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Checkout – First Data e4 HPP version 1.1

Great news! We’ve updated our extension plugin for the First Data e4 Hosted Payment Pages (aka HPP) to fix some bugs and make some improvements to it. See the release notes.

There were complaints about an error message on First Data’s side saying that the product titles and/or descriptions are too long and that only 255 characters are allowed, so we’ve mainly fixed that problem to ensure it doesn’t happen anymore. In addition to that, the plugin will ensure that product titles and descriptions are stripped of any special characters and HTML.

Other improvements include better compatibility with WordPress and the Shopping Cart plugin itself to ensure a reliable and efficient experience to both you and your users.

Food for thought

As we updated the First Data e4 HPP extension plugin, we noticed a 403 Forbidden error on the First Data payment page. Nothing else, just the forbidden error and no notification email from First Data as their system usually does to inform you about a problem on the payment page.

The reason for the 403 Forbidden was – in this case – actually two separate problems. The one was that the currency in the plugin didn’t match the currency that the First Data e4 Global Gateway account was setup as and the other problem was the special characters/HTML in the product description.

If you experience the same issue, the second problem is resolved in this update and then you know that you can have a look in your First Data e4 merchant panel to see the currency code there and ensure that your Shopping Cart plugin has the same configured.

Recurring Payments

We get many, many customers asking for recurring payments using First Data. The answer is: Yes!

Before I go into that, I’ll give you a bit of background on First Data. Many years ago, First Data used to be LinkPoint and YourPay which – I assume – merged together and became First Data. They had First Data Connect which was the original LinkPoint Connect. Then the First Data API was introduced and First Data Connect was upgraded to 2.0. Those systems are still in working order but those accounts are no longer issued as far as we know. All new accounts issued are GGe4. So the available integrations are First Data e4 Hosted Payment Page and e4 API.

With that being said, the only integration of First Data that supports recurring payments is the First Data e4 Hosted Payment Page and it is built right into our extension plugin. Their First Data e4 API doesn’t support recurring payments at all based on their documentation and knowledge base.

Enjoy the update and let us know if you need anything!

Tribulant Software

I am the owner at Tribulant Software and I have a great passion for WordPress, development, blogging and the Internet in general. Building useful plugins to improve WordPress’ functionality is my goal.