Payment methods other than credit/debit card

Cash

Sending cash by post is very risky and in some countries it is illegal. If at all possible please use one of the other methods of payment. If you must send cash it is entirely at your own risk.

If you must send cash we advise you to send it by registered or insured mail. If any cash you send is stolen or lost or not accepted by our bank we will not be able to help. If our bank does not accept the cash you send we will return it to you by ordinary (uninsured) post at your risk. However we will not be able to return forged or counterfeit currency as it is illegal to post this in the UK. We will not return coins because of the cost of postage.

UK cash

We can accept notes issued in England (The Bank of England), Scotland (The Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland, or The Clydesdale bank), or Northern Ireland (Ulster Bank, Northern Bank, First Trust Bank or Bank of Ireland). We can also accept current coins, however if you send us coins which are no longer current we will have to throw them away.

Sterling area cash

Coins are not acceptable. We can accept current notes only at face value from the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey. We can accept current notes from Gibraltar at an exchange rate of 1:1 but add £2 or 2% (whichever is greater) to cover charges made by our bank. We regret that we cannot accept notes from the Falkland Islands or St. Helena.

Foreign currency

We cannot accept foreign coins. We can accept current notes from many countries. In particular we can accept notes from all EC countries, Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA. If your currency is freely exchangeable on the international currency markets we can probably accept it. If in doubt ask at a bank in your country before sending anything to us. We will be charged by our bank for converting your money to British pounds. Please add £2 or 2% (whichever is greater) to cover these charges.

To work out how much to send us you can use http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic (a currency conversion site) enter the total select convert from GBP and convert to select your local currency select bank rate plus 4% and hit convert. The amount you should use is the amount of your currency for "buying" British pounds.

UK cheques

We accept cheques drawn on banks or branches of banks based in the UK which are part of the UK "clearing bank" system. If you have a bank account with a cheque book in pounds in the UK then your cheque will be acceptable. This includes banks in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney).

These are accepted at face value

Cheques should be made payable to "The Tolkien Society".

NB UK cheques are only acceptable if made out in British Pounds. UK cheques made out in other currencies including Euros will incur very high bank charges (£15 - £20)!

US checks

We accept cheques drawn on banks or branches of banks based in the USA which are part of the US Federal "clearing bank" system. If you have a bank account with a check book in dollars in the US then your check will be acceptable.

Cheques should be made payable to "The Tolkien Society".

To work out how much to send us you can use http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic (a currency conversion site) enter the total, select convert from: GBP and convert to: USD, select bank rate plus 4% and hit convert. The amount you should use is the amount of your currency for "buying" British pounds.

Personal cheques/checks from banks outside the UK or USA

We can accept personal cheques drawn in your local currency on your own bank from many countries. If your currency is freely negotiable on the international exchange markets then we can probably accept your cheque. However our bank will charge us for this, and we in turn must pass this charge on to you.

We have had no problems accepting cheques from Canada, and EC countries. If a cheque is not accepted by our bank we will return it to you and ask you to pay by another method.

Personal cheques must be drawn in the currency of the country in which your bank account is held (in you are in a country which has joined the Euro cheques must be drawn in Euros).

Cheques should be made payable to "The Tolkien Society".

To work out how much the cheque should be for work out the total due in British Pounds if this is less than £94.00 then add £6.00 per cheque to cover our bank charges. If it is £94.00 or more add £12.00 per cheque. Next go to a currency conversion site enter the total select convert from GBP and convert to your local currency select bank rate plus 2% and hit convert. The amount you should use is the amount of your currency for "buying" British pounds.

Traveler's cheques

We accept traveler's cheques in British pounds on the same basis as UK cheques and those in other currencies on the same basis as personal cheques in those currencies provided that the cheques are countersigned as instructed by the issuer and the "Pay to" line is completed with "The Tolkien Society".

Note that when posted because they are countersigned they should be sent by registered post.

If you use travelers cheques to pay by post we cannot give change. If you use them to pay in person you will need to show us your passport and we will usually be able to give you any change in British pounds

Giro bank payments

We do not have a Girobank account. We cannot therefore accept payments direct to our bank account via the Girobank system.

