Magento 1.9 – Fix PayPal Skipping Order Step Issue

Actually all the solutions mentioned here required to edit the Magento core. This is known as bad practise and does not keep your shop updateable.

What you need to do for a clean solution:

1. Create a module (in my exampe: Avoe_Paypal) to include the changes
2. Rewrite Paypal Config
3. Redirect on paypal express review step which is http://yourdomain.com/paypal/express/review/

1) Create your module

Avoe/Paypal/etc/config.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Avoe_Paypal>
            <version>0.1.0</version>
        </Avoe_Paypal>
    </modules>

    <global>
        <models>
            <Avoe_Paypal>
                <class>Avoe_Paypal_Model</class>
            </Avoe_Paypal>
            <paypal>
                <rewrite>
                    <config>Avoe_Paypal_Model_Config</config>
                </rewrite>
            </paypal>
        </models>
        <events>
            <controller_action_predispatch_paypal_express_review>
                <observers>
                    <avoe_paypal_predispatch>
                        <type>singleton</type>
                        <class>Avoe_Paypal_Model_Observer</class>
                        <method>paypalExpressReturnPredispatch</method>
                    </avoe_paypal_predispatch>
                </observers>
            </controller_action_predispatch_paypal_express_review>
        </events>
    </global>
</config>

app/etc/Avoe_Paypal.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Avoe_Paypal>
            <active>true</active>
            <codePool>local</codePool>
            <depends>
                <Mage_Paypal />
            </depends>
        </Avoe_Paypal>
    </modules>
</config>

2) Rewrite config, add useraction 'commit':

<?php
class Avoe_Paypal_Model_Config extends Mage_Paypal_Model_Config {

    /**
     * Get url for dispatching customer to express checkout start
     * Added useraction 'commit' to remove PayPal Express Checkout review page
     *
     * @param string $token
     * @return string
     */
    public function getExpressCheckoutStartUrl($token)
    {
        return $this->getPaypalUrl(array(
            'cmd'   => '_express-checkout',
            'useraction' => 'commit',
            'token' => $token,
        ));
    }
}

3) Create observer to redirect:

<?php

class Avoe_Paypal_Model_Observer {

    function paypalExpressReturnPredispatch($observer) {
        Mage::app()->getResponse()->setRedirect(Mage::getUrl('*/*/placeOrder'));
    }
}

There is also a small Magento extension which was just released yesterday, to remove the review step:

https://github.com/tim-bezhashvyly/Sandfox_RemovePaypalExpressReviewStep

One way to achieve this is in the file: app/design/frontend/base/default/template/checkout/onepage/payment/methods.phtml When looping over the selected methods add something like:

<?php if($_code == 'YOUR METHOD'): ?>
     <span class="no-display"><input id="p_method_<?php echo $_code ?>" value="<?php echo $_code ?>" type="radio" name="payment[method]" checked="checked" class="radio" /></span>
    <?php $oneMethod = $_code; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
    <label for="p_method_<?php echo $_code ?>"><?php echo $this->escapeHtml($this->getMethodTitle($_method)) ?> <?php echo $this->getMethodLabelAfterHtml($_method) ?></label>

Then add some JS at the bottom:

<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
<?php if (is_string($oneMethod)): ?>
payment.switchMethod('<?php echo $oneMethod ?>');
    <?php endif; ?>
//]]>

In reality this is all that default magento template is doing to help the user select only a single option if one is set via the admin. However what I think might be happening in your case is that you have 2 methods available even though one may not be visible as a option. Adding this to the template will select that option by default and move to next step.