This guide is for a course provider’s System Admin who wants to offer PayPal for course payments. Use the PayPal business account that should receive your business’s payments.
PayPal is not the payment method for buying Cademy gift cards or memberships. Those purchase flows use Stripe. PayPal is also unavailable for course payments in Malaysian ringgit (MYR) or South African rand (ZAR). For how to set a course’s currency, see Managing Currencies on Cademy.
Connect PayPal
Installing PayPal makes it available for course payments unless the course’s payment settings or currency restrictions exclude it. Review the course settings below if you only want to offer it on selected courses. The customer’s payment must still meet the provider’s eligibility requirements.
Sign in to the correct business in the Admin Dashboard, then open Apps > PayPal.
Select Install. Read This may affect your course payment options, then select Continue with Install.
On PayPal’s site, sign in to your business account, or complete PayPal’s account setup if you need an account. Follow its steps to authorise the connection to Cademy.
Return to Cademy and check that PayPal shows Installed. A successful connection shows PayPal app installed!.
If you see PayPal install incomplete, the connection is not finished. Select Install and complete the remaining PayPal steps. If it still fails, contact Cademy Support with your business name and the exact error. Never send your PayPal password.
Choose whether a course offers PayPal
In the Admin Dashboard, open the course and select Edit Course.
Open Settings, then Payments. Find Payment Methods.
Tick PayPal to offer it, or untick it to stop offering it for this course. Keep at least one available payment method selected.
Select Save in the course editor and check that the changes save successfully.
Installing the app does not override a course’s disabled payment methods or currency restrictions. A connected account is not proof that an individual customer payment succeeded.
Fees and payment status
For direct course bookings, the payment provider’s processing fee is separate from the Cademy platform fee. A plan with no Cademy platform fee does not make payment processing free. For the Cademy platform fee on each plan, see Understand Cademy Plans, Limits and Fees.
Open Settings > Billing & Usage to check your Cademy plan. Check any account-specific fee agreement separately. On Free, find Absorb Cademy Platform Fees under Settings > Payments > Cademy Platform Fee. This setting controls the Cademy platform fee, not the payment provider’s processing fee.
Check PayPal’s merchant fees and your account agreement for the applicable charges. A single percentage range does not cover every transaction.
Open Apps > PayPal and use the Paypal dashboard link to open your PayPal account. Check the individual payment there. Funds shown in PayPal and money transferred to your bank are different stages; follow the status and requirements shown by PayPal.
Refunds
To return all or part of a customer payment, follow Cancellations & Refunds. Check the selected refund amount and destination before confirming. Cancelling an order does not mean you must refund it, and a standalone refund does not cancel the order.
If a refund is pending or fails, check its status in PayPal before telling the customer the money has arrived. Do not submit the same refund a second time because a confirmation is delayed.
Remove or replace a connection
The PayPal app page does not provide an uninstall control. Ask Cademy Support to check the connection before you replace it, particularly if you still have payments or refunds to manage. Include your Cademy business name and explain which connection needs changing. Do not close the PayPal account as a substitute for disconnecting it from Cademy.
Frequently asked questions
Can PayPal be the only method offered for a course?
Yes, for an eligible course payment in a supported currency. Keep PayPal selected and turn off the other methods in the course’s Payment Methods settings. At least one available method must remain selected. This does not make PayPal available for gift-card or membership purchases.
Is PayPal Pay in 3 the same as Cademy’s monthly instalments?
No. PayPal controls which of its payment products a customer can use. Cademy’s monthly instalment arrangement is a separate order-payment schedule; enabling PayPal does not create that schedule. To set one up, see Offer and Manage Monthly Instalments.