Instant Notification Service (INS) – ClickBank Knowledge Base

Overview

NOTE: This service is intended for use by experienced programmers. If you don't have programming experience, you should find a developer who can help you before enabling instant notifications.

ClickBank offers an Instant Notification Service that notifies you of transactions within the ClickBank system for your account. It sends data to you in a near real-time fashion for the following events:

Sale which is the sale of a standard product or initial sale of a recurring product.
Rebill which is a rebill for a recurring product.
Refund which is a refund for a standard or recurring product.
Chargeback which is a chargeback for a standard or recurring product.
Cancel Rebill which is the canceling of a recurring product.
Un-cancel Rebill which is the reversal of a recurring product cancellation by a ClickBank customer service representative.
Subscription Change which is a product change in an existing subscription.
Cart Abandonment which occurs when a customer abandoning a cart, if you have the Cart Abandonment feature enabled. NOTE: This is available in versions 6.0 and later.
Test Transactions which occurs when test transactions for the types listed above, or a test of the instant notification feature that you initiate.

If you don't understand all of these steps, we recommend that you enlist the services of a developer who can help you. If you implement Instant Notifications incorrectly, we may disable or remove the feature from your account.

The following sections are included in this article:

Secret Key
Current Version
Notification Format
Parameters
Notification Example
Implementing Instant Notifications
Requesting Access to Instant Notifications
Configuring Your URL
Testing and Enabling Your URL
Disabling Instant Notifications
Response Code Monitoring
Code Samples
Legacy Versions
Legacy Code Samples
Additional Resources & Related Articles

Secret Key

The service attempts to post information via HTML FORM POST to a URL specified by you. Each post contains a group of URL Parameters relevant to the transaction. The notification is encrypted, and must be decrypted using your secret key and the initialization vector before it can be processed.

Once enabled, the Instant Notification service is triggered every time a transaction is created or an action is taken upon a transaction in your ClickBank account. The primary flow involves the following steps:

An action occurs in the ClickBank system (such as a sale or rebill).
Clickbank encrypts a notification using your secret key and an initialization vector.
ClickBank posts HTML FORM parameters to a URL you specify.
Your URL should use Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Socket Layer (SSL).
ClickBank uses Response Code Monitoring to verify that the notification was received.
An application you build decrypts the message (using your secret key and the initialization vector) and processes the post parameters.

Setting up the service on your ClickBank account is straightforward. However, you must also build an application that processes the instant notification URL parameters, which is a more technical task. In order to make good use of this service, your application must, at a minimum, decrypt the message and process the parameters outlined in the Parameters section of this document.

Current Version

The current version of the Instant Notification feature is 7.0. New features and fields in version 7.0 include:

productPrice
The price the product is sold to the customer as a line-item per product.
productDiscount
Discount applied to the product from a coupon as a line-item per product.
accountAmount
The amount you received for the product as a line-item per product.
jvPayout (seller only)
The total amount of JV payouts for this product as a line-item per product.
affiliatePayout (seller only)
The amount affiliate received for the product as a line-item per product.
taxAmount
The product tax amount the customer paid as a line-item per product.
shippingAmount
The product shipping amount the customer paid as a line-item per product
shippingLiable
Whether your account is credited for shipping and handling as a line-item per product

Format Updates:

All monetary values in USD
Encoded in UTF-8
Time of transaction in ISO 8601.
Because we’re using ISO 8601 Basic Notation, there aren’t any date/time delimiters. This is different from former versions of INS which used RFC-339.
Example: 20200819T144359-0700 would be August 29, 2020 at 14:43:59-07:00.

See the Legacy Versions section for information about the parameters used by older versions. Some older versions of Instant Notification do not encrypt the notification, so we do not recommend their use.

Notification Format

This section describes the format of the instant notification sent to you.

Base Structure

Instant Notifications are created in the JSON format. They are encrypted prior to sending.

The base structure of an instant notification is:

{"notification": "<ENCRYPTED_NOTIFICATION>", "iv": "<INITIALIZATION_VECTOR>"}

Encryption

ClickBank uses the CBC-AES-256 encryption algorithm to secure the payload of the notification. This helps prevent customer information from being passed in clear text, and allows the receiver of the notification to know that the message originated from ClickBank and was not altered during delivery. The notification is encrypted using a secret key, of up to 16 characters, and an initialization vector.

Several examples of how to decrypt the notification are listed in the Code Samples section, but you should familiarize yourself with the AES-256 encryption algorithm to have a better understanding of how it works.

The initial JSON message contains a string representation of the encrypted notification, and the initialization vector which you can use in parallel with your ClickBank secret key to decrypt the notification.

Parameters

This section describes all of the parameters used in a notification. When a notification is sent, it includes all parameters. If a parameter contains no value, the instant notification string contains the parameter tag without a value. This is why the number of characters for some parameters includes zero, as these parameters may not contain a value. All currency amounts are presented in USD.

