PayPal (Guest) Payment: Email not transfering

[filipvisnjic]

Hi all, Since late May, whenever a user registers via PayPal (guest), using credit card, the email address is not transfered to SM plugin. All the other details are passed on, address, name etc but the email address is blank. I have spoken to the customer and they said that “PayPal did have me enter an email address to receive a receipt but yes I didn’t register an account. I think at one point they said the payment details wouldn’t be shared with the vendor”. I need to manually enter the address in WP SM Admin area and then use tools to send out complete registration email.

The transacation log also shows the name, etc but the email is left blank.

Thanks!

[The Assurer]

First, make sure the debug logs are turned on.

Under the current situation, does the account get activated, with the email address used for registration?

[filipvisnjic]

Hi, this is what happend:

Customer:
1. Clicks on the PayPal button on the site to subscribe
2. Chooses Guest ooption on PayPay, dont have PayPal account and want to pay with their credit card.
3. Complete the Payment and re told by PayPal that “payment details wouldn’t be shared with the vendor”.
4. Redirected to my site’s Thank you Page, asking them to check their email for complete registration link

Me:
1. Recieved PayPal notification
2. Customer did not complete registration becase the complete registration email was never sent out.
3. I first thought something is wrong with my SMTP server, but then on closer inspection..
4. Payment log shows the payment but no email address recorded.
5. SM has created an account, pending confirmation, address, name is all there but email field is blank.
6. I add email manually and dummy password and saved.
7. Used SM Tools to send out complete registration email
8. Customer finally completes registration.

Hope this helps.
Thanks!
Filip

[The Assurer]

Have you PERSONALLY tried the process you just described, where you try signing up for a subscription without using a PayPal account?

Do you have a PayPal business account?

[The Assurer]

I agree, SWPM should ABEND instead of sending email to an empty email address. I have notified the developer.

[admin]

PayPal checkout always requires the customer to enter an email address, and that email is expected to be forwarded to the plugin. I’ve never seen a successful PayPal checkout complete without the buyer providing an email.

Can you confirm whether you’re using the PayPal Standard button or the new PayPal API button?

Also, please provide a screenshot of the PayPal checkout window showing exactly what is being selected. This will help me understand the flow you’re seeing. There might be a country-specific variation in how PayPal behaves, which I’m currently not aware of. I’ll need to replicate the exact setup on my end to investigate further and identify any potential issues.

[filipvisnjic]

Hi, just to confirm, the customer DOES provide an email in the process, its just that this email is never passed on to SM plugin.

I am using the new PayPal API Button.

Nothing unusual in the checkout for guest: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3uq33qv2iyu5maqgc382w/Screenshot-2025-06-05-at-09.33.40.png?rlkey=6ei20mxbmdvi0by0ukjlfug93&dl=0

Also important to note that this ONLY happens with PayPay Guest Checkout, and not if the user already has PayPal account.

Thanks
F

[filipvisnjic]

Yes, I have just tested it. Please see below the results.
Yes, it is a PayPal Business Account.

Here are the result of the test:
Payment Log → https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8tbck6hywelg4i6zsc4xh/Screenshot-2025-06-04-at-14.25.55.png?rlkey=xqwkl6kwc8vuyicwza70lzmrs&dl=0
Account → https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/kbyhkjn9yvy1tmkz5cmfc/Screenshot-2025-06-04-at-14.26.17.png?rlkey=efu58q37o2ymaj0w38k5l5vhg&dl=0

The log says:
[2025/06/04 14:24:27] – SUCCESS: Member signup (prompt to complete registration) email successfully sent to:

email is missing.

Thanks!
F

[admin]

Thank you. Could you also share a screenshot of the payment button’s configuration? That way, I can replicate the same button setup on my site.

[filipvisnjic]

Hi, there is is https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/u36ntxh176filtsrp1um4/Screenshot-2025-06-06-at-16.47.07.png?rlkey=4ipjejurzo3t69ruetrus9o0t&dl=0

[admin]

Thank you for the details.

It appears that in some countries, PayPal does not pass the email address to the client side during guest checkout due to privacy restrictions. We’ve made an improvement in the plugin so it can perform an additional server-side query to retrieve the email address in such cases.

Just a quick note: the screenshot you shared seems to show the classic/standard PayPal button. We recommend switching to the new PayPal (API-based) subscription button, which provides a more modern and reliable checkout experience:
https://simple-membership-plugin.com/create-paypal-subscription-buttons-paypal-api/

If you prefer to continue using the classic PayPal checkout option, consider updating your registration flow so that users are required to create their account before making payment. This approach ensures a smoother and more consistent experience:
https://simple-membership-plugin.com/allowing-members-create-account-prior-completing-membership-payment/

The plugin update we’ve made should improve the guest checkout experience when using the new PayPal API integration.

We intend to release this version in the next week or so. However, in the meantime, I am going to give you an updated copy of the plugin so you can use it and see if this works better on your site.

You can download an updated copy of the plugin from our site using the following link. Let me know if this makes any difference:
https://simple-membership-plugin.com/wp-content/uploads/simple-membership.zip

If you want to try this update, first delete the currently active copy of the plugin then upload and activate the above mentioned one. You won’t lose any data (members, payments, buttons, settings etc.) in the process so it is safe to do this.

[filipvisnjic]

Hi, thanks for this.
Btw, I am using the new PayPal API button, the black one, and hiding the unecessary extras which may look like an old button but its actually new 🙂
Looking forward to the new update!
Thanks for all your hard work!

[admin]

The new version has been released

[filipvisnjic]

Great! Thank you so much!

[Author]

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