Paypal return variables on success page - post

Question

WHAT I AM TRYING TO DO
I am simply trying to display the results of a Paypal subscription signup. I see the issue of not being able to see the POST variables is a common issue.
I have tried many different ways to do this and I see a common solution is to use:
<input id="rm" name="rm" type="hidden" value="2">
This does not work.
I have tried emailing myself $_POST and $_REQUEST variables and they are empty.
However, my code that detects the txn_type $_POST variable works, since my variables appear in my database. After writing to the database, it is supposed to show a receipt, but does not.
Here's the button code:
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<!-- Identify your business so that you can collect the payments. -->
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="paypalemail#gmail.com">
<!-- Specify a Subscribe button. -->
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick-subscriptions">
<!-- Identify the subscription. -->
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Monthly Featured Listings">
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="1">
<!-- Set the terms of the regular subscription. -->
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="hidden" name="a3" value="0.01">
<input type="hidden" name="p3" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="t3" value="M">
<input type="hidden" name="rm" value="2">
<!-- Set recurring payments until canceled. -->
<input type="hidden" name="src" value="1">
<input name="notify_url" value="http://www.example.com/user/register/index.php" type="hidden">
<input name="return" value="http://www.example.com/user/register/index.php" type="hidden">
<input name="cancel_return" value="http://www.example.com/user/register/index.php?payment=cancelled" type="hidden">
<!-- Display the payment button. -->
<input type="image" name="submit" border="0" src="http://www.example.com/images/register-and-pay-now.png" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online">
<img alt="" border="0" width="1" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif">
Since my database code works, I can only guess that Paypal is sending the information correctly, but I can't get it to show up in the web page.
My QUESTION
How can I show successful $_POST variables in my page after the redirect?

Answer 1

Well, my guess is that the variables that you are receiving and storing to the database are hitting the notify_url.
These variables are the IPN variables and are not supposed to be shown on any web page.
In order to get information on the specified return URL you have to access the PDT data.
Read more about PDT here