I had an interesting problem to solve last night. A friend and I are both running osCommerce (osC) software to manage our on-line storefronts. He told me of a problem that his software VAR (for osC) could not solve. It had to do with PayPal and the fact that the customer would pay for an order in PayPal but the order would not appear in the osC store records.
I checked and realized I have the same exact problem!
I discovered the reason and a solution. The osC storefront doesn’t record the sale until the customer comes back to osC from PayPal. That is because osC doesn’t want to show it as a sale until it knows payment was completed, makes sense.
It is a PayPal default to not automatically return the customer to osC (especially if they pay by credit card) because PayPal wants to market to him to join the PayPal system and other assorted ploys. There is a selectable OPTION the customer can click to return, but many customers quit when they are still in PayPal. This is because PayPal confirms payment and looks like it confirmed the order. If you are already a PayPal member and use your PayPal account to pay, it does send you back to osC.
There is a well hidden option switch buried deep within PayPal setup that can auto return every customer to whence he came. I turned that option “ON”.
I am now considering other options for credit card payment.
The lesson here is that anyone using PayPal for online credit card payment (directed by any osC storefront interface) must return to the store to make sure the order is posted within the store software, either manual or automatic.