Header Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters / Format	Recipient
transactionTime	Time of transaction in ISO 8601 format	25	All
receipt	ClickBank receipt ID	8-21	All
transactionType	The type of transaction.	4-31 – See Transaction Types	All
vendor	The vendor nickname	5-10	All
affiliate	The affiliate nickname. NOTE: This parameter is sent even if the affiliate did not receive a commission for the current transaction.	5-10	All
role	Your role in the transaction	6-9 – VENDOR, AFFILIATE, or JV_UPSELL	All
totalAccountAmount	Total you received for the transaction in USD	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
paymentMethod	Payment method used by the customer.	3-4 – See Payment Methods	All
totalOrderAmount	Total the customer was charged	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
totalTaxAmount	Total the customer paid in taxes	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	Vendor
totalShippingAmount	Total the customer paid in shipping	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	Vendor
currency	Currency the user paid in	3	Vendor
orderLanguage	Language used on the order form	2 – DE, EN, ES, FR, IT, or PT	Vendor
trackingCodes	Any tracking codes passed into the order form.	0-100 each	Vendor, Affiliate
declinedConsent	Indicates whether the customer declined consent for marketing communications under GDPR. Initial transaction only. EU customers only.	3-5 – See GDPR Consent Status	Vendor

Product Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters / Format	Recipient
itemNo	SKU of the product ordered	1-25	All
productTitle	Product title	0-255	All
productPrice	Base price for this item, including exchange rates but not including discounts, taxes, or shipping	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
productDiscount	The discount amount applied to the product	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
jvPayout	The total amount of Joint Venture payouts from this product	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
affiliatePayout	The amount earned by the affiliate for the sale of the product	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	Vendor
taxAmount	The tax the customer paid on the product	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
shippingAmount	The shipping & handling fees paid by the customer	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
shippingLiable	Whether you receive the shipping & handling fees	4-5 – true or false	All
shippable	Whether the product was a physical good	4-5 – true or false	All
recurring	Whether the product was subscription-based	4-5 – true or false	All
accountAmount	Amount you received on this line item	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
quantity	Quantity of item purchased	Numeric	All
downloadUrl	Product download URL for the customer	0-255	Vendor
lineItemType	Type of order the line item was part of	4-8 – ORIGINAL, CART, BUMP, or UPSELL	All

Customer Shipping Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters	Recipient
firstName	Customer's first name	0-255	Vendor
lastName	Customer's last name	0-255	Vendor
fullName	Customer's first and last name	0-255	Vendor
phoneNumber	Customer's phone number	0-255	Vendor
email	Customer's email address	0-255	Vendor
address1	Customer's physical address, line 1	0-255	Vendor
address2	Customer's physical address, line 2	0-255	Vendor
city	Customer's city	0-255	Vendor
county	Customer's county	0-255	Vendor
state	Customer's state	0-255	Vendor
postalCode	Customer's postal code or zip code	0-255	Vendor
country	Customer's country	0-255	Vendor

Customer Billing Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters	Recipient
firstName	Customer's first name	0-255	Vendor
lastName	Customer's last name	0-255	Vendor
fullName	Customer's first and last name	0-255	Vendor
phoneNumber	Customer's phone number	0-255	Vendor
email	Customer's email address	0-255	Vendor
state	Customer's state	0-255	All
postalCode	Customer's postal code or zip code	0-255	All
country	Customer's country	0-255	All

Upsell Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters	Recipient
upsellOriginalReceipt	Receipt number that started the upsell flow	8-21	All
upsellFlowId	ID of the upsell flow	Integer	Vendor
upsellSession	Session ID for the upsell	0-16	Vendor
upsellPath	Upsell path	0-12	Vendor

Pytch Parameters

NOTE: The Pytch feature has been deprecated, but the parameters are retained for backwards compatibility purposes.

Parameter	Description	Characters / Format	Recipient
hopfeedClickId	Hopfeed click ID name	String	All
hopfeedApplicationId	Application ID	Numeric	All
hopfeedCreativeId	Creative ID	Numeric	All
hopfeedApplicationPayout	Application Payout	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
hopfeedVendorPayout	Vendor Payout	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All

Technical Parameters

Parameter	Description	Format	Recipient
version	The version of the instant notification.	Double Numeric	All
attemptCount	The number of times ClickBank tried to send this notification before receiving a success or failing with too many attempts	Integer	All

Seller Parameters

If the seller has provided any additional variables to the payment link, they are also provided in the notification as parameters called v1, v2, and so on.

Transaction Types

There are a number of values you can receive in the transactionType parameter. These values are listed below with a brief description of their purpose.

NOTE: Notifications for test transactions are only sent to the seller.

Type	Description
SALE	The purchase of a standard product or the initial purchase of recurring billing product.
BILL	A rebill for a recurring billing product.
RFND	The refunding of a standard or recurring billing product. Recurring billing products that are refunded also result in a "CANCEL-REBILL" transaction.
CGBK	A chargeback for a standard or recurring product.
INSF	An eCheck chargeback for a standard or recurring product.
CANCEL-REBILL	The cancellation of a recurring billing product. Recurring billing products that are canceled do not result in any other action.
UNCANCEL-REBILL	Reversing the cancellation of a recurring billing product.
SUBSCRIPTION-CHG	A product change for an existing subscription, made through a Master account or through the Orders API. The transaction type header also includes the original and new product SKUs in the following format: SKU <Old SKU>-><New SKU> The product parameters listed are for the original product.
ABANDONED_ORDER	An abandoned order. Any fields that the customer filled out are included. Fields not filled out by the customer are blank. NOTE – This type of notification is sent only if Cart Abandonment is enabled. See the Cart Abandonment article for more information.
CUSTOMER_AUTH_FAILURE	An authorization failure for a customer's recurring payment.
CUSTOMER_EMAIL_UPDATE	An update to a customer's email address.
CUSTOMER_UPDATE_CC_NOTIFICATION	An update to a customer's payment method.
PURCHASE_DETAILS_EMAIL_RESPONSE	A resending of a customer's receipt email.
TEST	A test transaction triggered during configuration.
TEST_BILL	A test rebill for a recurring billing product.
TEST_RFND	A test refund of a standard or recurring billing product.
TEST_SALE	A test purchase of a standard or recurring billing product.
CANCEL-TEST-REBILL	A test recurring product cancelation.
UNCANCEL-TEST-REBILL	A test cancelation reversal for a recurring product.

