IPN with Express Checkout

Question

I'm overflowed a little bit reading Introducing IPN https://developer.paypal.com/webapps/developer/docs/classic/ipn/integration-guide/IPNIntro/:

at the begiining: "IPN is a message service that PayPal uses to notify you about events, such as: Instant payments, including Express Checkout, ..."

at the end: "If you are using Express Checkout ... You should not use IPN for this purpose."

Perhaps anybody knows correct option - to use or not to use IPN with Expres Checkout?

Answer 1

IPN can be used for purposes such as:

• Trigger order fulfillment or enable media downloads
• Update a list of customers
• Update accounting records
• Create specialized "to do" lists

If you are using Express Checkout or Direct Payment, the PayPal API notifies you of the status and details of the transaction immediately and automatically. In either case, you can immediately show your customer the payment information returned by PayPal . You should not use IPN for this purpose.

This means that you need not use IPN for knowing the transaction status , because once "dodirectpayment" is completed, you will know the transaction status immediately.

Yes, if you want to use IPN for backoffice operations such as updating your own database, emailing your customers upon purchase and offers etc. you can use IPN with Express Checkout.