When paypal does an IPN POST for subscriptions, you'll actually get two different POST calls. One of these indicates that a new subscription has been taken out, the second indicates that a payment has been made.

The example values below are taken from Django code - a u prefix on a string indicates unicode.

New Subscription

Here's the parameter names and sample values returned when a new subscription is taken out. If you have a free trial period - this is the only message you'll get.

• last_name: [u'User']
• receiver_email: [u'seller@email.com']
• residence_country: [u'US']
• payer_status: [u'verified']
• txn_type: [u'subscr_signup']
• first_name: [u'Test']
• item_name: [u'ITEM-NAME']
• charset: [u'windows-1252']
• notify_version: [u'3.0']
• recurring: [u'1']
• test_ipn: [u'1']
• item_number: [u'ITEM-NUMBER']
• business: [u'seller@email.com']
• payer_id: [u'R7J5OITW4XF9U']
• period3: [u'1 Y']
• verify_sign: [u'Av4.fsp0nq4UCdPPPPASEZ2dHjj.AGYVs-odtcwBkeEEdn-4EgJjjhgP']
• subscr_id: [u'I-CKXUYMANRT43']
• mc_amount3: [u'15.00']
• mc_currency: [u'GBP']
• subscr_date: [u'11:42:25 Jan 08, 2011 PST']
• payer_email: [u'payer@email.com']
• reattempt: [u'1']

Payment Made

Here's the POST variables passed when a payment is actually made.

• protection_eligibility: [u'Ineligible']
• last_name: [u'User']
• txn_id: [u'0YC516369S2964122']
• receiver_email: [u'seller@email.com']
• payment_status: [u'Completed']
• payment_gross: [u'']
• residence_country: [u'US']
• payer_status: [u'verified']
• txn_type: [u'subscr_payment']
• payment_date: [u'11:42:27 Jan 08, 2011 PST']
• first_name: [u'Test']
• item_name: [u'ITEM-NAME']
• charset: [u'windows-1252']
• notify_version: [u'3.0']
• transaction_subject: [u'']
• test_ipn: [u'1']
• item_number: [u'ITEM-NUMBER']
• receiver_id: [u'JYK86TFEZ88QW']
• business: [u'seller@email.com']
• payer_id: [u'R7J5QOBG4XF9U']
• verify_sign: [u'A5doFgi5CUrLKM9p3q55nRvVm.WRAUfKX.cX3x-2G5huaVGzV-9N27gl']
• subscr_id: [u'I-CKXUYMONRT43']
• payment_fee: [u'']
• mc_fee: [u'0.79']
• mc_currency: [u'GBP']
• payer_email: [u'buyer@email.com']
• payment_type: [u'instant']
• mc_gross: [u'15.00']