Payment Methods

There are a number of values you can receive in the paymentMethod parameter. These values are listed below.

Payment Method Parameter	Payment Method
PYPL or PYPL-NEW	PayPal
VISA	Visa
MSTR	Mastercard
DISC	Discover
AMEX	American Express
DNRS	Diners Club
TEST	Test Payment

GDPR Consent Status

Under the GDPR, European Union customers must actively consent to receive marketing communications. A customer's selection is indicated by the declinedConsent parameter. The values are listed below:

Declined Consent Parameter	Description
nil	The customer is not in the European Union.
true	The customer declined to consent to marketing communications.
false	The customer consented to marketing communications.

Notification Example

This is a sample of the unencrypted JSON notification showing the structure of the key-value pairs for Version 7.0 of Instant Notification.

 {
    "transactionTime": "2016-06-05T13:47:51-06:00",
    "receipt": "CWOGBZLN",
    "transactionType": "SALE",
    "vendor": "testacct",
    "affiliate": "affiliate1",
    "role": "VENDOR",
    "totalAccountAmount": 0.00,
    "paymentMethod": "VISA",
    "totalOrderAmount": 0.00,
    "totalTaxAmount": 0.00,
    "totalShippingAmount": 0.00,
    "currency": "USD",
    "orderLanguage": "EN",
    "trackingCodes": [
        "tracking_code"
    ],
    "lineItems": [
        {
            "itemNo": "1",
            "productTitle": "Product Title",
            "shippable": false,
            "recurring": false,
            "accountAmount": 5.00,
            "quantity": 1,
            "downloadUrl": "<download_url>"
            "lineItemType": "CART"
       }
        {
            "itemNo": "2",
            "productTitle": "Second Product",
            "shippable": false,
            "recurring": true,
            "accountAmount": 2.99,
            "quantity": 1,
            "downloadUrl": "<download_url>"
            "lineItemType": "CART"
       }

    ],
     "customer": {
        "shipping": {
            "firstName": "TEST",
            "lastName": "GUY",
            "fullName": "Test Guy",
            "phoneNumber": "",
            "email": "test@example.net",
            "address": {
                "address1": "12 Test Lane",
                "address2": "Suite 100",
                "city": "LAS VEGAS",
                "county": "LAS VEGAS",
                "state": "NV",
                "postalCode": "89101",
                "country": "US"
            }
        },
        "billing": {
            "firstName": "TEST",
            "lastName": "GUY",
            "fullName": "Test Guy",
            "phoneNumber": "",
            "email": "test@example.net",
            "address": {
                "state": "NV",
                "postalCode": "89101",
                "country": "US"
            }
        }
    },
     "upsell": {
        "upsellOriginalReceipt": "XXXXXXXX",
        "upsellFlowId": 55,
        "upsellSession": "VVVVVVVVVV",
        "upsellPath": "upsell_path"
    },
     "hopfeed": {
        "hopfeedClickId": "hopfeed_click",
        "hopfeedApplicationId": 0000,
        "hopfeedCreativeId": 0000,
        "hopfeedApplicationPayout": 0.00,
        "hopfeedVendorPayout": 0.00
    },
     "version": 6.0,
    "attemptCount": 1,
     "vendorVariables": {
       "v1": "variable1", 
       "v2": "variable2" 
    }
 }

Implementing Instant Notifications

After gaining a sound understanding of the previous section of this document, you can request access to the Instant Notification feature, test your URL, and enable Instant Notifications.

Once you have configured one URL for Instant Notifications, you can add another by using these procedures with the Instant Notification 2 field.

Requesting Access to Instant Notifications

The Instant Notification feature is not automatically enabled. To request access:

Log in to your ClickBank account.
Click the Vendor Settings tab.
Click My Site.
Find the Advanced Tools section and click Edit.
Click the Request Access link next to the Instant Notification URL field.
Fill out the form, thoroughly review the terms of use, and acknowledge that you have read and agree to the terms of use.
Click the Save Changes & Request API Access button at the bottom of the form.
Click the Save Changes button.

Configuring Your URL

Once you have received access to the Instant Notification feature, you must create a target URL and a program to process the Notifications that will be sent to your URL. You can use ports 80 or 443.

Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

It is strongly recommended that you utilize this feature with Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Socket Layer (SSL) enabled. Using this feature without TLS or SSL enabled can expose your sales data to thieves. However, because credit card and bank information is not transmitted via the Instant Notification service, we do not require you to use TLS or SSL to encrypt Instant Notification transmissions.

NOTE: You cannot use a self-signed SSL certificate. You must use a valid certificate.

