Memberships

What are the membership options?

There are two memberships available: Standard and Premium.

The Standard Membership includes:

The Surfer’s Journal delivered every eight weeks
Member-only access to every article we’ve ever published in The Archives
Email delivery of additional original TSJ content
20% discount in the TSJ Company Store
Member-only film screenings
Exclusive sponsor offers and discounts

The Premium Membership includes all the benefits of Standard, plus:

Listed as a supporter on surfersjournal.com
25% discount in The TSJ Store
A member-only annual gift ($100 value)

Will memberships auto-renew?

Yes. All memberships will automatically renew once the final issue in the subscription has been mailed. Members will be notified by email approximately two weeks before the card on file is charged for the next year.

Should you prefer your membership to not renew automatically, you can disable this function in your account settings. Simply log in, view your subscriptions, select the membership you want to edit, and click “Auto-Renew Off.” This will end the recurring payment but continue the membership for the remaining issues for which payment has already been received. After that, you will receive notices to manually renew your membership.

Do gift memberships auto-renew?

No. Memberships purchased for someone other than yourself will not auto-renew. Please note, only orders processed as Gift Memberships will be tagged as a gift in our system. All other memberships will auto-renew as described above.

I had a membership but someone just gave me a gift, will I get two issues now?

If the gift membership was given to you with your name and address listed as we have in our membership records, then our system will find your account and add the new subscription to your existing subscription. You will not receive duplicates.

If the gift was given to you with a nickname or to a different address, our system will not find you as a duplicate. A new account will be started for you and you will likely receive two copies each issue. To correct this, call our office at (949) 361-0331 or email membership@surfersjournal.com.

Am I eligible to upgrade from Standard to Premium?

If you are not already a Premium Member, you are eligible to upgrade and get more from your membership, including a custom annual gift, 25% discount in the TSJ Company Store, and your name listed as a TSJ supporter on surfersjournal.com.

Here’s how to upgrade:

Visit the My Account page
Select Subscriptions on the My Account navigation
Select “Upgrade” to upgrade your current membership or select “Renew to Premium” if you are eligible to renew
Proceed and complete payment to upgrade your membership

Once you complete your membership upgrade, you will be sent your Premium Member gift. Note that we change the gifts annually in the fall/winter.

How do I renew?

There are three ways to renew your membership. First, through My Account — if you are logged in to surfersjournal.com you can renew through the My Account page. To access your account, click the Account icon in the top right corner of surfersjournal.com, select Memberships, and then renew your membership and/or any gift memberships you have given.

You can also renew by clicking on Renew Membership (under Join, in the navigation). If you enter the email address we have on file, you only need to select the membership you would like to renew and proceed to checkout.

If you prefer to chat with a member of our team directly, you can call our Member Services team at 949-361-0331 or email us at membership@surfersjournal.com.

How do I cancel?

Please review our cancellation policy and contact our customer service team via email at membership@surfersjournal.com or via phone at (949) 361-0331. Note that if you have turned off “Auto-renew” for your membership, your membership will not renew.

How quickly will the first issue go out for new members?

Your subscription will begin with the next issue in our schedule after the date of purchase. The shipping schedule for our six issues is as follows:

First issue of the year: Jan
Second issue: March
Third issue: May
Fourth issue: July
Fifth issue: September
Sixth issue: November

As an example, if you were to start a subscription on September 15th, your first issue would be the sixth issue of the year, delivering in November. If you want to receive the current issue with your subscription, you may add it when you join. You can also purchase any issue, current or past, in the TSJ store.

Account Management

I am a member, how do I log in?

Click Member Login at the top right of The Surfer’s Journal website. Either log in with your account information or send a one-time login link to the email you used when purchasing your membership. Once logged in, and assuming you are a current member, you will see discounts applied within the TSJ Company Store and you will have unlimited access to The Archives.

How do I change my address?

Online:

Log in to your account (via the Member Login link in the top right of the page)
Click on the My Account icon (top right of the page)
Click on Memberships in the My Account page
Then click the Manage Membership link on the membership you want to update, and you’ll see a Change Address link.

Via email:

Email membership@surfersjournal.com with your name, old address, and the new address you’d like to have on file.

Please note that we are unable to accept responsibility for replacement issues if the correct information is not supplied.

When should I expect to receive the merchandise I ordered?

We process merchandise orders continuously Monday-Friday, 9-5 PM PST.

Most merchandise orders are delivered in the US will mail via USPS. Please expect 1-2 weeks for domestic delivery, and 2-4 weeks for international delivery.

How do I request a refund or exchange on my order?

To request a refund or exchange for unused or unworn products please contact our Member Services team via email at membership@surfersjournal.com or call (949) 361-0331 within 30 days of purchase. Returns for unused merchandise will be refunded the full amount of the order, less the original shipping cost, once the item has been inspected.

General FAQ

How do you keep my personal information safe?

All data processed by our site, including names, payment details, and addresses, is encrypted and secure. Further, we keep digital data collection to an absolute minimum, only capturing the information necessary to deliver TSJ effectively.

We value the trust and respect of our members. We will never sell or rent your email address or any other personal information. We also promise not to abuse your trust by emailing you with irrelevant offers or content, and you can always manage your email preferences to adjust how frequently you hear from us.

I’m looking for a specific article that you published a while ago. How can I find it?

The Archives are available exclusively to TSJ members — once you are logged in, visit The Archives and use the search bar to find what you’re looking for. You can enter a name, place, keyword, or author, and any articles associated with that search will be presented. You can also order back issues in our online store to build your own archive at home.

How do I submit a story/photo to you?

Contributions to The Surfer’s Journal are always welcome. We’re looking for writers, photographers, artists, and surfers to introduce us to the next great story. For more information and guidelines, please visit our submission page. Due to volume, we cannot provide individual feedback on submissions, though we do closely consider each one and will notify you following our review.