.72" />-->
 <input type="hidden" name="src" value="1" />
 <input type="hidden" name="srt" value="" />
 <input type="hidden" name="sra" value="1" />
 <!--<input type="hidden" name="a1" value="0" />-->
 <!--<input type="hidden" name="p1" value="0" />-->
 <!--<input type="hidden" name="t1" value="D" />-->
 <input type="hidden" name="a3" value="8.72" />
 <input type="hidden" name="p3" value="1" />
 <input type="hidden" name="t3" value="M" />
 <!-- Displays The PayPal Image Button -->
 <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_xpressCheckout.gif" style="width:auto; height:auto; border:0;" alt="PayPal" />
</form>

paypal-checkout-error
paypal-checkout-error.jpg846×689 41.5 KB

===========================================
The actual URL it goes to on PayPal is:

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/shoppingcart?flowlogging_id=f663891768cef&mfid=1687468977792_f663891768cef#/checkout/openButton

And NO the user has made NO changes to their Paypal account
WE get the same result on OUR site and have NOT made changes either
BUT Paypal may have.

USERS ARE FREAKING OUT ON ALL 93 SITES and canceling.
(A couple users tried to pay .01 cents - typed it in themselves)

WE have not made ANY changes in 2 weeks on any sites relative to PayPal buttons. We have issues before with credit card stuff but this is just weird. People are justifiably PISSED. And we, are confused. :slightly_smiling_face:

Sid

Update - found dozens of “deprecated” notices in PayPal developers section.

Plus this jewel:

paypal-checkout-error-deprecated
paypal-checkout-error-deprecated.jpg1449×641 100 KB

#2

I am running into the same issue on my site and my customers are paying minimal amount through the payment form, is there a resolution on this?

#3

Someone on Facebook said PayPal deprecated a LOT of the code s2member relies on, but it only affects subscription buttons created in recent months. “Legacy” subscription buttons aren’t affected…yet

They want to force everyone to use their “integration partners” to integrate buttons into their site (wiz site builder, squarespace, others)

The PayPal developer section has all sorts of deprecation messages, and everything there is coded using JavaScript and their JavaScript SDK

I reported all this to s2member but it appears they are ignoring the issue.
We logged into our paypal account and sent a message in the message center complaining about it.

Our problem affects 93 sites where we installed s2member.

And that is my long-winded way of saying we have no solution as yet. :smile:

If you discover one, by all means, share it.

Sid

1 Like
#4

Hi @clavaque is this issue on your radar? Hoping you would have a solution for this.

#5

I don’t know if this is related but I found other people on the PayPal Community forum saying that they started having issues with PayPal Standard buttons as of yesterday afternoon. Maybe PayPal is having problems.

#6

Well it was yesterday when we realized there was an issue we discovered, and after testing, found it was happening on ALL 93 sites. So yeah, I’d have to say PayPal is having issues - and they may have made the changes themselves!

We reported an issue with users not being to pay with their balance 2 weeks ago -. Merchant support said there was an “issue” they were “looking into”. Almost as if they fixed one and broke another.

Regardless, we have angry people losing customers. And you don’t know the issue affects you till someone complains and you test it.

Sid

Sid

#7

I use PayPal Pro forms and have not noticed the issue. Checked my Developer page to make sure there were no errors. So it only seems to be affecting PayPal Standard which I don’t use so I can’t test.

Strange that there are not more people here reporting it. I can’t even find anything on Google about it.

#8

Not that odd

We are NOT the only one seeing the issue - and did not know ourselves it was an issue till someone complained. We don’t spend much time buying from ourselves.

None of those using our sites pay the $20 a month for PayPal pro. But you are correct - it does not appear to affect Pro users, only standard. And only - ‘new created’ relatively speaking - subscription buttons on our s2member sites. Subscriptions on sites created last year work fine. (all 93 sites we created this year).