Testing and Enabling Your URL

To enable Instant Notifications, you must enter your Secret Key, test the connectivity and successful processing of the URL parameters between ClickBank and your server, and save your changes.

To test and enable your URL:

Log in to your ClickBank account.
Click the Vendor Settings tab.
Click My Site.
Find the Advanced Tools section and click Edit.
Enter your secret key in the Secret Key field. Your secret key is a string of up to 16 characters, including numbers and capital letters, that you create. Your instant notifications will be encrypted using your secret key. See the Encryption section for more information.
Click Save Changes.
Find the Advanced Tools section and click Edit.
Enter your URL in the Instant Notification URL field.
Click Test URL to the right of the URL.
A test notification is sent with a receipt of ******** and a transaction type of TEST.
Review the response to verify that the test was successful.
- If the test was successful, the URL is marked as Verified next to the URL field.
- If the test was not successful, troubleshoot possible problems with connectivity or your application before retrying. A URL cannot be used until it has been tested successfully.
Click Save Changes.
Instant Notification transmissions begin immediately for all verified URLs.

Disabling Instant Notifications

You can disable the feature to prevent notifications from being sent by removing your URL. You can re-enable the feature later.

Log in to your ClickBank account.
Click the Vendor Settings tab.
Click My Site.
Find the Advanced Tools section and click Edit.
Remove the URL from the Instant Notification URL field.
Click Save Changes.

Response Code Monitoring

When we send an instant notification, we monitor the response code from your URL. If we receive a response code in the 200 range within 3 seconds, the notification delivery is considered successful.

If the response code is not in the 200 range, we attempt to resend the notification once every four hours. After a max of five failed attempts, it will no longer attempt to deliver the information. There is no way to resend the instant notification once it has reached the max attempts.

Code Samples

The data sent to you by the Instant Notification service is in the form of HTML FORM POST URL Parameters. Programs written within your application architecture must process these pairs. Programs for order management, database activity, and other services may be written but are outside the scope of this guide.

The following code samples cover decrypting the notification.

NOTE: The following code samples must be nested in a program. In addition, these samples will fail if your character set includes German, Greek, Eastern European, or Asian characters. You must perform your own encoding before decrypting instant notifications. If you do not understand, you should find a programmer who can help you.

Java

The following code sample uses Java to decrypt the notification.

 public void processNotification(final HttpServletRequest theRequest,
                              final HttpServletResponse theResponse)
   throws IOException {
   try {
     final StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder();
     final String secretKey = "YOUR SECRET KEY";

     try {
       String line;
         final BufferedReader reader = theRequest.getReader();
         while(null != (line = reader.readLine())) {
           buffer.append(line);
          }
       } catch(final Exception ex) {
           ex.printStackTrace();
       }

       final JSONParser parser = new JSONParser();
       final JSONObject obj = (JSONObject) parser.parse(buffer.toString()); 

       final String initializationVector = (String) obj.get("iv");
       final String encryptedNotification = (String) obj.get("notification"); 
       final MessageDigest digest = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-1");
       digest.reset();
       digest.update(secretKey.getBytes("UTF-8"));
       final String key = new String(Hex.encodeHex(digest.digest())).substring(0, 32);

       final IvParameterSpec iv =
          new IvParameterSpec(DatatypeConverter.parseBase64Binary(initializationVector));
       final SecretKeySpec keySpec = new SecretKeySpec(key.getBytes(), "AES");
       final Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding");
       cipher.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, keySpec, iv);

       final JSONObject notification = (JSONObject) parser.parse(
       new String(cipher.doFinal(DatatypeConverter.parseBase64Binary(encryptedNotification)),
                     "ISO-8859-1"));

       //
       // Make use of the notification here...
       // 

   } catch(final NoSuchPaddingException
       | ParseException
       | NoSuchAlgorithmException
       | InvalidAlgorithmParameterException
       | BadPaddingException
       | IllegalBlockSizeException
       | UnsupportedEncodingException
       | InvalidKeyException ex) {
       ex.printStackTrace();
       theResponse.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_UNAUTHORIZED,
                             "Could not decrypt instant notification");
   }
    theResponse.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_NO_CONTENT);
}

PHP

The following code sample uses PHP to decrypt the notification.

<?php
 
$secretKey = "YOUR SECRET KEY"; // secret key from your ClickBank account
 
// get JSON from raw body...
$message = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'));
 
// Pull out the encrypted notification and the initialization vector for
// AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding decryption
$encrypted = $message->{'notification'};
$iv = $message->{'iv'};
error_log("IV: $iv");
 
// decrypt the body...
$decrypted = trim(
 openssl_decrypt(base64_decode($encrypted),
 'AES-256-CBC',
 substr(sha1($secretKey), 0, 32),
 OPENSSL_RAW_DATA,
 base64_decode($iv)), "\0..\32");
  
error_log("Decrypted: $decrypted");
 
////UTF8 Encoding, remove escape back slashes, and convert the decrypted string to a JSON object...
$sanitizedData = utf8_encode(stripslashes($decrypted));
$order = json_decode($decrypted);
 
// Ready to rock and roll - If the decoding of the JSON string wasn't
// successful, then you can assume the notification wasn't encrypted
// with your secret key.
 