However if you have a Girobank account in any of the countries listed below, your local Girobank may be able to arrange payment via the UK Girobank. If they do this the UK girobank will send us a cheque.

Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland

Credit cards

We can accept payments by Visa card, MasterCard or JCB cards. You can send your credit card details by post, fax, telephone or email. Please see the contact page for details of which methods are available for membership, sales and bookings.

You can also pay for membership on-line.

The details we require are:

Our bank charges for handling credit card payments, in order to cover these charges we will add 5% to the total due. Your credit card issuer may also charge you for payments made by credit card, see your card issuers terms and conditions for details (if paying from outside the UK note that this will be an "overseas", "foreign" or "foreign currency" transaction and your card issuer may charge differently for these).

Visa and Mastercard Corporate purchasing cards are accepted on the same basis as credit cards

We do not accept Discover, American Express or Diner's Club (apart from those Diner's Club cards which are also MasterCards).

Debit cards

We can accept payments by Visa Debit cards/Delta cards, Visa Electron cards, Solo cards and UK issued Maestro cards. You can send your debit card details by post, fax, telephone or email. Please see the contact page for details of which methods are available for membership, sales and bookings.

The details we require are:

We cannot accept Maestro cards issued outside the UK unless they are also MasterCards (in which case see credit cards).

International Money Orders and Bank Drafts

In British Pounds

We can accept International Money Orders or Bank Drafts in British pounds provided they are payable through a UK bank, or the UK branch of a foreign bank (provided that branch is part of the UK clearing bank system). IMOs or bank drafts which meet these requirements are accepted at face value.

Most banks around the world can arrange IMOs or Bank Drafts in British Pounds (sometimes called Pounds Sterling). Branches of American Express or Thomas Cook may also be able to provide these and may be cheaper. If there is a local branch of a major UK bank (Barclays, Lloyds TSB, NatWest, or HSBC) they may be a cheaper option than your own bank. In many countries Post Offices can also supply these. It pays to shop around as charges may vary considerably between organisations.

They should be made payable to "The Tolkien Society".

In other currencies

We can accept International Money Orders and Bank Drafts in other currencies (for example US dollars) however this is quite an expensive way of going about paying us. You will still have to pay the bank for the IMO/Bank Draft and you need to add 6.00 British Pounds (if the amount you need to pay us is less than 94.00 Pounds) or 12.00 British Pounds to the amount you pay us to cover the charges made by our bank.

If you do decide to follow this route please note that the IMO/Bank Draft must be payable through a bank of the country whose currency is used (thus a US$ draft must be payable through a USA bank, a Japanese Yen draft must be payable through a bank in Japan). Bank drafts where the currency and country does not agree occur extremely high bank charges (anything up to 30 pounds) and will be returned to you.

To calculate the amount of the money order go to http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic (a currency conversion site) enter the total select convert from GBP and convert to the currency of the draft select bank rate plus 2% and hit convert). The amount you should use is the amount of your currency for "buying" British pounds.

They should be made payable to "The Tolkien Society".

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)

We are happy to accept donations to the Society from all forms of Charities Aid Foundation account run by the CAF in the UK.

If you want to pay for membership using a CAF account please check with the CAF to make sure that your CAF account permits you to make payments of this type first. The Inland Revenue have advised us that the benefits arising from membership are within the acceptable limits for the purposes of the Gift Aid scheme. If you do pay for membership using a CAF account we would appreciate it if you increased the amount paid to take account of the tax reclaimed on your behalf by the CAF.

We cannot accept payments from CAF accounts for the fees charged for events such as Oxonmoot and the AGM dinner.

If you have a CAF account from a CAF organisation outside the UK please ask your local CAF organisation for details of whether, and how you can make a payment to us from your account.

International Reply Coupons

We are happy to accept International Reply Coupons (IRC) as payment for small amounts.

International Reply Coupons (Coupon-Réponse International) are available from Post Offices in countries which are part of the Universal Postal Union (Union Postale Universelle or UPU). The IRC is sometimes referred to as CN 01 (formerly C22) which is the UPU document number.

