Paid Downloads FAQ

Posted by Ivan Churakov on March 2, 2012

The plugin Paid Downloads is getting popular, but sometimes people meet problems with it. In this post I would like to summarize the problems, that people met, and suggest solutions of them.

Customer purchased product but did not get download link

This is most popular problem that might have several reasons. So we need to understand which one is related to our case.

First of all go to transactions list in WordPress dashboard and check that related transaction is there. If record exists, then check that its status is “Completed” (for PayPal) or “Success” (for AlertPay and InterKassa). If so the problem is in mailing function. The possible way to resolve it is to set real “Sender e-mail” on plugin settings page. Some hosting providers require that this e-mail address must belong to the same domain as your WordPress website and it must be real e-mail address.

If the payment status is different, then buyer receives “Failed purchasing e-mail”. This e-mail does not contain download link. Please remember, download link is sent only if payment status is “Completed” (for PayPal) or “Success” (for AlertPay and InterKassa). If you get “Pending” status, go to your PayPal account and check the reason of pending payment. Sometimes you must accept the payments manually in your PayPal account, sometimes it happens because user pays by e-cheque, sometimes something else. I can’t tell the full list of reasons. Anyway it’s not in plugin’s power to affect on payment status. It just wait for signal from PayPal (IPN-request) that payment is “Completed”.

Next. If buyer purchased a product and related transaction record does not exists in transactions list. It means that plugin did not receive IPN-request from PayPal. If so, try one of the following:

Open URL http://www.mywebsite.com/?paiddownloads_ipn=paypal in your browser. You must see blank screen. If so, then go to next step. If you see any error/warning message, please contact me. If you see homepage of your WordPress website, then check this link.
Try to change PayPal ID that receives payments. Sometimes it helps. I think the problem is related to some account settings on PayPal side, but now I can’t tell which ones might be a reason of this issue. I have to research this question more deeply.
If changing of PayPal ID doesn’t help, go to your PayPal account, then click “Profile” and “My selling tools”. In the list of settings choose “Instant payment notifications” and click “Update”. Then click button “Choose IPN Settings”. On this page choose “Receive IPN messages (Enabled)” and set “Notification URL” as http://www.mywebsite.com/?paiddownloads_ipn=paypal.

Click on download link does not start downloading, but opens homepage

The problem is in WP Super Cache plugin. WP Super Cache plugin doesn’t allow WordPress to work normal way. To resolve this problem it is necessary to go to WP Super Cache settings page, then click on “Advanced” tab and set checkbox “Late init. Display cached files after WordPress has loaded”. Also WP Super Cache plugin might be a reason of that the plugin did not receive IPN-request from PayPal.

Above I described the possible issues with Paid Downloads plugin and suggest solutions of them. If you still have problem, please contact me. I will research one and add information here.

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44 Comments

sam March 6, 2012 at 18:19

how can i change it so instead of days the link is live, is only a single use link?
- Ivan Churakov March 6, 2012 at 21:12
  
  Hi Sam. There is no such option.
  - sam March 6, 2012 at 21:48
    
    how easy is it to implement?
hack8hide March 11, 2012 at 12:19

How I wish also that you could have options to every user has the authority to include their own paypal, their own files, …
- Ivan Churakov March 11, 2012 at 15:55
  
  Hi. Unfortunately the plugin doesn’t have such options.
Wolforg March 12, 2012 at 23:24

Hello and congratulations for this useful plugin,
I can translate it in french and sending you the traslation for integration in plugin’s next versions but I don’t know the name for the .mo & .po files. I’ve tried fr_FR.po and paid-downloads-fr_FR.po in the directory languages or in the plugin’s root folder but there’s no results. Can you help me for this settings? 😀

Best regards,
- Ivan Churakov March 12, 2012 at 23:31
  
  Many thanks for your feedback and wishes to translate the plugin. Filenames must be paiddownloads-fr_FR.po and paiddownloads-fr_FR.mo (in languages folder). You can send your translation to ichurakov at gmail dot com.
  - Wolforg March 13, 2012 at 13:44
    
    Thanks for your answer Ivan, It’s works 🙂
    I’ll finish the translation and sending you after.
    
    Keep the pressure 😀
    - Wolforg March 23, 2012 at 02:57
      
      I’m back and I’ve some goods news for you Ivan 🙂
      I’ve finished to translate your plugin in french, feel free to download this translation for your futures versions here :
      http://www.wptrads.fr/extension/paid-downloads/
      I use this plugin in this site and I love it 😉
      
      Life is a trip
      - Ivan Churakov March 23, 2012 at 09:32
        
        Many thanks for your translation. Please let me know if I can include your files into package. Also I would like to add your hyperlinked name to list of translator in plugin description page (here and on wordpress.org).
      - wolforg April 16, 2012 at 15:20
        
        Yes you can 😀
Wayno March 16, 2012 at 15:56

Hi again Ivan.
I updated the plugin, and somehow I lost my whole website! 😳
Just a hint for others, the html link is a bit different, in that the hyphen is gone. [paiddownload id”?”]
I also had a lot of compaints about the email not going through, so I have created an email with the same domain name is the site. I think this will fix it!
Best plugin, it just works great! Thanks again.
Andre Lefebvre March 17, 2012 at 10:24

Hi,

Is it possible to change the Buy Now button myself for something a bit different? If so, where could I go for that?
Andre Lefebvre March 17, 2012 at 10:37

Never mind, I found it in the admin panel…

I love what I’m seeing here!
Justin March 25, 2012 at 07:45

Hi , I downloaded your plugin and it looks good so far but my question is this , is there no way people buying the downloadable content can pay with their mastercard , visa , discovery or american express cards ? Please could you look into this as it would help me a lot.

