how can i get paypal ipn notification without user clicking on the "return to merchant" link?
how can i make it so when the transaction is complete i get the notification?
i also have an unrelated question
how can i check which user made the payment? surely not with there email/name is there a way to uniquely identify each user?
i am on wordpress, using php
The Instant Payment Notification (IPN) of paypal calls a script on your server and transmit all payment information as $_POST-variables.
You have to give the user an unique hashid and send it along by redirecting the user to paypal. The user pays your products and after a successful payment he can return to your merchant and your script is called by paypal.
Here you can create your own script for IPN: https://www.paypaltech.com/SG2/
You will be notified after a successful payment. It's not relevant whether the user returns to your merchant or not.
Some more information for IPN:
and the paypal developer network: http://www.x.com