Frequently asked questions

If you have already paid £20.00 by cheque or standing order in 2024

Please send a further £5.00

• by PayPal Gift
• or use online or mobile banking
• or send a cheque

Contact membership@nnns.org.uk and explain what you have done.

How to alter your subscription, following a price increase

If you pay by Standing Order,

• use Telephone Banking
• or use Online Banking
• or visit your own bank

If you pay by PayPal Gift,

• the correct amount due will be displayed at the time.

If you pay by PayPal Automatic annually,

• please log into PayPal and amend your account –
• this may mean cancelling the previous arrangement and starting a new one
• (any errors you make can be refunded if you email payments@nnns.org.uk)

How to find out if your subscription is up to date

Ask the Membership Secretary

• email membership@nnns.org.uk or text 07813 463920 or phone 01693 440444
• you should give your contact details (for Data Protection reasons)
• It is better to do this first and pay a little later than to have to ask for a refund.

Can I join NNNS without registering with PayPal?

If you wish to avoid registering with PayPal, there are some points to consider.

• PayPal uses the word “Subscribe” to mean 'set up a subscription which will be “automatically” renewable by PayPal, however you wish to pay now.'
• If you do have a PayPal account, you can cancel “Automatic renewal” when you wish to, using their “autopay” “pre-approved payments” settings.
• When we use the “Subscribe” button with PayPal, they provide the option of so called “automatic payments”, that is an annual repeat subscription on the same date. To do this they need to use a registered PayPal account.

If your PayPal subscription is set to automatically renew after the normal renewal date of 1st April,

• your membership would be renewed on the anniversary of your payment, and the Treasurer will not expect renewal before that date, but if you close your PayPal account, any renewal plans are cancelled, and the Treasurer will be notified at the time.
• If your subscription is up-to-date, and you cancel PayPal’s “automatic renewal”, your subscription becomes due on the 1st April next year.
• If your subscription is NOT up-to-date, and you you cancel PayPal’s “automatic renewal”, your subscription becomes due NOW.

What happens if I cancel my PayPal account or its “automatic” annual payment?

• Automatic renewal by PayPal. If you subscribe by PayPal, your membership would be renewed on the anniversary of your payment, and the Treasurer will not expect renewal before that date, even if it is after 1st April, when subscriptions are normally payable.
• If you close your PayPal account, any renewal plans are cancelled, and the Treasurer will be notified at the time.
• If you cancel PayPal’s “automatic renewal” at any time after 1st April, your subscription becomes due on the next 1st April, regardless of when you last paid.

Can I join NNNS without using my PayPal account?

• Yes, you could purchase a Gift Subscription for yourself
• If you wish to avoid registering with PayPal, make sure you select the correct options.

About Gift Membership

If you wish to purchase a subscription for yourself or anyone else without using your PayPal account, use “Gift Membership”.
You will be putting a Gift-Subscription into the “shopping cart”, and your payment options will be the same as if it were a book.

On our “Join” page we have a button labelled “Give membership as a gift”. This takes you to the “Gift” part of our online “shop”, with a green gift-wrapped parcel above a button labelled “Add to Cart, which on clicking, will take you to a new (PayPal) page and the chosen “Gift Membership” will be listed with any other purchase you might have also chosen. You will see a colourful yellow “PayPal Check out” button or (just below it) a dull grey “Check Out – Pay without a PayPal account” button.
Choosing the dull option gives you what you want. It also allows you to choose to “send” the membership to someone else, if you choose not the check the box labelled “Send to my billing address”, when it would allow you to enter a “Shipping address”.

Payment Errors

If someone accidentally pays twice in error, the Treasurer will spot the anomaly in the accounts and is able to refund it. If using a registered PayPal login, your payments are all listed if you log into your account.
Alternatively you could be reassured by using online banking to check your bank account, and if you decide to give up on PayPal, you could make an online payment by Band Giro Credit (BGC details below) and then email membership@nnns.org.uk with your address, etc once the payment has been made – noting any reference you have used to help the Treasurer identify your payment.

Use a reference such as your name and a number, for example JF2014, and let us know it by letter to the Treasurer or email to membership@nnns.org.uk

Renewing Subscription

Even if you are not already a member, you could use this method to pay your subscription, if you wish to avoid registering with PayPal.

What happens once you’ve Paid.

The Membership Secretary is notified by email very soon after PayPal receives a payment, and responds to this soon after. Firstly by adding Name, email-address, postal address and any telephone numbers to our mailing lists. Secondly if the payment is from a new member or is a gift to a new member, the Secretary welcomes the new member and forwards the details to our Publications Manager, who sends a “welcome pack”.

Paying by Direct Debit

We do not set up Direct Debit arrangements, but please use a Standing Order if you can.

Click here to see how.

To Subscribe by Standing Order

If you use online banking you could set up a Standing Order with your bank to maintain your membership up to date. If you do this, please tell us how we can recognise your payment – for example a reference number.

Click here to see how.

Bank details

• Account Name: Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists' Society
• Address: Barclays Bank plc, St Stephens Branch, 5/7 Red Lion Street, Norwich NR1 3QH
• Account No: 60662860
• Sort Code: 20-62-53

International Bank details

Our bank account is in the name Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists' Society
Barclays Bank plc, St Stephens Branch, 5/7 Red Lion Street, Norwich NR1 3QH
Bank Account No, 60662860: Sort Code, 20-62-53

For international payments to our Barclays account use
SWIFT or Business identifier (BIC) code: BUKBGB22
or International Bank Account Number (IBAN): GB73 BUKB 2062 5360 6628 60

Gift Aid

Gift Aid can be a boost to a charity’s income, if they can claim back the basic rate tax already paid on donations by donors, which currently means we could claim back 25p from the government for every £1 donated.
However, we cannot claim Gift Aid on subscriptions, as our members benefit by receiving goods valued at more than 25% of their subscription.
In fact this year and last, the total cost of printing and distributing publications to members is 25% higher than the income from subscriptions!
This is explained here on the UK Government website.

Can I subscribe using Amazon Smile?

Not any more – Amazon wound down AmazonSmile by 20 February 2023.

You have to use PayPal but you have no need to open a PayPal account…

If you do not have, or want, a PayPal account, you can pay with your credit card without being “registered” with PayPal
To do this you make a card purchase using the “Gift Membership” button.
‘Click on add to cart’
‘Click on Check out – Pay without a PayPal account’
Please note if you choose this method you must revisit the site each year to renew your membership. If you choose to open and pay using a PayPal account you may choose to have your renewal completed automatically.