---
title: "Set up PayPal enrolment"
slug: "set-up-paypal-enrolment"
tags: ["Totara Learn", "Site Administrator", "How-to"]
updated: 2026-08-13T16:01:21Z
published: 2026-08-13T16:01:21Z
canonical: "totara.help/set-up-paypal-enrolment"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://totara.help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up PayPal enrolment

PayPal enrolment is one of the available [enrolment methods](/totara-20/docs/what-are-enrolment-methods) for courses. You will first need to configure the settings in PayPal, then set up enrolment at the site level, and finally configure PayPal enrolment on specific courses.

## PayPal setup

Before setting up PayPal enrolment in Totara you need to complete the following steps:

1. Go to [https://www.paypal.com](https://www.paypal.com/) and create a PayPal account. You may wish to upgrade to a **Premier** account and have the account **Verified**.
2. Go to *Profile > Profile and settings > My selling tools > More selling tools > PayPal button language encoding*.
3. Check that your website's language is set to **Western European Languages**.
4. Click **More Options** and set the encoding setting to **UTF-8** (this should also be used for the IPN setting).
5. Go to *Profile > Profile and settings > My selling tools > Getting paid and managing my risk > Instant payment notifications > Update*.
6. Enable **IPN** (instant payment notifications) and set the **Notification URL** to your site's URL with **/enrol/paypal/ipn.php** appended. For example, your URL could be **https://mytotarasite.com/enrol/paypal/ipn.php**.

## Enable PayPal enrolment

As a Site Administrator you can set up PayPal enrolment by following these steps:

1. Go to *Quick-access menu > Plugins > Enrolments > Manage enrol plugins*.
2. If it is not already enabled, enable the **Manual enrolment** plugin by clicking the eye icon (![](https://cdn.document360.io/a007399b-031e-436b-999a-528240e16f58/Images/Documentation/image-1635873126175.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-06T06%3A42%3A03Z&se=2026-11-06T07%3A42%3A03Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=sljGHAB2dn40VBm6m1pgE1pQVnW3XTCI%2FIcRwMlYknw%3D)).
3. Enable the **PayPal** plugin by clicking the eye icon next to the plugin if it currently disabled (![](https://cdn.document360.io/a007399b-031e-436b-999a-528240e16f58/Images/Documentation/image-1635873126299.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-06T06%3A42%3A03Z&se=2026-11-06T07%3A42%3A03Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=sljGHAB2dn40VBm6m1pgE1pQVnW3XTCI%2FIcRwMlYknw%3D)).
4. Click **Settings** next to the PayPal plugin and configure these settings:
  - **PayPal business email:** This must exactly match the business email in your PayPal account. Note that this setting is case sensitive.
  - **Default role assignment:** This is the default role a user will be assigned when they purchase access to a course. Typically you would set this to **Learner**, but if required you can override this setting on a course-by-course basis.
  - Optionally configure any other settings.
5. Click **Save changes**.

## Configuring PayPal in your courses

Once you have set up the PayPal enrolment plugin on your Totara site you can add it to courses using these steps:

1. Navigate to your course, then *Course administration > Users > Enrolment methods*.
2. If PayPal is not on the list of available enrolment methods, click the **Add method** dropdown menu and select **PayPal**.
3. On the next screen, optionally give the enrolment method a **Custom instance name**.
4. Set **Allow PayPal enrolments** to **Yes**.
5. Enter the **Enrol cost** and select the **Currency** to be used.
6. Optionally set an **Enrolment period**, **Start date** and **End date**.
7. Click **Add method**.

Note that if the **Self enrolment** plugin is enabled users will be able to enrol on the course for free.

Join the [Totara Community](https://totara.community/) for more resources to help you get the most out of Totara.

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