?>

Python

The following code sample uses Python to decrypt the notification.

import hashlib
import json
from Crypto.Cipher import AES
##
# Parse ClickBank Notification
# @param message: A string representing the raw HTTP POST body
# @return: A JSON object representing the decrypted notification
def process_clickbank_notification(message):
    j = json.loads(message)
    iv = j['iv']
    encrypted_str = j['notification']
    sha1 = hashlib.sha1()
    sha1.update("YOUR SECRET KEY")
    cipher = AES.new(sha1.hexdigest()[:32], AES.MODE_CBC, iv.decode('base64'))
    return cipher.decrypt(encrypted_str.decode('base64')).strip()

Ruby

The following code sample uses Ruby to decrypt the notification.

require "base64"
require "digest/sha1"
require "json"
require "openssl"

 # Decode the IPN post into a JSON object.
 # The message param is the raw HTTP POST
 # body of the notification

def decrypt_clickbank_notification(message)
  parsed = JSON.parse(message);
  aes = OpenSSL::Cipher::Cipher.new("AES-256-CBC")
  aes.iv = Base64.decode64(parsed["iv"])
  aes.decrypt
  aes.key = Digest::SHA1.hexdigest("YOUR SECRET KEY").slice(0, 32)
  aes.update(Base64.decode64(parsed["notification"])) + aes.final
end

Legacy Versions

This section describes the legacy versions of the instant notification service. If you are using one of these versions, we recommend switching to version 7.0 as soon as possible.

The versions described here do not encrypt the notification, and do not contain some of the parameters included in the latest version.

Cipher

Cipher is a method of performing encryption and decryption. It ensures there has been no URL tampering of the query string parameters.

When an action occurs within your ClickBank account, several values are passed along in the Instant Notification query string. While building the string we create a sha1, or a hash of the values passed, and your Secret Key. The result is the cverify parameter. Upon receipt of the query string parameters, your system must also create a sha1, or a hash of the values passed, and your Secret Key.

The validity of the data received is evaluated by using the cverify parameter we send and the value produced in your system. Only if there is an exact match between the two values can you be certain the information received has not been tampered with.

Please see Legacy Code Samples for examples.

Version 1

The following post parameters are used in Instant Notification Version 1.

Parameter	Description	Details
caffitid	affiliate TID [only populated for affiliate]	0 – 100 characters
ccustcc	customer country code (2-characters) [only populated for vendor]	0 – 2 characters
ccustemail	customer email [only populated for vendor]	1 – 255 characters
ccustname	customer name as typed in on the order form [only populated for vendor]	1 – 510 characters
ccuststate	customer state/province [only populated for vendor]	0 – 2 characters
cproditem	product SKU	1 – 25 characters
cprodtitle	product title	0 – 255 characters
cprodtype	product type (STANDARD, RECURRING) [will also have 'Physical' if the product was a physical good]	8 – 11 characters
ctransaction*	transaction type (SALE, JV_SALE, INSF, RFND, CGBK, BILL, JV_BILL, TEST_SALE, TEST_JV_SALE, TEST_BILL, TEST_JV_BILL, TEST_RFND)	4 – 15 characters
ctransaffiliate	affiliate nickname	0 – 10 characters
ctransamount	amount paid out to the recipient of the notification (in pennies (1000 = $10.00))	3 – 10 characters
ctranspaymentmethod	payment method (AMEX, AUST, BLME, DISC, DNRS, ENRT, IMAS, MAES, MSTR, PYPL, STVA, SWIT, TEST, VISA)	0 – 4 characters
ctranspublisher	vendor nickname	5 – 10 characters
ctransreceipt	receipt number	8 – 13 characters
ctranstime**	the Epoch time the transaction occurred (not included in cverify)	10 characters
cupsellreceipt**§	if this transaction is part of an upsell, this is the originating receipt number.	8 – 13 characters
cvendthru	download URL [only populated for vendor]	0 – 1024 characters
cverify**	the "cverify" parameter is used to verify the validity of the previous fields	8 characters

If product is shippable and recipient is the seller, we will pass the following additional fields:

Parameter	Description	Details
ccustaddr1**	ship-to address line 1	0 – 255 characters
ccustaddr2**	ship-to address line 2	0 – 255 characters
ccustcity**	ship-to city	0 – 255 characters
ccustcounty**	ship-to county	0 – 255 characters
ccustshippingcountry**	ship-to country	0 – 255 characters
ccustshippingzip**	ship-to zip code	0 – 255 characters
ccustzip	customer zip code	0 – 16 characters

