How to fix PayPal Instant Payment Notification (IPN) Warning [SOLVED]

Fixing the PayPal Instant Payment Notification (IPN) Warning is important to ensure your store processes payments correctly. If you’ve ever run into this issue, you’ve likely received the following message from PayPal:

“Please check your server that handles PayPal Instant Payment Notification (IPN).
IPNs sent to the following URL(s) are failing:
http://yourstore.com/paypal/ipn/
If you do not recognize this URL, you may be using a service provider that is using IPN on your behalf. Please contact your service provider with the above information.
If this problem continues, IPNs may be disabled for your account.”

Here’s how to solve it step by step:

Step 1: Check your PayPal IPN settings

1. Log into your PayPal Account.
2. Navigate to:

My Account -> Profile -> My Selling Tools -> Instant Payment Notifications -> Update -> Choose IPN Settings.

3. Paste the notification URL provided by your store.
4. Enable the option “Receive IPN messages”.

Step 2: Multiple stores using the same PayPal account

If you’re using one PayPal merchant account across multiple stores, you may see conflicts.

• Some recommend creating a separate PayPal account per store, but this isn’t practical.
• Instead, note that each shop system automatically sends its own IPN URL to PayPal during checkout, which overrides the default PayPal IPN URL.
• This means you don’t have to set a fixed IPN URL in your PayPal account.

Step 3: Create a blank page for PayPal IPN

1. Create a blank page on your server. This page will not process data — it simply exists to receive default PayPal IPN calls.
2. Set the URL of this blank page as your default PayPal IPN URL.

This way, when payments come from other stores, PayPal sends notifications to this blank page, preventing warning messages about IPN failures.

✅ After completing these steps, PayPal should no longer send IPN warning notifications, and your stores will continue handling transactions correctly.

Updated on: 18/09/2025