Inability to join societies online?

I wonder why so many societies don't have online joining systems? I would love to support the Talyllyn for example - but you can't join online. I have no UK bank a/c, so online is a must. So many people today won't be bothered to print and fill in a form, write a cheque, and then post it. So even for UK-based supporters I think it's short-sighted not to have online facilities.
What's odd is that many of these railways do have online shops that accept Paypal or credit cards - so why not memberships? :noidea:

 

Speaking on behalf of my own Society, we have overseas members but do not have on line facilities. They simply send an international money order from their home bank.

 

Maybe that's easy in some countries, but costs a lot here!

 

As a TR member, I would suggest you ring the railway or email it, outlining your position and ask if your card details could be taken over the phone or by other means, we have several overseas members, from Paraguay to the South of France. Maybe worth a try.
Cheers
Anthony

 

I agree with Martin Ball - IMOs tend to cost as much as the annual subs! And international phone calls are expensive. Sending banking/ credit card details by e-mail is not terribly secure. If societies had a joining on-line facility it would be far better - get more memberships too if you make it easy.

 

What's odd is that some smaller societies (e.g. Corris, L&B) which I support happily take online membership. Some larger ones (e.g. Talyllyn) don't. Even though I'm sure their shops accept credit cards, either online or in person...

 

Cymdeithas Rheilffordd Eryri/Welsh Highland Railway Society has facilities for "on-line" membership through our online shop. We accept payment through Paypal (you can "credit" Paypal using a credit card if you don't have a paypal account). Our online sales work similarly and donations can also be made.

http://www.whrsoc.org.uk/shop/

We would have preferred to accept credit card payments direct but the charges that our bank would have levied for such a facility would have been prohibitive.

Ian King
Trysorydd/Treasurer
WHRS

 

OK, so email the Talyllyn and ask what the options are maybe?

 

But Cymdeithas Rheilffordd Eryri/Welsh Highland Railway Society still requires new members to print and mail the membership form even though you can pay thru Paypal - how strange is that?
So, I've taken out a couple of memberships in societies that do let me do everything online!

 

If some societies can let you do everything on line, there seems no real reason why the rest can't. It is up to them, but they could be losing out on new memberships.

 

There is something to be said for cheques then.
I think that banks will issue a cheque if you don't have one.
You may have to contact the bank concerned.

 

We at the Welshpool take online membership these days - and speaking as a board member of the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers (www.16mm.org.uk) when we introduced online join now facilities to our website last year it boosted membership recruitment - we passed 3,500 members yesterday!

Cheers

Andrew C
W&LLR and other things

 

Ploughman - if you read my original post you'll see I don't have a UK bank account - that's the point!

 

The Ffestiniog Railway Society - FRS - also allow you to join online through a simple form.

I joined the WHRS online and recieved my membership pack before I got round to sending the form in (the pack came very quickly). I still haven't, so I'm assuming its not essential (unless someone tells me otherwise!).

Dan E

 

We (WHRS) also from time to time receive cheques drawn on foreign banks in foreign currencies. It is quite simple, the payer writes out his or her cheque for the USD (or whatever currency) equivalent of the GBP amount at the current exchange rate, usually plus a bit (by way of donation, cover for charges, exchange rate fluctuations etc) and we pay the cheque into our account. Our bank converts it to GBP. We have never, in my 18 months as Treasurer, lost out.

We sometimes also receive cash in the post but I do not advocate that as it is clearly less secure.

Ian King

 

I find it bizarre that so few societies offer Direct Debit annual renewal.
I've let my memberships lapse so many times - I just don't 'do' cheques and I'd much rather auto-renew.

When I've worked on membership retention programmes in my professional life, we've observed increases of up to 60% by people using DD.

 

The NGRS doesn't "do" Standing Order renewals - I raised this once and was told "it isn't possible" but as so many do (FRS WHRS, DHRS etc to name just a few that I can speak of) I don't really understand that.

I am always a late renewer for the NGRS - mea culpa.

Ian King

 

I'll tell you how strange it is. We like to have a signed Gift Aid declaration which allows us to claim an uplift (presently 28%) on the donation from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs where the payment is made by a UK taxpayer. I accept that would not be relevant in your case and may be an overly cautious approach as possibly an on-line Gift Aid declaration would be valid but for the time being at least we are taking a simple approach.

Ian King

 

Yes, but you do not need a new Gift Aid Declaration every year - one which covers "this and all future donations" is sufficient.

 

An online donation can be Gift Aided, but I don't know if the rules are the same for memberships. Another advantage of direct debit/standing order auto-renewal might be less administrative effort/postage cost for the society, as there would be no need to send out a renewal form, though I don't know if banks charge for receiving these.