Cancel difficulty: Easy

To cancel a PayPal subscription, log in at paypal.com, go to Settings, click Payments, select Subscriptions and saved businesses (or Automatic Payments), select the merchant and click Cancel. PayPal calls subscriptions, billing agreements and recurring payments automatic payments, and that page lists them all. Cancelling stops PayPal paying the merchant. It doesn't end your account with the merchant, and PayPal says you may still owe them money.

Find every automatic payment

PayPal's Australian help centre gives these steps for the website:

Go to Settings.
Click Payments.
Select Subscriptions and saved businesses, or Automatic Payments.
Select the merchant.

PayPal links the list directly at paypal.com/myaccount/autopay. On a phone, open that link in your browser and log in. PayPal's Australian help pages don't publish an in-app path to the list.

The list holds more than monthly subscriptions: PayPal's user agreement counts billing agreements, subscriptions, recurring payments, reference transactions, preauthorised transfers and preapproved payments as automatic payments, charged "on a one-time, regular or sporadic basis". A shop where you saved PayPal at checkout for future purchases appears here too.

Cancel one

Select the merchant and click Cancel. The same page changes the backup payment method if you'd rather keep the subscription on a different card.

Cancel at least 3 business days before the next payment. PayPal's user agreement lets you cancel "up to 3 business days before the date of the next scheduled payment", so a payment due tomorrow can still go through. You can also cancel by contacting PayPal. Either way, PayPal stops all future automatic payments under your agreement with that seller.

Rather not do this yourself?

Guided cancellation is free.

Subtracker walks you through the exact notice the merchant needs, keeps your dates straight, and helps you check for later charges when you scan another statement. If a charge lands after cancellation, you can start a refund case.

Start a guided cancellation

What cancelling in PayPal doesn't do

Your account with the merchant stays open. PayPal's user agreement says the automatic payment agreement "is between you and the seller", and that after you cancel "you may still owe the seller money for the purchase or have additional obligations to the seller". Cancel with the merchant as well. PayPal puts the merchant's contact details inside the automatic payment.

Payments already made stay made. PayPal says it can't cancel a completed payment because the seller already has the money, and a refund means contacting the seller.

A merchant that also holds your card details can charge the card directly, outside PayPal.

How PayPal charges appear on your bank statement

A card-funded PayPal payment shows PayPal, an asterisk and a name the seller chose. PayPal tells sellers their business name "could be displayed on your customer's credit card statement after the word PayPal *", as in PayPal *SELLER NAME. The seller sets that name, so it can be an abbreviation or a trading name you've never seen. When PayPal takes the money from your bank account instead, PayPal says the seller's name doesn't appear and your statement shows PAYPALINST XFER. Some PayPal lines also carry 4029357733, which is PayPal's customer service number.

Your PayPal activity is the only record that names every seller. A free scan of a bank statement lists the charges that repeat, PayPal lines included, so you know which ones to look up in PayPal.

If the merchant keeps charging after you cancel

Report it within 8 weeks of the charge. PayPal's dispute timeframes page gives 8 weeks after the payment to report an "unexpected billing agreement payment".

Check the dates. A payment due less than 3 business days after you cancelled was allowed under PayPal's user agreement. Anything later wasn't.
Contact the seller. PayPal lists their contact details under Activity, on the payment.
Open a dispute. Go to the Resolution Centre (paypal.com/disputes, or under Help in the PayPal app), click Report a Problem, select the payment and click Continue. Choose the billing reason, which PayPal's help pages word as "I have a billing issue" or "Billing errors or Issues with subscriptions". Add your cancellation date and PayPal's confirmation email, then submit.
Escalate to a claim within 20 days. PayPal closes a dispute automatically after 20 days unless you escalate it, and a closed dispute can't be reopened. PayPal often requires 7 days since the payment date before you can escalate. In a claim, PayPal investigates and decides, usually within 14 days and sometimes 30 days or longer.

If you never agreed to pay that seller at all, report the payment as unauthorised: Resolution Centre, Report a problem, choose the payment, then "I want to report unauthorised activity". PayPal says it emails you within 10 days. The 4029357733 guide covers reporting it to your bank as well.

Charged after you cancelled?

We can chase the merchant for the money.

Tell Subtracker which charges landed after you cancelled and it emails the merchant a formal demand letter under Australian Consumer Law, with you copied in, then follows up if they go quiet. Letters that quote your statement are harder to argue with, so scan yours in if you can. The fee is 10% of the amount claimed, paid upfront, with a $5 minimum and $49 cap. Your first case is included with the $29 tracker. The fee is refunded automatically if you recover nothing by day 45.

Start a refund case

After you cancel

Check your next two statements for a charge under the same PayPal * name, and keep PayPal's cancellation email until then. To clear out other subscriptions at the same time, see how to cancel all your subscriptions.

PayPal lists what PayPal pays. Your statement also shows the subscriptions billed straight to your card.

Upload a bank statement to find recurring charges, review your subscriptions and track renewals. No bank login required. Your first scan is free and needs no account. The full tracker is $29 AUD once.

See what you're paying for

How to Cancel PayPal Subscriptions and Automatic Payments in Australia (2026)