How to Accept Rand Payments for Your HighLevel Courses Using PayFast

If you're a South African course creator using HighLevel, you've probably hit a wall when trying to accept payments in Rands. Your customers want to pay with their local payment methods, but HighLevel's native payment options don't support PayFast or ZAR transactions.

That's where CheckoutJoy comes in.

In this guide, I'll walk you through connecting PayFast to HighLevel so you can sell your courses in Rands and give your South African customers the payment experience they expect.

What You'll Need

Before we start, make sure you have:

• A CheckoutJoy account
• A PayFast merchant account
• A HighLevel account with your course already set up

The Three-Step Setup Process

Step 1: Connect PayFast to CheckoutJoy

Start in your CheckoutJoy dashboard and navigate to Settings > Payment Methods. Find PayFast in the list and click Set Up.

You'll need two pieces of information from your PayFast account:

• Merchant ID
• Merchant Key

To find these, log into PayFast and go to Settings > Developer Settings. You'll see your Merchant ID in the top right corner. Copy both values and paste them into CheckoutJoy.

That's it - PayFast is now connected.

Step 2: Install the CheckoutJoy App in HighLevel

In CheckoutJoy, go to Integrations > HighLevel and click the button to install the app. This will redirect you to the HighLevel Marketplace.

Select your HighLevel account to authorize the connection. Once you're redirected back to CheckoutJoy, the integration is complete.

Step 3: Create Your Product and Checkout

Now it's time to set up your product. In CheckoutJoy, click Add Product and select the HighLevel option.

Fill in your product details:

• Product name
• Images
• Thank you page URL (where customers land after purchase)

The Important Part: Tags

Here's how CheckoutJoy connects to HighLevel - through tags. When a customer completes checkout, CheckoutJoy creates them as a contact in HighLevel and assigns specific tags to them.

In the HighLevel Settings section, add the tags you want (for example: "PayFast" and "CheckoutJoy"). These tags will trigger the automation workflow we'll create in HighLevel.

Set your pricing in Rands (ZAR), and you're done with the product setup.

Set Up Your Checkout Page

Every product in CheckoutJoy gets its own hosted checkout page. This is the fastest way to start accepting payments.

You can customize:

• Form fields (phone, billing address, custom fields)
• Payment processors (enable PayFast)
• Language and currency options
• Country restrictions (useful if you want to geo-fence checkouts)

For a South African-only product, keep the currency as ZAR and enable PayFast as your payment processor.

Creating the HighLevel Automation

Now let's set up HighLevel to automatically grant course access when someone purchases.

In HighLevel, go to Automations > Workflows and create a new workflow from scratch.

Set Your Trigger:

1. Select "Contact Tag Added" as the trigger
2. Choose the tag you specified in CheckoutJoy (e.g., "PayFast")

Set Your Action:

1. Search for "Course Grant Offer"
2. Select the course offer you want to grant access to

You can add additional actions here - send a welcome email, start a WhatsApp sequence, or trigger any other HighLevel automation.

Save and publish your workflow.

How It Works in Practice

When a customer completes checkout:

1. They fill out the form on your CheckoutJoy checkout page
2. Click "Complete Order" and get redirected to PayFast
3. Complete payment using EFT, credit card, SnapScan, or any PayFast method
4. Get redirected to your thank you page
5. Automatically get added to HighLevel with your specified tags
6. Your workflow triggers and grants them course access

The entire process is automated. No manual enrollment required.

Why This Matters for South African Course Creators

Payment friction kills sales. When your South African customers see USD pricing or can't use PayFast, many will abandon checkout.

This integration solves that problem. Your customers pay in Rands using payment methods they trust, and you get automatic enrollment in HighLevel.

Common Questions

Can I still accept international payments?
Yes. You can create separate checkouts for different regions - one with PayFast for South Africans, and another with Stripe or PayPal for international customers.

Does this work with payment plans?
Yes. CheckoutJoy supports payment plans with PayFast for recurring billing.

What happens if a payment fails?
CheckoutJoy handles failed payments automatically and can trigger recovery workflows in HighLevel.

Want to get going?

Ready to accept Rand payments for your HighLevel courses? Sign up for CheckoutJoy and connect PayFast in under 10 minutes.

Need help with setup? Reach out through our chat widget or contact support - we're here to help.