credits not being added

Check if the PayPal page is accessible to PayPal: http://yourdomain/index.php?option=com_vodes&task=paypal
or if you have SEF: http://yourdomain/component/vodes/paypal/
Should display the blank page, no errors.

Other than that I can't offer anything else. If PayPal is able to reach your site and this address it should work.

i've recreated the sandbox account properly this time (i was using another paypal account).
i've tested your suggestion and i get a blank page in both cases (with and without sef) - no errors.
the payments are now stuck in paypal: the sandbox mail says they are under revision for up to 24 hours, but they've been there for 3 days now, and i've not received any confirmation nor i can see any confirmation mail on the sandbox.
i'm looking at their forums, unless you know the answer already as to why sandbox is not going ahead in processing the payments?

sakic, another question (maybe it has an obvious answer, but i couldn't figure it out): PayPal's IPN notification requires a URL for the notification, which one should i use?
(i've got the feeling it may well be one of the two above...)

The notification URL is already set in HTML so you don't have to add it specifically. Why are the payments held in PayPal is up to PayPal, the component has nothing to do with that. So check with PayPal.

right, thanks!

ok, got it working now.

phoned up paypal, apparently the transaction revision only happens if you enable "payment review" for your sandbox account, as i did. so once you disable that (it's disabled by default) it all goes smoothly:
at transaction end paypal sends vendor and email notifying the payment, vodes sends user an email thanking for the purchase, and record gets stored in vodes' logs!

is it correct that Vodes does not automatically increment the user credits, but it has to be done manually by admin once the paypal notification is received?

regarding the log, it stores info in this fashion:

mc\_gross => 20.00 protection\_eligibility => Ineligible payer\_id => KPYRD9VNRRHAG tax => 0.00 payment\_date => 00:41:11 Mar 08, 2010 PST payment\_status => Completed charset => windows-1252 first\_name => Meex option\_selection1 => Gipp mc\_fee => 1.03 notify\_version => 2.9 custom => payer\_status => unverified business => This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quantity => 1 verify\_sign => A9ghrB-KOzfQ8dNUfIeQwiWVP83NAZpXTbWtqxdwxv0GhwEeMoFFQgRo payer\_email => This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. option\_name1 => username txn\_id => 6FN24844RU930033M payment\_type => instant last\_name => Meexsur receiver\_email => This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. payment\_fee => receiver\_id => ZFE4UEDCC5GFL txn\_type => web\_accept item\_name => Vodes mc\_currency => EUR item\_number => 1 residence\_country => UK test\_ipn => 1 receipt\_id => 5061-7420-1921-5245 handling\_amount => 0.00 transaction\_subject => Vodes payment\_gross => shipping => 0.00 tmpl => component layout => empty

is it possible to turn that into an array (if it's not already) so that i could generate a nicer display of the data?