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PayPal “Buy Now” buttons have been broken for a week

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PayPal “Buy Now” buttons have been broken for a week

#1

Post by davisr »

Eight days ago, PayPal broke their Buy Now buttons ^[1] for customers who sell electronic goods (i.e. who don't collect shipping addresses).

The error is because they use `eval()` in their JavaScript, which browsers block. So far, they have been unable to fix the issue.

If you are a PayPal merchant using a payment button who sells digital goods, this might be why your payments stopped over a week ago. PayPal support is mostly unhelpful.

A workaround purported in the community forum is to start collecting a shipping address, and set the shipping rate to 0.00.

[1]: https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/PayPal-Payments-Standard/Complete-Purchase-Button-failing/td-p/3073625

Re: PayPal “Buy Now” buttons have been broken for a week

#4

Post by para_parolu »

jzombie wrote: post #3

I find that customer support from a lot of companies these days is remarkably degraded from a few years ago. Some companies, I can't even "spend" money with because of this. A real crisis.

Hi, I’m a virtual assistant. How can I help you today? Please, select of of 3 available answers.

Re: PayPal “Buy Now” buttons have been broken for a week

#5

Post by ggwp99 »

jzombie wrote: post #3

I find that customer support from a lot of companies these days is remarkably degraded from a few years ago. Some companies, I can't even "spend" money with because of this. A real crisis.

I do think the prevalance and low cost of bots caused this.

Re: PayPal “Buy Now” buttons have been broken for a week

#6

Post by caseyf »

I ran into this problem and it seemed to be triggered when 1) shipping addresses are not needed/collected and 2) the receiver account has any kind of sales tax calculations set up (deep in the PayPal settings)

I reported the issue via Merchant Technical Support on the 22nd and got this response yesterday:

"Unfortunately, the problem you're experiencing appears to be caused by technical issues within the PayPal system.

I added this account to our existing engineering ticket so that when the problem is resolved, you will be notified of its completion right away.

Our engineers are already working diligently on a solution to this problem. This ticket will remain in a "Pending Fix" status until you're contacted about the resolution.

I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience!"

Re: PayPal “Buy Now” buttons have been broken for a week

#7

Post by davisr »

caseyf wrote: post #6

I ran into this problem and it seemed to be triggered when 1) shipping addresses are not needed/collected and 2) the receiver account has any kind of sales tax calculations set up (deep in the PayPal settings) I reported the issue via Merchant Technical Support on the 22nd and got this response yesterday: "Unfortunately, the problem you're experiencing appears to be caused by technical issues within the PayPal system…

This is the first I'm hearing about sales tax being involved--and (1) + (2) perfectly describe my business. I've disabled sales tax...let's see if that helps.

FWIW, I received a similar statement from their MTS today. Only that "they're working on it" and "I'll be notified". Although, your ticket is in "Pending Fix" and mine is "On Hold" (so it doesn't get auto-closed, they said).

Thanks for the tip! PayPal should be paying _you_.

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