- What is a payment notification?
- A notification error does not affect your payout
- How do I know if I am affected?
- 3 key things to check
- A failed notification cannot be resent
- Response codes reference table
-
Need help?
What is a payment notification?
A payment notification (IPN) is the message Payplug's servers send to your site for every payment or refund. It transmits the payment information and triggers the order status update in your back office.
Under normal circumstances, the transaction displays a 200 response code: the payment has been collected and the information has been successfully transmitted to your site.
A notification error does not affect your payout
A notification error has no impact on receiving the payment in your Payplug account. It simply indicates that the information could not be transmitted correctly to your site, meaning the order may not have updated automatically.
How do I know if I am affected?
There are two ways:
- You receive an automated email from Payplug notifying you of the error.
- In your Payplug portal, under the Payments menu, click on the payment row: the notification response code is displayed in the payment details.
If the displayed code is 200 and your order is still not updated, this is not the right article for you: please read The payment went through, but the order is not updating on my CMS.
3 key things to check
The vast majority of notification errors stem from one of these three causes.
1. Is your notification URL accessible from the outside? It must be publicly reachable, accept incoming POST requests, and not be protected by authentication (.htaccess, password, staging page). Also, make sure your site is not in maintenance mode.
2. Are Payplug's notification servers whitelisted? This is currently the most common cause. A firewall, WAF (e.g., Cloudflare), or a security plugin (e.g., SecuPress, Wordfence) can block our servers and cause the notification to fail. You must allow Payplug's notification IP addresses in your firewall and security tools:
| Region | IP Addresses |
|---|---|
Ireland (eu-west-1) |
52.17.55.154, 52.209.87.92, 54.77.126.191
|
Please whitelist all these IPs: notifications can come from either region.
3. Is your Payplug module up to date and correctly installed? An outdated version or an incomplete installation can return an error. Ensure you are using the latest version of the module, and verify the permissions for files (0644) and folders (0755).
Before considering an uninstallation, please consult The payment went through, but the order is not updating on my CMS: this operation has consequences and its effects vary depending on your CMS.
A failed notification cannot be resent
It is not possible to resend a notification once it has failed, and it is not automatically retried.
In practice: once the issue causing the block is resolved, only future notifications will be transmitted correctly. The orders that have already been impacted must be handled one by one, using the Payments menu in your Payplug portal to find the relevant transactions.
Depending on your CMS, a workaround may exist to update an order without manual intervention. Details can be found in The payment went through, but the order is not updating on my CMS.
Response codes reference table
If you want to understand the code displayed on your transaction:
| Code | Meaning | Common cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | OK | — | Nothing, everything is fine |
| 301 / 302 | Redirect | HTTP→HTTPS transition, site redesign, URL change | Our server does not follow redirects: provide the final URL, without any redirection |
| 400 | Bad request | Malformed URL | Check the URL; contact your hosting provider if using a SaaS/integrated solution |
| 401 | Authentication required | URL or site protected by .htaccess
|
Make the notification URL accessible without authentication |
| 403 | Forbidden | Blocking firewall / WAF / security module | Whitelist Payplug IPs (see tip #2); allow incoming POST requests |
| 404 | Not found | Renamed or deleted URL | Check your return and notification URLs; ensure the module is correctly installed |
| 405 | Method not allowed | Incorrect URL or wrong HTTP verb (GET instead of POST) | Usually for API integrations: ensure the notification is set to POST |
| 500 | Internal server error | Server configuration, permissions, missing files | Check your server error logs and the module's log files if using a CMS; verify permissions and .htaccess; review your recent changes |
| 502 | Bad gateway | DNS, origin server unreachable, firewall | Check DNS resolution and server accessibility; whitelist Payplug IPs |
| 503 | Service unavailable | Server overloaded, under maintenance, or undersized | Check the availability and capacity of your hosting. Make sure your site is not in maintenance mode |
Need help?
If the issue persists after running these checks, contact Payplug support, specifying the relevant transaction ID and the response code displayed.