Thanks in advance
- Ivan Churakov March 27, 2012 at 13:29
  
  PayPal allows people to pay with credit cards.
  - Szilard September 6, 2012 at 02:46
    
    Hi Ivan, Great plugin, indeed. I understand that PayPal allows people to pay as guest, with cards, but then how do we get their e-mail address for sending the downoload link?
    - Ivan Churakov September 6, 2012 at 07:48
      
      Hi. This plugin uses payment mode that requires people to have PayPal account.
Gregory March 29, 2012 at 08:20

If you have problem opening http://www.mywebsite.com/?paiddownloads_ipn=paypal in your browser like this:

Unable to find the socket transport “ssl” – did you
forget to enable it when you configured PHP?

You need to enable openssl extension in PHP.
It helps me.
John April 8, 2012 at 23:58

Hello- it does not appear zip files are working. Once downloaded, it’s just an empty zip file with nothing in it.
- Ivan Churakov April 16, 2012 at 17:32
  
  It seems there are some server problems.
Eliot May 1, 2012 at 04:17

I can upload files, but not a zip folder containing 3 files. What can I do?
- Ivan Churakov May 5, 2012 at 12:49
  
  No. Only one file per product.
Chris May 3, 2012 at 16:48

Hi, When my buyer downloads zip file, it cannot be opened. Error message is: “Cannot open file. It does not appear to be a valid archive” – seems to be mismatch in expected file sizes, or something. File size is 93MB, contains 4 audios and 1 txt file. How can I make it work? Maybe there is a maximum file size? Maybe I can’t zip audios? Thanks
- Ivan Churakov May 5, 2012 at 12:46
  
  Try to upload file that is bit smaller. May your server terminates connection before whole file downlowded.
  - mac June 26, 2012 at 04:09
    
    I too am having this issue, when i test using http download all ok, but through the automatic links it fails always about 30-50MB
    The real file is 80MB.
    This is really bad 🙁
    Otherwise the plugin is ok.
    - Ivan Churakov July 3, 2012 at 19:26
      
      Please read this. If your server has mod_xsendfile module installed then you can use Paid Downloads Pro. Pro version can handle downloads through this module.
Chris May 3, 2012 at 21:31

I’d like use two different custom buy now buttons. Is it possible?
Thanks
- Ivan Churakov May 5, 2012 at 12:40
  
  Unfortunately, there is no such option.
Chris May 22, 2012 at 01:13

Hi, after I checkout from paypal and receive the encrypted link via email, I go to download the QuickTime file but it’s 0 bytes. Any idea why? Thanks.
- Ivan Churakov May 22, 2012 at 21:40
  
  Hi Chris. Try to disable cache plugins.
  - Chris May 25, 2012 at 21:09
    
    Hi Ivan, the file now downloads but the transfer terminates about 80% in. My Hosting provider asked me to ask you if the plugin
    supports xsend file? Can you please let me know? Thanks.
  - Chris May 27, 2012 at 22:34
    
    Hey Ivan, sorry to chase you up. Does your plugin support xsend file? I really need an answer on this.
    - Ivan Churakov May 28, 2012 at 12:12
      
      Unfortunately, no. 🙁
Chris May 23, 2012 at 12:10

Ivan, that worked! Well sort of…

I can now commence the download, however the 1.3GB file stops between 800MB and 1GB. It’s different every time.

When I move the file from the

/wp-content/uploads/paid-downloads/files/

to a folder in my themes directory, it downloads just fine.

Any idea why this may be the case?

Thanks!
Majella May 31, 2012 at 17:30

Hi Ivan

Thank you for this great plug-in!

Just a QQ – is there a way to sell only the physical product, without a downloadable file?

I want to sell some print editions of my ebooks seperately.

If there is no way to do this I will just create some other text file for the download link but thought I would check with you first in case you know a more elegant solution.

Thanks again!
- Ivan Churakov June 2, 2012 at 13:48
  
  Hi. Unfortunately, the plugin was created to sell digital products only.
Anselm June 26, 2012 at 21:03

It is broken in WP 3.4! Any news in an upadte?

kind regards,
Anselm
- Ivan Churakov June 26, 2012 at 22:38
  
  Hi. Could you please describe symptoms.
Siddhartha July 2, 2012 at 17:13

Hello, am trying to use this plugin for my html page, which is placed inside the php theme. As there are no page or posts only the back end static html comes, how can i place this shorthand code in the backend? to the buy now image?
- Ivan Churakov July 3, 2012 at 19:22
  
  This plugin works with WordPress.
Chanchad July 3, 2012 at 04:49

Thanks for great plugin. . . Am having error using this. whenever i check transactions See ( http://i46.tinypic.com/10hoswx.jpg ) for details.

Buyer are unable to download anything, payment says PENDING all time. . . Pls whats going on ?

Regards. . ..
- Ivan Churakov July 3, 2012 at 19:21
  
  Download link is sent only after Completed payment. Please go to PayPal account and check that payments have status “Completed”.
Peter Sundstrom July 13, 2012 at 04:33

I recently updated my working site from an older version of the plugin to the latest version (3.15) and WP3.4.1

I needed to change the URL for the Paypal IPN to the new format.

However, when a payment goes through, Paid Downloads reports the payment status as “Unrecognized”.

If I click on the “Unrecognized” link in the Paid Downloads transactions list, in the popup window it shows the Paypal status as “Completed”