Managing Payment with Stripe, PayPal or Paystack
Available on all plans. For plan details, visit: https://www.coursebox.ai/pricing
The following section describes how Super Administrators can manage, configure and set up ecommerce on a Coursebox portal. Coursebox provides Stripe, PayPal and Paystack integrations for selling online courses, selling access to Groups, and selling a trainer's hours on your platform.
Watch the tutorial videos found in our YouTube Video Library.
Access the Payments Menu
Click your profile menu (top right).
Select Payments from the dropdown.
Show or Hide the Payments Button
In your profile dropdown, you'll notice the Payments option has an eye icon next to it (see screenshot above).
If the eye is visible, the Payments button will show for other users who have permission to access it.
If the eye is crossed out, the Payments button will be hidden from others.
This allows you to control visibility of the Payments option depending on how you want to manage purchases in your portal.
Hiding the Payments menu (eye crossed out) only affects visibility for other users. You as the Super Admin will still see it.
Link Stripe
From the dropdown menu, click on Payments.
In the Payments section, you can link your Stripe, as well as link your card to initiate any payment.
If you don't have a Stripe account, you can start filling the form to create one.
If you already have an account, click on the Sign In link on the top right corner. You will be taken to the Stripe Sign In page.
After providing the credentials, you will be prompted to enter the 6-digit verification code. This code will be SMSed by Stripe to your linked phone number.
Once the code is verified by Stripe, you will be taken to the confirmation page. Click on Connect my Stripe account to confirm.
In future, if you would like to unlink Stripe, you can come back to this page and click on "Unlink Stripe".
Disclaimer: Coursebox does not store your credit card details. All transactions are managed through third party providers.
Link PayPal
This section explains how to enable and use PayPal as a payment method in Coursebox. Super Admins can activate PayPal at the portal level, allowing course creators to offer learners an additional, flexible checkout option. Once enabled, PayPal can be selected when pricing and publishing courses, supporting secure payments, optional external checkout links, and a smoother purchasing experience for learners.
Log in as a Super Admin.
Go to Settings > Payments.
Under Receive Payments, click Link PayPal.
You'll be redirected to PayPal to log in and authorize the connection.
Once linked, you will see PayPal already linked displayed.
Link Paystack
This section explains how to enable and use Paystack as a payment method in Coursebox. Paystack is available as an additional payment gateway, particularly suited for African markets. Super Admins can activate Paystack at the portal level, allowing course creators to offer learners a flexible checkout option.
Log in as a Super Admin.
Go to Settings > Payments.
Under Receive Payments, click Link Paystack.
You'll be redirected to Paystack to log in and authorize the connection.
Once linked, Paystack will appear as an available payment method for your courses.
Set Price and Payment Options
Go to the Share section of your course and enter your Price, choose your Currency, and add any Additional Tax % if required. You can now save a course price and set an external payment link without needing a linked payment gateway — simply link Stripe, PayPal, or Paystack if you also want to accept direct card or PayPal payments from learners.
You'll now see Stripe, PayPal, and Paystack as available payment methods (depending on which are linked).
Buy-now-pay-later (Afterpay/Clearpay, Klarna, Zip) is not supported yet.
Coursebox's Stripe checkout offers card payments (credit and debit) only. Enabling Afterpay/Clearpay, Klarna, Zip or a similar buy-now-pay-later method in your own Stripe account will not make it appear at your course checkout — Coursebox does not pass those methods through yet. This is a current Coursebox limitation, not a setting on Stripe's side, so contacting Stripe support will not resolve it. The same applies to PayPal and Paystack: learners see the standard checkout for whichever gateway you have linked, and Coursebox does not offer buy-now-pay-later as a payment option.
Workaround: add an External Payment Link (see below) pointing to a checkout that does support buy-now-pay-later, and enrol the buyer into the course via Zapier.
External Payment Link
Optionally:
Add an External Payment Link. If a link is provided, the thumbnail will redirect users to an external link (e.g., Shopify, another checkout system).
Click Save.
Your course will now display Pay with Card (Stripe) or Pay with PayPal options to learners on the checkout page.
Enable Portal Licencing / VIP Code
From your Payment Settings, you can manage how users access your portal.
If your portal is set to Private, users won't be able to sign up on their own. However, you can still allow access by enabling self-signup in your Super Admin settings and creating a VIP code (also known as a Courseboxer code).
This VIP code allows users to bypass the private or paid access restrictions and register themselves.
Troubleshooting Payments
My Stripe account is not linking.
Ensure you complete all steps in Stripe's authentication including the 6-digit SMS verification code. If the connection fails, try clearing your browser cache and linking again. Note that Stripe must be a live (not test mode) account for payments to process correctly.
Learners can't see the payment option on my course.
Check that you have set a price in the Share section of your course and that Stripe or PayPal is linked in your payment settings. Also confirm the course is published — payment options only appear on published courses.
Afterpay (or another buy-now-pay-later option) isn't showing at checkout.
Coursebox checkout does not offer buy-now-pay-later yet. Enabling Afterpay/Clearpay, Klarna or Zip in your Stripe or PayPal account will not make it appear on your course checkout, and there is nothing to change on the gateway's side — so contacting Stripe or PayPal support will not resolve it. This is a Coursebox limitation we have not yet lifted, not a fault with your account. If buy-now-pay-later is important to your buyers, use an External Payment Link to a checkout that supports it and enrol the buyer into the course via Zapier.
My paid course let someone through without paying.
If a paid course seems to be letting learners in for free, check the following before treating it as a bug:
Learner Access is set to Paid — open the course, click Share, and confirm Learner Access is set to Paid, not Public (Free) or Restricted.
Price is saved and the course is published — a price, currency, and any tax % must be entered and saved, and the course itself must be Published. Payment options only appear on published, priced courses.
A payment method is linked — Stripe, PayPal, or Paystack must be linked in Settings > Payments (or Portal Settings).
Check how the learner got their link — Share > Enrol via Email intentionally grants free access to a specific learner, bypassing checkout. This is a deliberate way to comp access (for example, for internal testers or reviewers) and is not a bug.
Check whether the learner was already enrolled — someone enrolled before the course was switched to Paid, or added directly as a learner, will already have access and won't see a paywall.
Test as a real learner, not as the course owner or admin — this is the most common cause. If you test your own paid course while logged into your admin/owner account, even after switching to Learner View or Preview, you will never see a paywall: as the owner, you already have full access and are never charged for your own content. This is expected behaviour, not a bug. To test the real checkout, open the published course link in an incognito or private browser window, fully logged out, so you go through the actual Buy Now flow a new learner would see.
How do I switch a paid course back to free?
Go to the course's Share panel and change from Paid to Public (Free) (or Restricted to keep it private). The course will show a Get Started button instead of Buy Now, and anyone with the link can access it without paying.
What do buyers get access to after purchase?
Once a learner completes checkout (Buy Now via Stripe or PayPal, or a connected Shopify/WooCommerce purchase), they are automatically enrolled in that specific course and get full learner access to its content, the same as any other enrolled learner. Because Coursebox does not store payment records, transaction history lives in your Stripe or PayPal dashboard; the learner's enrolment is reflected in Coursebox once payment is confirmed.
Where do I set or list course prices?
Prices are set per course, not from a central price list. Open the course, click Share, set Learner Access to Paid, then enter the Price, Currency, and any Additional Tax %. Each course's price is managed from its own Share panel, so repeat this for every course you want to sell.