Membership Terms and Conditions

Membership Terms and Conditions

Effective May 20, 2024

The American Chemical Society (“ACS”) strives to provide members with accessible, easy-to-understand information about the membership benefits and services we provide, so they can make informed decisions about which services best meet their needs. These Membership Terms and Conditions (collectively hereinafter referred to as, the “Terms”) describe the membership and other products and services to you. Please read these Terms carefully. These Terms are in addition to and not in lieu of any other agreements between you and ACS.

Updates and Changes to the Terms

ACS may make updates and changes to these Terms from time to time. When ACS makes material changes, we will provide you with notice in email communications. Your continued use of the membership, other product, and/or subscription services after such updates or changes constitutes your acceptance.

General Membership Terms and Payments

Your ACS membership commences on the date which you join ACS. Membership rates are established by membership category type in the amounts set forth on the ACS website. When you submit your payment, your credit/debit card or PayPal transaction will be processed for the total amount of the selected membership category dues and any other products or subscription services. ACS will provide you with an email acknowledgment of your membership enrollment and other products and subscription services, as applicable, for your records, specifying the total payment amount and the cancellation policy, to the email address provided in your membership profile.

Payment Form and Credit Cards

ACS accepts credit and debit card payment by MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, Discover, and American Express credit cards. If paying using a credit card that belongs to your institution/company, you represent  that you are an authorized user of such credit card. In the event that you become no longer authorized to use the card, you are responsible for updating and replacing the credit card information on your next renewal.    

All transfers of payment information, including credit card handling, is done through a secure server using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. This allows your browser to encode any data it sends to our server, so that even if someone intercepted your information as it traveled across the Internet they wouldn't be able to read it. ACS has a "server certificate" issued to us by VeriSign, the SSL certificate authority on the Internet. They are a trusted third-party authenticator. This certificate verifies that you are really sending your credit card number to us, and not someone pretending to be us. It is standard SSL procedure to get a certificate, usually from VeriSign.

Stored Payment Methods

By storing the credit card or debit card information on your profile and subsequently using the credit card or debit card for one-time payments (collectively, “Stored Payment Method”), you authorize ACS to initiate a debit card payment(s) from the checking or savings account you specify or charge your specified credit card whenever you choose such Stored Payment Method to pay membership dues, or to purchase other products or subscription services from ACS.

If you have any other accounts with ACS that are linked by your user ID, email address or other user credentials, you understand by storing the Stored Payment Method on your ACS account, your Stored Payment Method will appear as a Stored Payment Method on the ACS linked account.  Use of your Stored Payment Method on the linked ACS account is subject to these Terms.

You authorize ACS to credit your credit card in the appropriate amount for any refunds or other billing adjustments. If you select a debit card as your payment source, ACS may process your payment(s) over the STAR, Pulse, NYCE or ACCEL networks (or another network, other than the primary network brand indicated on your card). You agree to be bound by any rules that your debit card or credit card issuer requires for debit card or credit card transactions.

You agree that ACS shall bear no liability or responsibility for any losses of any kind that you may incur as a result of an erroneous statement or invoice, any delay in the actual date on which your account is debited, or your failure to provide accurate and/or valid payment information. You further agree that ACS may participate in “recurring billing programs” or “account updater services” as provided below in the “recurring billing programs and account updater services” section.

You agree if your use of the Stored Payment Method is in violation of these Terms, we reserve the right in our sole discretion to:

  • limit the type of Stored Payment Method that you may use;
  • reject a Stored Payment Method transaction; or

Automatic Renewal Services

Other than as required by applicable law, ACS does not retain hard copies or electronic versions of mandate, standing order or standing instruction forms and/or any signed consents relating to payment or usage of ACS automatic renewal services, and ACS is therefore unable to provide any such document upon request.

In order to ensure that you do not experience an interruption or loss of membership and other products and subscription services, the services are offered on automatic renewal. Except for reasons described below in this section, automatic renewal renews the applicable membership and product and subscription services upon expiration of the then current term for a renewal period equal in time to the most recent membership service period. ACS membership and product and subscription services will renew for the same term period selected in the current transaction (for example, every 1, 2, or 3 years, corresponding with the membership term you chose) on an ongoing basis until the membership is cancelled.   Renewals will be charged at ACS’s then current rates, which you acknowledge and agree may be higher or lower than the rates for the original membership period.   Approximately 35-40 days before your subscription term is set to auto-renew, you will receive an email reminder for the automatic renewal that will provide the subscription rate, term period, and expected total charges for the renewal. This autorenewal rate may not include currently available discounts, including free division offers for new members or coupon codes. At the time of each auto-renewal, your previously chosen method of payment (credit card account) will be charged at the rate listed in the email reminder. Donations and contributions made in the current transaction will not be automatically charged and must be manually re-entered each ensuing year.

Automatic Renewal Process

Unless you cancel the automatic renewal option, ACS will automatically renew your membership and other products and subscription services when it comes up for renewal and will attempt to take payment first from the credit card payment method associated with your membership in your account ("primary payment method"). Renewals will be charged at ACS' then current rates, which you acknowledge and agree may be higher or lower than the rates for the original membership period. If you do not wish for your membership to automatically renew, you may elect to cancel renewal, in which case, your services will terminate upon expiration of the then current term, unless you manually renew your membership prior to that date. In other words, should you elect to cancel your membership and fail to manually renew your membership before they expire, you may experience an interruption or loss of your membership benefits, and ACS shall not be liable to you or any third party regarding the same.

Recurring Billing Programs and Account Updater Services

ACS may participate in “recurring billing programs" or “account updater services” supported by your credit card provider (and ultimately dependent on your bank's participation). If we are unable to successfully charge your existing payment method, your credit card provider (or your bank) may notify us of updates to your credit card number and/or expiration date, or they may automatically charge your new credit card on our behalf without notification to us. In accordance with recurring billing program requirements, in the event that we are notified of an update to your credit card number and/or expiration date. ACS makes no guarantees that we will request or receive updated credit card information. You acknowledge and agree that it is your sole responsibility to modify and maintain your account settings, including, but not limited to (I) cancelling membership services and (II) ensuring your associated payment method(s) are current and valid. Further, you acknowledge and agree that your failure to do so, may result in the interruption or loss of membership benefits, and ACS shall not be liable to you or any third party regarding the same.

Cancellation of Automatic Renewal or Membership Changes

You may cancel the auto-renewal authorization or update your membership at any time by:

  • Calling ACS Member Services at 1-800-333-9511 (toll-free in the USA); +1 614-447-3776 (from outside the USA), hours are M-F 8:30 am to 7:00 ET except US holidays.
  • Sending an email to service@acs.org, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
     

Chargebacks, Reversals, Payment Disputes and Other Currencies

If for any reason ACS is unable to charge your Payment Method for the full amount owed, or if ACS receives notification of a chargeback, reversal, payment dispute, or is charged a penalty for any fee it previously charged to your Payment Method, you agree that ACS may pursue all available lawful remedies in order to obtain payment. ACS may offer services pricing in various currencies. The transaction(s) will be processed in the selected currency and the pricing displayed during the checkout process will be the actual amount submitted for payment. For certain Payment Methods, the issuer of Payment Method may charge you a foreign transaction fee or other charge(s), which may be added to the final amount that appears on your bank statement or post as a separate amount. Please check with the issuer of the Payment Method for details. In addition, regardless of the selected currency, you acknowledge and agree that you may be charged Value Added Tax (“VAT”), Goods and Services Tax (“GST”), or other localized fees and/or taxes, based on your bank and/or the country indicated in the billing address section.