Payments13 min readUpdated October 14, 2026

How to Sell Online Courses: Platforms, Pricing, Checkout and Tax

Where to sell a course, how to price it (one-time, installments, membership), the checkout, refunds, disputes and VAT when you sell to other countries.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 16 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

To sell an online course, pick where the sale happens (a course platform, Shopify with an app, or your own checkout), choose a pricing model (one-time, installments or membership), and set up a checkout that collects consent, logs access and charges tax in the buyer's country. Refund terms and dispute evidence come before the first sale, not after.

Course platforms bundle hosting and checkout but set your fees and payment options: Teachable's Starter plan takes 7.5% per sale, Kajabi adds a fee when you use a third-party processor.
A payment plan is a short subscription that stops by itself. In Stripe it's a subscription schedule with a fixed number of iterations that cancels after the last one.
EU buyers can cancel within 14 days. For a recorded course, that right ends once access starts, but only with their express consent, their acknowledgment and a confirmation from you.
A recorded course sold to EU consumers is an electronically supplied service: VAT is due at the buyer's rate. A live class where the internet just connects teacher and student isn't.
Win course disputes with logs: purchase IP, account, logins and lessons opened after payment. Visa lists which ones count for digital goods.

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On this page

Most guides on selling a course stop at "pick a platform and promote it". The part that decides what you keep is the money side: where the checkout lives, how you price, what you owe in tax abroad, and what happens when a buyer asks for a refund or disputes the charge. This guide covers that part, with each rule taken from the official source.

How to sell online courses: the decisions in order

Creating the course and marketing it are their own jobs. Selling it comes down to seven decisions, and most of them are hard to change after the first hundred buyers.

Where the sale happens. A course platform, Shopify with an app, or your own checkout.
How you price. One-time, payment plan, membership, bundles, or a mix.
What the checkout shows. Price, terms, consent for immediate access, order bumps and upsells.
Who collects tax. You, a tax tool, or a merchant of record.
Which payment methods. Cards, wallets and the local methods of the markets you sell to.
What your refund terms say. And how they fit the EU 14-day rule.
What you log. Purchase IP, account, logins and lessons opened: your evidence in a dispute.

The order matters: the platform limits your pricing, and your pricing changes what you owe in disputes and renewals.

Where to sell: a course platform, Shopify or your own checkout

There are three ways to take money for a course. Here is what the vendors' own pages said on October 14, 2026, for the points that affect payments. Plans and fees change often: check them again before you sign.

	Teachable	Thinkific	Kajabi	Shopify + app
Entry plan (billed monthly)	$39/mo (Starter)	$54/mo (Basic)	$179/mo (Basic)	Shopify plan + app
Platform fee per sale	7.5% on Starter; 0% on Builder and up with Teachable Payments	Not listed per plan	With a third-party processor: 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, 0.5% on Pro (excludes PayPal and Kajabi Payments)	Depends on the app
Payment plans	Not listed on the pricing page	From the Start plan ($109/mo): "split payments into scheduled installments"	Not listed on the pricing page	Through a subscription app
Memberships	Listed as a feature	From the Start plan	"Access groups", billing not described	Shopify Subscriptions app
Order bumps, upsells	Coupons, upsells, order bumps	Order bumps from Basic; upsells from Start	Not listed on the pricing page	Through apps
Tax	"U.S. sales tax, global VAT, and GST handling" with Teachable Payments	Not described on the pricing page	Not described on the pricing page	Depends on your Shopify setup and apps

Sources: Teachable, Thinkific and Kajabi pricing pages;1 2 3 Shopify Help Center.4 5 Shopify's free Digital Products app can sell a link to a course hosted on Kajabi, Teachable or Thinkific, so the store takes the payment and the course platform hosts the lessons.4

Verdict

A course platform is the fastest start, and its checkout is the price you pay for that speed. Your own checkout, or Shopify in front of a course host, gives you the payment methods, processors, upsells and customer data, but you set them up yourself.

Marketplaces are a fourth option. They bring buyers, but they set the rules on price and refunds and keep the customer relationship. They work as a discovery channel next to your own site, rarely as the only place you sell.

