I was having trouble getting text entries to write to the database when using the paypal ipn module but after 3 hours I figured it out.
in catalog\includes\modules\payment paypal_ipn.php

changle line 254
which looks like this:
'products_options_values' => $attributes_values['products_options_values_name'],

to this:

'products_options_values' => $order->products[$i]['attributes'][$j]['value'],

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