You cancelled the subscription on the company's website, saw the confirmation, and moved on — then PayPal charged you again next month. It's a common trap: when a subscription pays through PayPal, PayPal holds a standing instruction called an automatic payment, and cancelling on the merchant's side doesn't always cancel that instruction. To truly stop the charge, you cancel the automatic payment inside PayPal itself. Here's exactly where to do it, on both web and mobile.
When you set up a subscription paid with PayPal, you authorise PayPal to send the merchant money on a schedule. That standing authorisation lives in your PayPal account, separate from your account on the merchant's site. Some merchants notify PayPal when you cancel and the automatic payment closes cleanly; others don't, and PayPal keeps honouring the instruction. The safest approach is to treat it as two switches: cancel on the merchant's site and cancel the automatic payment in PayPal, so there's no standing instruction left to charge against.
| Where you cancel | What it stops | Enough on its own? |
|---|---|---|
| Company website only | Your account / access on the merchant side | Not always |
| PayPal automatic payments only | The recurring charge from PayPal | Stops the money |
| Both | Access and the standing payment instruction | Yes |
One timing detail matters: cancel at least 24 hours before the next scheduled payment. PayPal queues automatic payments ahead of time, so a last-minute cancellation may not catch a charge that's already in flight.
If a payment slipped through after you cancelled, you have options. First, confirm the automatic payment now shows as cancelled in PayPal so it won't happen again. For the charge that did go through, contact the merchant for a refund — that's usually the fastest route. If they won't help and you believe the charge was unauthorised, you can open a dispute through PayPal's Resolution Center. Keep your cancellation confirmation; it's your evidence that the standing instruction should have already been closed.
Add your PayPal-billed subscriptions to SubScan and see them alongside everything else, with renewal dates and your true monthly and yearly total. It runs entirely in your browser: no bank login, no PayPal login, no account, nothing uploaded.
Open the free trackerBecause the subscription pays through a PayPal automatic payment — a standing instruction stored in your PayPal account. Cancelling on the company's website doesn't always close that instruction, so PayPal keeps paying. To stop the charge for good, cancel the automatic payment inside PayPal as well.
On the web, go to Settings, then Payments, then Manage automatic payments, select the merchant, and choose Cancel. In the mobile app, open your profile or settings, find Automatic payments, tap the merchant, and tap Cancel. Confirm and check the status reads cancelled.
It's the safest approach. Cancelling the PayPal automatic payment stops the money, but cancelling on the merchant's site also ends your account or access there and prompts some merchants to close their side cleanly. Doing both leaves no standing instruction or open account behind.
At least 24 hours before the next scheduled payment. PayPal queues automatic payments in advance, so a cancellation made too close to the renewal date may not catch a charge that's already in flight. Cancel a day or more ahead to be safe.
Yes. You add each one to SubScan manually and it appears with your other subscriptions in your monthly and yearly totals and renewal view. SubScan never connects to PayPal or asks for any login — everything stays on your device.
For informational purposes only. SubScan is a free, on-device tool and does not provide financial advice. PayPal menu labels and figures are illustrative and may change; check PayPal's current screens for exact wording.