Version 2

Parameter	Description	Details
caccountamount	Amount paid to party receiving notification (in pennies (1000 = $10.00))	3 – 10 characters
ccurrency	currency the customer paid in [only populated for vendor]	2 characters
ccustaddr1	ship-to address line 1 [only populated for vendor]	0 – 255 characters
ccustaddr2	ship-to address line 2 [only populated for vendor]	0 – 255 characters
ccustcc	customer country code (2-characters) [only populated for vendor]	0 – 255 characters
ccustcity	ship-to city [only populated for vendor]	0 – 255 characters
ccustcounty	ship-to county [only populated for vendor]	0 – 255 characters
ccustemail	customer email [only populated for vendor]	1 – 255 characters
ccustfirstname	customer's first name [only populated for vendor]	1 - 255 characters
ccustfullname	customer name as typed in on the order form [only populated for vendor]	1 – 510 characters
ccustlastname	customer's last name [only populated for vendor]	1 – 255 characters
ccustshippingcountry	ship-to country [only populated for vendor]	0 – 255 characters
ccustshippingzip	ship-to zip code [only populated for vendor]	0 – 255 characters
ccuststate	customer state/province [only populated for vendor]	0 – 2 characters
ccustzip	customer zip code [only populated for vendor]	0 – 16 characters
cfuturepayments	Number of payments remaining [only populated for recurring products]	1 – 3 characters
cnextpaymentdate	Date of next payment (epoch time) [only populated for recurring products]	8 characters
corderamount	Order total amount (in pennies (1000 = $10.00))	3 – 10 characters
cprocessedpayments	Number of recurring payments made [only populated for recurring products]	1 – 3 characters
cproditem	product SKU	1 – 25 characters
cprodtitle	product title	0 – 255 characters
cprodtype	product type (STANDARD, RECURRING) [will also have 'Physical' if the product was a physical good]	8 – 11 characters
crebillamnt	Recurring payment amount (in pennies (1000 = $10.00)) [only populated for recurring products]	3 – 10 characters
crebillstatus	Status of subscription (empty, ACTIVE, COMPLETED, or CANCELED) [only populated for recurring products]	5 – 9 characters
ctid	tracking id for the recipient of the notification [only sent to vendor and affiliate, not JV partners]	0 – 100 characters
ctransaction*	transaction type (SALE, JV_SALE, INSF, RFND, CGBK, BILL, JV_BILL, TEST_SALE, TEST_JV_SALE, TEST_BILL, TEST_JV_BILL, TEST_RFND)	4 – 15 characters
ctransaffiliate	affiliate nickname	0 – 10 characters
ctranspaymentmethod	payment method (AMEX, AUST, BLME, DISC, DNRS, ENRT, IMAS, MAES, MSTR, PYPL, STVA, SWIT, TEST, VISA)	0 – 4 characters
ctranspublisher	vendor nickname	5 – 10 characters
ctransreceipt	receipt number	8 – 13 characters
ctransrole	Recipient's role in the transaction (AFFILIATE, VENDOR)	6 – 9 characters
ctranstime**	the Epoch time the transaction occurred (not included in cverify)	10 characters
cupsellreceipt**§	if this transaction is part of an upsell, this is the originating receipt number.	8 – 13 characters
cvendthru	download URL [only populated for vendor]	0 – 124 characters
cverify**	the "cverify" parameter is used to verify the validity of the previous fields	8 characters

Version 2.1

Identical to version 2 but adds the following field:

Parameter	Description	Details
ccustshippingstate	ship-to state/province [only populated for vendor]	0 – 255 characters

Version 4

Identical to version 2.1 with the following changes:

Parameter	Description	Details
cnoticeversion	Version of the notification	0 – 5 characters
ctransvendor	vendor nickname (we renamed ctranspublisher)	5 – 10 characters
crebillfrequency	frequency of the subscription (weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly)	0 – 255 characters
cbfid	ID of the upsell flow [only populated for vendor]	0 – 11 characters
cbf	upsell flow session [only populated for vendor]	0 – 16 characters
cbfpath	upsell flow path (shows the progress of the upsell flow and the result of each step) [only populated for vendor]	0 – 12 characters
corderlanguage	the language select by the customer on the order form [only populated for vendor]	0 – 2 characters
ctaxamount	tax amount paid by the customer (in pennies (1000 = $10.00)) [only populated for vendor]	3 – 10 characters
cshippingamount	amount of shipping and handling charged (in pennies (1000 = $10.00)) [only populated for vendor]	3 – 10 characters

Version 6.0

Version 6.0 includes the following parameters:

Header Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters / Format	Recipient
transactionTime	Time of transaction in RFC-3339 format Example: 2022-06-24T11:15:59-07:00	25	All
receipt	ClickBank receipt ID	8-21	All
transactionType	The type of transaction.	4-31 – See Transaction Types	All
vendor	The vendor nickname	5-10	All
affiliate	The affiliate nickname. NOTE – This parameter is sent even if the affiliate did not receive a commission for the current transaction.	5-10	All
role	Your role in the transaction	6-9 – VENDOR, AFFILIATE, or JV_VENDOR	All
totalAccountAmount	Total you received for the transaction in USD	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
paymentMethod	Payment method used by the customer.	3-4 – See Payment Methods	All
totalOrderAmount	Total the customer was charged	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
totalTaxAmount	Total the customer paid in taxes	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	Vendor
totalShippingAmount	Total the customer paid in shipping	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	Vendor
currency	Currency the user paid in	3	Vendor
orderLanguage	Language used on the order form	2 – DE, EN, ES, FR, IT, or PT	Vendor
trackingCodes	Any tracking codes passed into the order form.	0-100 each	Vendor, Affiliate

Product Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters / Format	Recipient
itemNo	SKU of the product ordered	1-25	All
productTitle	Product title	0-255	All
shippable	Whether the product was a physical good	4-5 – true or false	All
recurring	Whether the product was subscription-based	4-5 – true or false	All
accountAmount	Amount you received on this line item	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
quantity	Quantity of item purchased	Numeric	All
downloadUrl	Product download URL for the customer	0-255	Vendor
lineItemType	Type of order the line item was part of	4-8 – ORIGINAL, CART, BUMP, TOKEN, or UPSELL	All

