FAQs

Having trouble? We’d be happy to assist you.

  • Call: (949) 361-0331
  • Email: membership@surfersjournal.com
  • Our office hours are Monday-Friday 9am-5pm PST
  • International members can reach us on: +1 (949) 361-0331

Memberships

What are the Membership options?

There are two Membership options available; Standard and Premium. 

The Standard Membership includes: 

  • The Surfer’s Journal delivered to your door every eight weeks.
  • Unlimited 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 the Standard as well as the following additional benefits:

  • Custom annual gift
  • 25% Discount in The TSJ Store.
  • Listed as a TSJ benefactor on surfersjournal.com

What are the benefits of joining?

You’ll receive a new issue every eight weeks delivered directly to your door while paying less than you would at a bookstore or newsstand. Premium memberships include deeper discounts on TSJ merchandise, a custom annual gift, and your name listed as a supporter on surfersjournal.com. Members are also entitled to discounts on all merchandise and apparel purchases through online store. Members must be signed in to their account to receive their discount. The discount is applied at checkout, and does not include shipping costs, sale items, or products purchased using a promotional code. We reserve the right to revise the member discount without notice, and to exclude certain products from the offer.

Do memberships auto-renew?

Yes. Auto-renewing your membership saves trees, time, and money. As a sustaining member we won’t need to send you any physical renewal notices, and you won’t ever need to think about it. Best of all, you’ll never miss an issue. All memberships will auto-renew once the final issue in the subscription has been mailed. Members will be notified by email before the next payment is due. 

Should you prefer your membership not to auto-renew, you can disable this function in your account settings. Simply login, view your subscriptions, 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, you will need to select “gift subscription” at checkout for a subscription to be considered a gift.  

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 as we have in our records, and to the address we have on file, then our system will find your account and adding the new subscription will extend your existing subscription, you will not receive duplicates.

If the gift was given to you with a nickname or to a different address, a new account will be started for you and your two subscriptions will then overlap. To correct this, let us know! Call our office at (949) 361-0331 or email us at membership@surfersjournal.com.

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

Your new subscription will begin with the next issue. The schedule for our six issues are as follows:

Issue / Ships

  • Feb/Mar Issue
  • Apr/May Issue
  • Jun/July Issue
  • Aug/Sep Issue
  • Oct/Nov Issue
  • Dec/Jan Issue

If you want to receive the current issue you may purchase it in our store.

I’m a member, but the new issues sometimes get to the surf shops or bookstores first, why is that?

We fully understand that as a member it’s nice to get your magazine before anyone else can get their hands on it. We ship member copies a week before we send surf shop and bookstore copies out. The only exception is in December, when we ship issues to members, surf shops and bookstores at the same time to ensure holiday delivery.

My membership has ended. How do I renew?

You can extend or renew your membership or a gift membership at any time by simply clicking renew on the membership you would like to renew within your My Account area of the site or by contacting our Member Services team by emailing membership@surfersjournal.com. Alternatively, you can call 949-361-0331 to speak with a member of our team. If your membership is set to automatically renew you don’t need to take any further action to keep receiving issues of The Surfer’s Journal and accessing all content on surfersjournal.com. If your credit card information has changed please log into your account and update your payment method. Your card will charge when you are set to auto-renew.

Account Management

I’ve moved, how do I change my address?

Log in to your account, click “Manage” in your subscriptions tab and update your address. Or 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.

Am I eligible to upgrade my membership?

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

How do I upgrade my membership?

You can upgrade your membership by following the below steps.

  • 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 checkout to upgrade your membership.

Will I receive the premium member gift if I upgrade?

Yes, once you complete your membership upgrade, you will be sent your Premium Member gift. We change the gifts annually.

How do I cancel my membership?

Please review our cancellation policy and contact our customer service team who can assist with cancellations; please email us at membership@surfersjournal.com or call (949) 361-0331. 

Shop

When should I expect to receive the merchandise I ordered?

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

Most merchandise orders delivering 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 60 days of purchase. Refunds requested outside of the 60 day window will not be accepted. Returns for unused merchandise will be refunded the full amount of the order, less the original shipping cost once the item has been inspected and then approved by a member of our team and deemed to be unused.

General FAQ

I am a member, how do I log in?

You need to lookup you account on our website. Once your email address is registered, Log InIf you are a current member, you will now receive your discount on merchandise in our store and have free access to The Archives and member only content.

I want to renew online but I don’t want tons of junk mail/email. Can I trust you guys?

We value the trust and respect of our members. We will never sell or rent your personal information to another company. We also promise not to abuse your trust by emailing or advertising to you flagrantly. There are a number of digital content features including new episodes of Soundings, our podcast series, and The High Line, our monthly newsletter, that you will receive from us. We will also let you know when we publish a new book or bring in new TSJ gear. Lastly, we will email you when your membership is about to expire.

Every so often there will be a TSJ supported event or bit of news that we think you want to know about. When that comes up we will send you an email or postcard. It will always come from our office, no one will ever see your information except us. Please understand that this is a rare occurrence, and we always take you into consideration when we are thinking of promoting our products to you.

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

Visit the TSJ Archives and type in a keyword for the subject you want and a list of the past features associated with that keyword will pop up. You can then download the article or order the back issue from this page. Remember, The Archives are available exclusively to TSJ members.

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.

Contributions to The Surfer’s Journal are welcome. 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.

Are you affiliated with any other publication?

We publish The Surfer’s Journal exclusively, and a variety of hard-cover books featuring surf photography.