We can exchange each IRC for £0.47 in stamps at our Post Office.

For example for airmail "Entings" membership which costs £4 you would need to send us 9 IRC (for surface mail "Entings" membership at £3 you would need to send us 7 IRC).

For small amounts (under £5) this may be the cheapest way to pay if you can't pay by credit card.

We will consider accepting larger payments using IRC if you have difficulty paying by any other method (perhaps because of exchange restrictions in your country). However please contact us first.

British Postal Orders

We can accept payment by British Postal orders. These are available at all post offices in the UK. They are also available in a number of other countries around the world. See the Royal Mail website for International availability of British Postal orders.

If you are visiting the UK and want to mail your payment to us while you are here this is a cheap and easy way of doing this, the Post Office will make a small charge for issuing the Postal Order.

We accept British Postal Orders at face value.

They should be made payable to the "The Tolkien Society".

You should "cross" postal orders before posting them. This means that they cannot be exchanged for cash but must be paid via a bank account. "Crossing" the postal order helps prevent theft and fraud. To "cross" the postal order draw two parallel diagonal lines on the front of the postal order about 1cm apart. The lines should start from a point about 2 - 3cm from the left side of the postal order, just above the line marked "-do not write below this line-" and reach to a point about 2 - 3cm from the right of the postal order, just below the top of the postal order.

Canadian Postal Money Orders

We can accept Canadian Postal Money orders in British pounds only. These are available from post offices in Canada, the issuing post office will charge you a fee.

The Canada Post website has further information.

United States Postal Money Orders

We can accept postal money orders issued by the United States Post Office even though they are marked "FOR DOMESTIC USE ONLY" because we maintain a bank account in the US

Postal Money Orders should be made payable to "The Tolkien Society"

To work out how much to send us you can use http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic (a currency conversion site) enter the total, select convert from: GBP and convert to: USD, select bank rate plus 4% and hit convert. The amount you should use is the amount of your currency for "buying" British pounds.

Other Postal Orders

Post Offices in many countries can arrange international payments. Ask at your local Post Office.

Depending on your country the payment may be made by some form of international money order or by bank transfer.

If your Post Office does not give you anything to send to us you must let us know that you have asked them to send us a payment and what it is for. If at all possible send us a copy of the form or other instructions you have given to the Post Office.

If your Post Office intends to pay by bank transfer you will need our bank details:

Make it clear to your Post Office that you should pay all charges.

If your Post Office is going to send us (or give you to send to us) a money order in a currency other than British Pounds you will need to add £6 to the total you need to pay to cover charges made by our bank.

If your Post Office is going to send us (or give you to send to us) a money order in British Pounds then we will be able to accept that at face value.

All money orders should be payable to "The Tolkien Society"..

Bank Transfers

If you wish you may pay by bank transfer. If you do pay by bank transfer please let us know by mail, email or fax that you have done so, make sure you tell us the reason, the date and the amount. Ideally send us a copy of your instruction to your bank.

If the transfer is from an overseas bank or account you must make it clear to your bank that all charges are to be paid by you.

For a transfer from an account in the UK, Isle of Man or Channel Islands the details you need are:

Bank Details
Bank name: CAFBank Ltd
Branch name: Kings Hill
Sort code: 40-52-40
Account name: The Tolkien Society
Account number: 00004165

For a transfer from an account outside the UK the details you need are:

Bank Details for international transfers.
Bank name: HSBC
Branch name/address: Poultry & Princes Street, London
Sort code: 40-05-30
Account name: CafBank Ltd
Account number: 72138549
Swift BIC: MIDLGB2141W
IBAN: GB48 MIDL 4005 3072 1385 49
Narrative (Field 70): For Tolkien Society 00004165 followed by your name and the reason as below.

If you have been sent an invoice please use the invoice number to identify payment, otherwise please use the reason for payment, your surname and initial (e.g. "Membership Reynolds T", "Oxonmoot Armstrong A", "AGM Crawshaw C", "Seminar Reynolds A")