How to price an online course

The pricing model is a payment decision as much as a marketing one. Each model creates a different charge on the card, and different rules apply.

One-time payment
One charge, lifetime or fixed-term access. The simplest to explain and to defend in a dispute.
Payment plan
The same price split in a fixed number of charges on a stored card. It stops by itself after the last one.
Membership or subscription
Access to a library or community while the customer keeps paying. Renewal rules apply, see below.
Bundles and tiers
Several courses at one price, or a basic and a premium version with coaching or templates.

Payment plans. Technically, a payment plan is a short subscription. Stripe documents it as an "installment plan": a subscription schedule with a fixed number of iterations and an end_behavior set to cancel, so the subscription ends after the last payment.6 Show the number of payments, each amount and the total before the buyer pays. Then write down what happens if a payment fails: access paused, retries, how to update the card. That sentence saves you a dispute later. Retries and reminders are covered in what is dunning.

Tiers and bundles. A premium tier with coaching or a bundle of three courses raises the average order without changing the main price. The mechanics are in tiered pricing strategy and bundle pricing strategy.

Launch discounts in the EU: the 'was' price is the 30-day low

When you announce a price reduction to EU consumers, the prior price you show must be the lowest price you applied in at least the 30 days before the reduction. That rule comes from Directive 2019/2161, applied since May 28, 2022.7 A "was $997, now $497" launch only works if $997 was really charged in that period. Member states may set a shorter period for products on the market for less than 30 days.

The checkout for a course: what it has to show and record

A course checkout looks like any other, with two differences: delivery is instant, and the proof of delivery is a log line. Here is the path from the sales page to the first lesson, with what each step must handle. The full payment flow (authorization, capture, webhooks) is in checkout flow.

Sales pagePrice, plan terms and what's included, in the buyer's currency
CheckoutTerms, and for EU buyers a checkbox to start access now and give up withdrawal
Order bumpA small add-on before payment: workbook, templates
PaymentCard, wallet or local method; IP and device recorded
UpsellOne-click offer after payment: coaching, next course
ConfirmationEmail with order, terms and the withdrawal consent
First loginLogged with IP and timestamp: your delivery proof

Order bumps sit on the checkout page, before payment. A 1-click upsell comes after payment and charges the stored card a second time, so the buyer needs to see the price and agree before you charge. For a course, the natural upsell extends the outcome: coaching calls, feedback on assignments, the advanced module. A post-purchase upsell that turns into a recurring charge needs its own clear consent, or it becomes a dispute.

How to sell online courses internationally

Selling abroad changes three things: how buyers pay, what currency they see, and what tax you owe. The tax part is the one most course creators find out about late.

Payment methods and currency

Card share online varies a lot by country. The European Central Bank's 2024 survey of euro area consumers gives the order of magnitude:12

48%

Share of online payments made by card in the euro area in 2024, down from 54% in 2019

29%

Share made with e-payment solutions: wallets, PayPal, other apps, iDEAL in the Netherlands

76%

Share of online payments made with e-payment solutions in the Netherlands, against 46% in Germany

A card-only checkout leaves part of these buyers without their usual way to pay. Show prices in the buyer's currency, then add the wallets and local methods of your two or three biggest markets first. See local payment methods for the methods country by country, and multi-currency support for how the conversion works.

VAT on online courses in the EU

EU VAT law treats a recorded course and a live class differently. The VAT implementing regulation lists "automated distance teaching dependent on the Internet or similar electronic network to function and the supply of which requires limited or no human intervention, including virtual classrooms" as an electronically supplied service. It excludes cases where the internet is "used as a tool simply for communication between the teacher and student", and teaching services where "the course content is delivered by a teacher over the Internet".9

Recorded course, self-paced, auto-graded quizzesElectronically supplied serviceVAT at the buyer's country rate when you sell to consumers
Live cohort or 1:1 coaching over videoNot an electronically supplied service: teaching delivered by a teacherDifferent place-of-supply rules; check with a tax advisor
Recorded course plus live calls in one priceCan be read as one supply or twoGet tax advice before you set the price and the invoice
Sale to a business with a VAT numberBusiness-to-business, different rulesCollect and check the VAT number at checkout