Customer Shipping Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters	Recipient
firstName	Customer's first name	0-255	Vendor
lastName	Customer's last name	0-255	Vendor
fullName	Customer's first and last name	0-255	Vendor
phoneNumber	Customer's phone number	0-255	Vendor
email	Customer's email address	0-255	Vendor
address1	Customer's physical address, line 1	0-255	Vendor
address2	Customer's physical address, line 2	0-255	Vendor
city	Customer's city	0-255	Vendor
county	Customer's county	0-255	Vendor
state	Customer's state	0-255	Vendor
postalCode	Customer's postal code or zip code	0-255	Vendor
country	Customer's country	0-255	Vendor

Customer Billing Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters	Recipient
firstName	Customer's first name	0-255	Vendor
lastName	Customer's last name	0-255	Vendor
fullName	Customer's first and last name	0-255	Vendor
phoneNumber	Customer's phone number	0-255	Vendor
email	Customer's email address	0-255	Vendor
state	Customer's state	0-255	All
postalCode	Customer's postal code or zip code	0-255	All
country	Customer's country	0-255	All

Upsell Parameters

Parameter	Description	Characters	Recipient
upsellOriginalReceipt	Receipt number that started the upsell flow	8-21	All
upsellFlowId	ID of the upsell flow	Integer	Vendor
upsellSession	Session ID for the upsell	0-16	Vendor
upsellPath	Upsell path	0-12	Vendor

Pytch Parameters

NOTE: The Pytch feature has been deprecated, but the parameters are retained for backwards compatibility purposes.

Parameter	Description	Characters / Format	Recipient
hopfeedClickId	Hopfeed click ID name	String	All
hopfeedApplicationId	Application ID	Numeric	All
hopfeedCreativeId	Creative ID	Numeric	All
hopfeedApplicationPayout	Application Payout	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All
hopfeedVendorPayout	Vendor Payout	Numeric with 2 decimal precision	All

Technical Parameters

Parameter	Description	Format	Recipient
version	The version of the instant notification.	Double Numeric	All
attemptCount	The number of times ClickBank tried to send this notification before receiving a success or failing with too many attempts	Integer	All

Seller Parameters

If the seller has provided any additional variables to the payment link, they are also provided in the notification as parameters called v1, v2, and so on.

Transaction Types

There are a number of values you can receive in the transactionType parameter. These values are listed below with a brief description of their purpose.

NOTE: Notifications for test transactions are only sent to the seller.

Type	Description
SALE	The purchase of a standard product or the initial purchase of recurring billing product.
BILL	A rebill for a recurring billing product.
RFND	The refunding of a standard or recurring billing product. Recurring billing products that are refunded also result in a "CANCEL-REBILL" transaction.
CGBK	A chargeback for a standard or recurring product.
INSF	An eCheck chargeback for a standard or recurring product.
CANCEL-REBILL	The cancellation of a recurring billing product. Recurring billing products that are canceled do not result in any other action.
UNCANCEL-REBILL	Reversing the cancellation of a recurring billing product.
SUBSCRIPTION-CHG	A product change for an existing subscription, made through a Master account or through the Orders API. The transaction type header also includes the original and new product SKUs in the following format: SKU <Old SKU>-><New SKU> The product parameters listed are for the original product.
ABANDONED_ORDER	An abandoned order. Any fields that the customer filled out are included. Fields not filled out by the customer are blank. NOTE – This type of notification is sent only if Cart Abandonment is enabled. See the Cart Abandonment article for more information.
CUSTOMER_AUTH_FAILURE	An authorization failure for a customer's recurring payment.
CUSTOMER_EMAIL_UPDATE	An update to a customer's email address.
CUSTOMER_UPDATE_CC_NOTIFICATION	An update to a customer's payment method.
PURCHASE_DETAILS_EMAIL_RESPONSE	A resending of a customer's receipt email.
TEST	A test transaction triggered during configuration.
TEST_BILL	A test rebill for a recurring billing product.
TEST_RFND	A test refund of a standard or recurring billing product.
TEST_SALE	A test purchase of a standard or recurring billing product.
CANCEL-TEST-REBILL	A test recurring product cancelation.
UNCANCEL-TEST-REBILL	A test cancelation reversal for a recurring product.

Payment Methods

There are a number of values you can receive in the paymentMethod parameter. These values are listed below.

Payment Method Parameter	Payment Method
PYPL or PYPL-NEW	PayPal
VISA	Visa
MSTR	Mastercard
DISC	Discover
AMEX	American Express
DNRS	Diners Club
TEST	Test Payment

Legacy Code Samples

Java

The following Java code will create the cverify value and verify if it is correct using the plain text values in the HTTP POST and your secret key.

Note: This requires the jakarta commons codec library to be functional.

public static boolean ipnValid(HttpServletRequest request) {
        String secretKey = "YOUR SECRET KEY";
        List ipnFields = new ArrayList();
        @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
        Enumeration params = request.getParameterNames();
        while (params.hasMoreElements()) {
            String param = (String) params.nextElement();
            // cverify is computed by all POST parameters so any get parameters
            // on the notification url should be skipped as well.
            if (param.equals("cverify")) {
                continue;
            }
            ipnFields.add(param);
        }
        Collections.sort(ipnFields);
        StringBuilder pop = new StringBuilder();
        for (String field : ipnFields) {
            pop.append(request.getParameter(field));
            pop.append("|");
        }
        pop.append(secretKey);
        String expectedCVerify = DigestUtils.shaHex(pop.toString().getBytes("UTF-8")).substring(0, 8);
        return expectedCVerify.equalsIgnoreCase(request.getParameter("cverify"));
    }

PHP

The following PHP will create the cverify value and verify if it is correct using the plain text values in the HTTP POST and your secret key (e.g. not URL-encoded).

