Paid access troubleshooting
A student paid and cannot get in, or got in and should not have. Work down in order.
The six questions
Most cases are answered by these, in this sequence:
- Is the order in a paid status? Pending, on hold, cancelled, refunded and failed orders grant nothing.
- Does the order belong to an account? Guest orders grant nothing.
- Is the student signed in with that same account? A second account is the most common cause.
- Does the order contain the right product?
- Does the course actually require that product? Check the course's access configuration.
- If it is a subscription, is it active?
"I paid but I cannot access it"
Check the account first. Ask which email address they used to buy, and which they are signed in with. A mismatch explains most of these reports, and the fix is to sign in with the buying account.
Then check the order status. A deferred payment method — transfer, cash on delivery — leaves the order unpaid until someone processes it.
Then check the connection. Does the course require the product they bought? If the course uses a permission rule, does that rule name their product?
"The course opens for someone who did not buy"
Check the course's configuration in this order:
- Is a permission rule selected? A rule replaces the paid check. If the rule is satisfied by something else — a role, another product — the student gets in without buying.
- Is the lesson a preview? Previews bypass everything.
- Does the lesson have its own permission rule? It replaces the course's, and can be easier to satisfy.
- Is the paid setting actually enabled?
The first is the usual answer: a course with both a rule and the paid toggle is decided by the rule.
"Access disappeared"
| Cause | Check |
|---|---|
| The order was refunded or cancelled | The order status |
| A subscription lapsed or was put on hold | The subscription |
| A time-based rule's window closed | The rule's condition and the purchase date |
| A product was removed from a rule | The rule |
| The course's access model was changed | The course's settings |
Access is evaluated live, so any of these takes effect immediately.
"It works for me but not for the student"
You are almost certainly an administrator. Test with a real non-administrator account, in a private window, in all three states.
This is the single most common false alarm.
"My courses does not list the course"
The list shows courses the student can currently access. If the course is not there, they do not have access — so this is the same problem as above, not a separate one.
If the endpoint itself returns a not-found result, that is different: re-save the permalink settings. See My courses endpoint returns a not-found error.
"The no-access message shows no product links"
{related_product_links} prints links to the products associated with the course. If nothing is associated, it renders empty.
Add a hand-written link to the message as well — it should never depend on the tag alone.
"The student bought the wrong thing"
Check what the course actually requires, then either refund and re-sell, or add the correct product to a rule if the purchase should legitimately grant access.
This is also a signal to rename products: a buyer who bought the wrong one usually could not tell them apart.
After any change
Re-test with the three accounts: signed out, signed in without access, signed in with access. A fix verified only as an administrator is not verified.
Before asking for help
Note the course URL, the student's situation, the order status, whether the order has an account, whether a rule or the paid setting is used, and whether subscriptions are involved.
Never send order data, customer details or student lists. See Safe information to send with a support request.