Order status and course access

Which orders grant access, and which do not.

The rule

Access is granted by orders in a paid status. Orders that are pending, on hold, cancelled, refunded or failed do not grant access.

Because access is evaluated when a student opens a course, a change in order status takes effect immediately — in both directions.

What that means per status

Payment methods that pay later

Bank transfer, cash on delivery and similar methods leave an order unpaid until someone marks it so.

For a course site that is a real operational question: the buyer has ordered, believes they have bought a course, and cannot open it.

Two workable approaches:

• Avoid deferred methods for courses, so access is immediate;
• Or set the expectation — say on the product and in the order email that access opens when payment clears, and make sure someone processes those orders promptly.

Partial refunds

A partial refund does not by itself change the order's status, so access usually continues. If a partial refund should remove access, change the order's status deliberately.

Decide the policy before you need it, and write it in your terms.

Manual orders

An order created in the administration grants access as soon as it is in a paid status and belongs to a customer account.

That makes manual orders the practical way to grant access outside a normal purchase — a scholarship, a partner, a replacement for a failed transaction. Attach it to the student's account, add the product, mark it paid.

Guest orders grant nothing

An order with no customer account cannot be evaluated against a signed-in student. Guest checkout therefore does not grant course access.

If guest checkout is enabled on the site, expect this case and know how to resolve it: create or attach an account and re-attach the order.

Subscription orders

For subscription products the order status is not the whole answer — the subscription must also be active. A paid initial order with a cancelled subscription does not grant access.

See Subscriptions and active access.

Diagnosing a specific student

When a student says they paid and cannot get in, check in this order:

1. Is the order in a paid status?
2. Does it belong to their account, or was it a guest order?
3. Is the signed-in account the same one that bought?
4. Does the order contain the right product?
5. If a rule is involved, does that rule name this product?
6. If it is a subscription, is it active?

Those six questions resolve nearly every case.

Verify

1. Place a test order and leave it pending: confirm access is not granted.
2. Mark it paid: confirm access appears.
3. Refund it: confirm access is removed.
4. Create a manual order for a test student and confirm access appears.
5. Place a guest order, if guest checkout is enabled, and confirm access is not granted.