Response Types:

1 = Pass
0 = Fail

<?php
 
function ipnVerification() {
    $secretKey="YOUR SECRET KEY";
    $pop = "";
    $ipnFields = array();
    foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
        if ($key == "cverify") {
            continue;
        }
        $ipnFields[] = $key;
    }
    sort($ipnFields);
    foreach ($ipnFields as $field) {
        // if Magic Quotes are enabled $_POST[$field] will need to be
        // un-escaped before being appended to $pop
        $pop = $pop . $_POST[$field] . "|";
    }
    $pop = $pop . $secretKey;
    $calcedVerify = sha1(mb_convert_encoding($pop, "UTF-8"));
    $calcedVerify = strtoupper(substr($calcedVerify,0,8));
    return $calcedVerify == $_POST["cverify"];
}
 
?>

The following C# will create the cverify value and verify if it is correct using the plain text values in the HTTP POST and your secret key (e.g. not URL-encoded).

///
/// This method takes the same named post parameters that are sent in the ClickBank Instant Notification Service.
/// True if the ClickBank passed paramter cverify matches the calculated sha1 of the provided data, False otherwise
///
    public static bool ipnValid(HttpRequest request)
    {
        string secretKey = "YOUR SECRET KEY";
        List ipnFields = new List();
        foreach(string param in request.Form.Keys) {
            if (param.Equals("cverify")) {
                continue;
            }
            ipnFields.Add(param);
        }
        ipnFields.Sort();
        string pop = "";
        foreach(String field in ipnFields) {
            pop += request.Form.Get(field) + "|";
        }
        pop += secretKey;
        string cverify = request.Form.Get("cverify");
        byte[] hashedData = new SHA1Managed().ComputeHash(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(pop));
        string calced_verification = BitConverter.ToString(hashedData).Replace("-", "").ToUpper().Substring(0, 8);
        return calced_verification.Equals(cverify);
    }

Python

The following Python will create the cverify value and verify if it is correct using the plain text values in the HTTP POST and your secret key (e.g. not URL-encoded).

#!/usr/bin/env python -tt
 
import hashlib
 
##
# Verify cverify from an ipn.
# @param post_params: A dictionary of all POST parameters from the notification
# @return: True if the cverify parameter is valid, false otherwise
def ipnVerification(post_params):
    secret_key = "YOUR SECRET KEY"
    pop = ""
    ipn_fields = []
    for key in post_params.keys():
        if key == "cverify":
            continue
        ipn_fields.append(key)
    ipn_fields.sort()
    for field in ipn_fields:
        pop += post_params[field] + "|"
    pop += secret_key
    return post_params["cverify"] == hashlib.sha1(pop).hexdigest()[:8].upper()

Ruby

The following Ruby will create the cverify value and verify if it is correct using the plain text values in the HTTP POST and your secret key (e.g. not URL-encoded).

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
 
require 'digest/sha1'
 
# Verify cverify from an ipn.  post_params is a Hash of all
# POST parameters from the ipn.
def ipnVerification(post_params)
  secret_key = "YOUR SECRET KEY"
  pop = ""
  ipn_fields = []
  post_params.each_key do |key|
    if key == "cverify"
        next
    end
    ipn_fields &lt;&lt; key
  end
  ipn_fields.sort
  ipn_fields.each do |field|
    pop += post_params[field] + "|"
  end
  pop += secret_key
  calced_verification = Digest::SHA1.hexdigest(pop).upcase[0,8]
  return calced_verification == post_params["cverify"]
end

VB.net

The following VB.net will create the cverify value and verify if it is correct using the plain text values in the HTTP POST and your secret key (e.g. not URL-encoded).

public Function ipnVerification(request as HttpRequest)

Dim secretKey as String = "YOUR SECRET KEY"
Dim ipnFields as New List()
Dim sha As New SHA1CryptoServiceProvider()

For Each param In request.Form.Keys()
 if param.Equals("cverify") then Continue For
      ipnFields.Add(param)
Next
   
ipnFields.Sort()
Dim pop as String = ""

For Each field in ipnFields
 pop += request.Form.Get(field) + "|"
Next

pop += secretKey

Dim result() As Byte = sha.ComputeHash(New System.Text.ASCIIEncoding().GetBytes(pop))
Dim calced_verification As String = BitConverter.ToString(result).Replace("-", 
"").ToUpper().Substring(0, 8)
Return calced_verification.Equals(cverify)

End Function

Additional Resources & Related Articles

KNOWLEDGE BASE: Cart Abandonment
KNOWLEDGE BASE: ClickBank APIs

Articles in this section

Overview

Secret Key

Current Version

Notification Format

Parameters

Notification Example

Implementing Instant Notifications

Requesting Access to Instant Notifications

Configuring Your URL

Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

Testing and Enabling Your URL

Disabling Instant Notifications

Response Code Monitoring

Code Samples

Legacy Versions

Legacy Code Samples

Additional Resources & Related Articles

Related articles