For electronically supplied services sold to consumers, where VAT is due depends on where you are based:10 11

Your situation	Where VAT is due	How to file
Based in one EU country, under EUR 10,000 a year of cross-border B2C sales of these services	Your own country, at your own rate	Your normal VAT return
Based in the EU, above EUR 10,000	Each buyer's country, at its rate	Register in each country, or the OSS Union scheme
Based outside the EU (US, UK…), any amount	Each buyer's country, at its rate, from the first sale	Register in each country, or the OSS non-Union scheme in one EU country you choose

The One Stop Shop has run since July 1, 2021, and its return is filed quarterly in both schemes.10 Irish Revenue states that the EUR 10,000 threshold covers the current and preceding calendar year and doesn't apply to suppliers established outside the EU.11

United States. There is no federal sales tax. Each state decides whether digital products and online courses are taxable, and when a remote seller has to collect. Check each state where you have buyers with a tax advisor, or use a tool or platform that calculates it.

Or hand tax to someone else. A merchant of record sells to your buyer in its own name, collects and files the tax, and takes the disputes. You give up the checkout and the customer data in exchange.

Refunds and the EU 14-day withdrawal right for courses

An EU consumer who buys online can withdraw within 14 days without giving a reason. For digital content, the exception is in Article 16(m) of the Consumer Rights Directive, as rewritten by Directive 2019/2161:7

contracts for the supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium if the performance has begun and, if the contract places the consumer under an obligation to pay, where: (i) the consumer has provided prior express consent to begin the performance during the right of withdrawal period; (ii) the consumer has provided acknowledgement that he thereby loses his right of withdrawal; and (iii) the trader has provided confirmation in accordance with Article 7(2) or Article 8(7).

Directive 2011/83/EU, Article 16(m), as amended by Directive (EU) 2019/2161, applied since May 28, 2022

In practice, for a recorded course: a checkbox at checkout where the buyer asks for immediate access and acknowledges losing the right to withdraw, then a confirmation email that repeats that consent. The directive requires the confirmation on a durable medium, and it must include the consent and acknowledgment.8 Miss one of the three and the buyer can still cancel.

Live teaching is different. The same 2019 directive says that when it's unclear whether a contract is digital content or a service, the rules for services apply.7 For a service the buyer asked to start during the 14 days, they can still withdraw, but pay an amount in proportion to what was provided until then.8 A six-week cohort cancelled after week one costs the buyer about one sixth of the price.

Write the refund policy you can defend

Outside the EU, no law forces a refund window on a course, but a clear policy helps you in disputes. State the window, the conditions (for example, less than a set share of lessons opened), and how to ask. Then apply it every time. A refund given quickly costs less than a chargeback: compare both in chargeback vs refund.

Chargebacks on course sales: the evidence that wins

Card disputes on courses fall into a few patterns. Each one has its own fix before the sale and its own evidence after it. Stripe's dispute guidance sums up the digital case: there's no trackable shipping data, so focus on evidence of usage, login or download.14

I never got accessProduct not receivedPurchase IP, account email, logs of logins and lessons opened after payment
It's not what was promisedNot as describedSales page at the time of purchase, curriculum, lessons the buyer completed
I didn't make this purchaseFraudVisa Compelling Evidence: IP, device, verified account, use after the sale
I cancelled, you kept chargingSubscription or payment planTerms shown at checkout, cancellation records, reminders sent

For fraud disputes on digital goods, Visa accepts a description of what was sold, the date it was downloaded or accessed, and two or more data points from a list: IP address, device ID, the purchaser's name and email linked to their profile, a verified account accessed before the purchase, access to your site or app on or after the transaction date, or the same device and card used in an earlier undisputed purchase.13 A course platform logs most of this already. Check that you can export it.

One Visa rule targets course funnels directly. A cardholder can dispute for misrepresentation when digital goods were bought through a trial, promotional period, introductory offer or one-off purchase and they weren't clearly told about further charges.13 A $1 "mini-course" that quietly becomes a monthly membership is the textbook case. How to build the response is in chargeback rebuttal letter, and the upstream fixes in chargeback prevention.

