Receive payment notifications

Important: NVP/SOAP is a legacy integration method. We accept new integrations and support existing integrations, but there are newer solutions. If you're starting an integration, we recommend our latest solutions.

As a merchant, you can receive payment notifications from your PayPal Payments Standard payment buttons. To receive notifications, you can use either Instant Payment Notification (IPN) or Payment Data Transfer (PDT).

In addition to receiving notifications, you can also use the payment notification information to programmatically manage other aspects of your business. For example, you can securely display transaction details to your buyer, immediately provide a download link for digital goods, manage your inventory and perform other administrative tasks.

To use IPN or PDT, you must first enable the service in the profile of your PayPal Business or Premier account.

These topics provide overview and implementation information for IPN and PDT:

• Instant Payment Notification
• IPN Integration Guide
• Payment Data Transfer - An alternative to IPN
• Payment Data Transfer