PayPal Payflow Pro error

Question

I am using PayPal's Payflow pro API on a test account and no matter what, it tells me the field is incorrect. I am using PHP. This is the string being sent to them:

USER=xxx&VENDOR=xxx&PARTNER=PayPal&PWD=xxx&TENDER=C&ACTION=A&TRXTYPE=R&PROFILENAME=JerProfile&PAYPERIOD=MONT&START=12152012&TERM=0&ACCT=4012888888881881&AMT=123.45&&BUTTONSOURCE=PF-CCWizard

And the response says

Array
(
    [RESULT] => 7
    [RPREF] => R1853E1E07BF
    [RESPMSG] => Field format error: Invalid or missing START/NEXTPAYMENTDATE field
)

And as you can see, I have specified a monthly pay period and the start date is in their format of mmddyyyy. Any help would be appreciated as this is driving me insane.

Answer 1

The exact order of the submitted variables is important:

        'TRXTYPE' => 'R',
        'PARTNER' => $API_Partner,
        'VENDOR' => $API_Vendor,
        'USER' => $API_User,
        'PWD' => $API_Password,
        'ACTION' => $action

And then any others required depending on which action. For the Create action, START must be tomorrow's date or a date in the future. Hope this helps somebody else having problems with PayPal's PayFlow API.

Answer 2

What time zone are you in? I see you're passing 12152012 for the date, and today is now the 15th...was it already the 15th where you're at when you ran this?

The documentation says...

Beginning (or restarting) date for the recurring billing cycle used to calculate when payments should be made. Use tomorrow’s date or a date in the future.

So as of now, maybe trying 12162012 would work..??

Answer 3

use

START='12152012'

instead of START=12152012