Memberships and course subscriptions: the renewal rules

A membership is a subscription, and Visa's April 2026 rules apply to it like to any other:13

At checkout
Price, frequency and trial terms shown when the buyer agrees, separately from your general terms.
After sign-up
In Europe, a confirmation of the recurring agreement within 2 business days.
7 days before
A reminder before a trial or intro price ends, with the amount, the date and a link to cancel.
At any time
Simple cancellation, and online if the buyer signed up online.

In the US, online auto-renewals fall under ROSCA and state laws such as California's. Where the FTC rule stands, and what each law requires, is in negative option billing. How stored cards and renewals work on the payment side is in subscription payment processing.

What processors check before they accept a course business

Selling your own course on your own site is ordinary business for most processors. A few topics change that, and the processor's own list is stricter than the card networks' in places.

Get-rich-quick offers. Stripe's list prohibits "get rich quick" schemes, including investment opportunities. Courses that promise income for little effort are read against that line.15
Trading and investing courses. In Japan, Stripe prohibits consulting or advice that gives guidance, information or tools on profiting from stock trading.15
Platforms selling other people's courses. Stripe restricts content creation platforms where creators sell exclusive content or digital products; a creator publishing directly on their own website doesn't need preapproval.15
Your category code. Visa's 8299 covers schools and educational services not classified elsewhere. The digital goods codes, such as 5815 for books, films and music delivered electronically, don't name courses, so your acquirer decides which fits your catalog.16 See MCC 8299, MCC 5815 and the full digital picture in digital goods merchant.

Income claims are a payment risk too

Screenshots of student earnings on a sales page are what a processor's reviewer reads first. Keep claims you can document, and put the typical result next to the best one.

Where Tagada fits

How Tagada helps

Your course checkout, with more than one processor behind it

Tagada runs the checkout with one-click upsells, order bumps, A/B tests, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and server-side tracking for Meta, Google and TikTok. Subscriptions come with trials, billing cycles, retries and automatic recovery, which covers memberships and payment plans. Payments route across Stripe, Adyen and Tagada's own TagadaPay processor with one logic, with a cascade when a payment is declined, and the card vault moves customers between merchant accounts without collecting their cards again. It works standalone, with Shopify or WooCommerce, or headless. Every TagadaPay account is underwritten, and deceptive trial and subscription marketing is refused. See pricing for plans. Tagada follows Visa and Mastercard rules and the laws that apply to payments.

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Updated on October 14, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

How do I sell an online course?

Choose where the sale happens: a course platform like Teachable, Thinkific or Kajabi, Shopify with an app, or your own checkout. Pick a pricing model, write refund terms, add a consent checkbox for EU buyers, set up VAT and sales tax by buyer location, and log every login. Then send traffic to one sales page and measure what converts.

What is the best way to sell online courses internationally?

Show prices in the buyer's currency, offer the payment methods each market uses (wallets and bank-based methods take a large share online in the euro area), and charge VAT at the buyer's rate in the EU. Either register through the One Stop Shop or let a merchant of record collect and file tax for you.

Do I have to charge VAT on online courses sold to EU customers?

For recorded, automated courses sold to consumers, yes: they are electronically supplied services, taxed at the rate of the buyer's country. EU sellers under EUR 10,000 a year of cross-border sales can use their home VAT. Non-EU sellers owe it from the first sale and can file through the OSS non-Union scheme.

Can a customer get a refund on an online course in the EU?

Within 14 days, yes, unless they gave up that right. For a recorded course, the right ends once access starts, provided the buyer expressly consented to immediate access, acknowledged losing the right, and you confirmed it on a durable medium such as an email. Without those three steps, they can still cancel.

Should I offer a payment plan for my course?

If the price is high for your audience, yes. A payment plan is a fixed series of charges on a stored card: three or six payments, then it stops. Show the number of payments, each amount and the total before checkout, and say in your terms what happens to access if a payment fails.

Which platform is best for selling online courses?

It depends on what you need to control. Course platforms bundle hosting and checkout, but each sets its own fees and payment options. Shopify suits brands that already sell products and add a course. Your own checkout gives you full control of payment methods, processors and data, at the cost of more setup.