And NONE of us have time to invent imaginary issues. Though we will probably have to wait till lots of people mention it before someone looks at it. Right now, PayPal tells US that “the s2member code is out of date” - but no details beyond that. Not very helpful.

sid

1 Like
#9

I’m not implying that the issue isn’t real. I’m just trying to understand the issue. For example, why would older buttons still work but newer ones stopped working? Is it not the same s2Member code?

And if it is the same code, did PayPal suddenly decide that only buttons created after a certain date will be affected? Why, and how, would they do that?

I can’t find any official documentation from PayPal saying they made changes to PayPal Standard recently. Usually they give advanced notice about something like this.

#10

I keep reading from PayPal that Standard has been deprecated for quite a while and has been called “Legacy” since at least last year. So none of that is new. Still can’t find any info on recent changes.

#11

I found a YouTube video from PayPal that seems to show how to upgrade from “classic” PayPal to the newer PayPal Checkout. Maybe this could help @clavaque make the necessary changes.

1 Like
#12

What about you change a small thing in the button like price? Will those be affected then?

But then this probably soon affects all buttons, only affecting new buttons can only be a test run…

#13

Yes they called legacy. And still works on existing 'legacy" stuff. Just not the new stuff. And yes, they know when a button is created in the API.

I don’t have a good explanation of what they are doing, just that it IS happening.

The video addresses generic sites - NOT s2Member Sites

As you just verified, s2member buttons are using deprecated “legacy” API code for the subscription buttons.

If you just create a button yourself, outside s2, then it naturally has no integration with s2, so does not register them as a member, etc. You have to do that manually (AND set registration to “open” manually)

Sid

#14

And I agree - at some point all these subsciption buttons will probably be fully deprecated and stop working. THEN people will start screaming by the thousands!

There are 170+ million people using PayPal, (or is it more now?) and tens of millions of businesses. It’s fine to add new methods and features, but shutting down the older stuff is not a great idea.

#15

If this is an s2Member issue, then unfortunately I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for a fix. There have been plenty of discussions on here over the years about s2Member’s PayPal integration being outdated. Even Pro’s integration is outdated. But nothing is ever done about it. Your only solution may be to switch from PayPal to Stripe. Or find a different plugin. The worst thing you could do is wait for an s2Member update.

#16

OK, I don’t like to hear that! We have this software installed on nearly 100 sites!

We mentioned this problem to MembershipPro (one of our team is on their list) and their email response was - within 10 minutes - "I have notified the developers and asked for an immediate update if the deprecated code affects any of our sites - we did issue an PayPal update several months ago "

I can’t order 100 businesses to signup and use Stripe because of s2’s lack of care. I may have to follow your advice and look for a replacement to s2. They will NOT like that, but it hopefully won’t require them to do too much. Big difference.

Thanks to all for your feedback!

Sid

#17

Interesting that MembershipPro responded in 10 minutes, while @clavaque (the only person who works on s2Member) has not responded at all.

I keep meaning to switch to MemberPress, which claims to have an easy automated tool to update users from other plugins like s2Member to MemberPress. But MemberPress is expensive, although I guess you get what you pay for.

#18

I’m still curious as to why no other s2Member users are mentioning this (you would think that more of them would have noticed people paying 1 cent for a membership by now) and why I can’t find anything about a recent PayPal Standard change anywhere. If PayPal suddenly made a change that resulted in Standard buttons no longer working, why are more people not talking about it? I don’t get it.

#19

I think I covered that above. :grinning:

And I no longer care - WE represent 92 sites (one client already cancelled in frustration - 23 people joined his site and set their payment at 10 cents!) who ARE having the issue.They are not techies - we maintain all the sites, and have to fix the issue. I have no doubts others have an issue and don’t know it yet, and many more are probably do,and are bitching at PayPal, not here.

It is an issue for us, and that is my focus.

Sid

#20

Has your team member heard anything more from MembershipPro about whether or not their sites have been affected?