Home Help Desk Payment Options

Payment Options


Paying by Credit Card

Barnes & Noble.com accepts MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Visa, Diners Club, JCB, and corporate purchasing cards. On the Payment page, select the card type you want to use and then enter your card number, expiration date, and, if your card has one, the card security code.

Paying by Barnes & Noble Gift Card, eGift Card or Gift Certificate

To redeem a Gift Card/eGift Card/Online Gift Certificate for NOOK Books, NOOK Apps, single issue NOOK Magazines, or single issue NOOK Newspapers, you must save it to your account. Once saved, your Gift Cards/eGift Cards/Certificates will be automatically applied to your NOOK Book purchases. Any available Gift Card/eGift Cards/Certificate balance will be redeemed first, and any outstanding balance will be charged to your default credit card.

For purchases other than NOOK Books, enter the Gift Card, eGift Card or Online Gift Certificate number and the PIN (the 4-digit number also located on your Gift Card or Certificate) on the Payment page. (Please note: Some Gift Cards and Gift Certificates do not have a PIN.) If the balance available on your Gift Card, eGift Card or Online Gift Certificate is less than the total cost of your order, you will be asked to provide credit card information or select Pay by Phone.

You may not use Gift Cards, eGift Cards, Online Gift Certificates or PayPal to purchase rental materials from the Website.

Paying with PayPal®

On the Payment page, select PayPal as your method of payment. You will be redirected to PayPal's web site to confirm the financial details of the transaction. Once you confirm your payment via PayPal, you will return to Barnes & Noble.com to finish placing your order.

PayPal is a safe and easy way to make a secure online payment. It allows online shoppers to enter and store credit card and billing information in one place, thereby eliminating the need to store and update this information on multiple sites.
If you would like to enroll in PayPal, click here.

Paying by Corporate Purchasing Card

If you have a corporate purchasing card (MasterCard, American Express, Visa), please click the "This is a corporate purchasing card" box on the Payment page. After clicking the "Continue" button, you will be prompted to enter additional corporate purchasing card information, such as Card Member Reference Field, Cost Center, and Department Code.

Paying by Phone

Click the "Pay by Phone" button and then complete the Checkout process. Make sure you arrive at the Thank You page to ensure that we receive your order.

As soon as we receive your order, we’ll send you a confirmation email that includes your order number and instructions for completing your payment by calling 1-800-THE-BOOK (1-800-843-2665), between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, or between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET, Saturday and Sunday (and Holidays). Customers outside the U.S., please call 201-559-3882.

Please call as soon as possible -- we will not begin fulfilling your order until we have your payment information. Your order will be automatically canceled if we do not receive payment information within 7 days.

Paying by Check

At this time, we do not accept checks, money orders, or Barnes & Noble retail store credits. If needed, you can use cash, a check or a money order to purchase a Gift Card at any Barnes & Noble retail store, and apply it to an online purchase at www.bn.com.

About Credit and Debit Card Procedures

There is a general difference between paying with a credit card versus a debit card. Most credit card companies first authorize a customer's card when an order is placed, then actually charge the account when the item is provided -- in our case, at the time we ship your order. The only exception to this is digital purchases such as NOOK Books, NOOK Magazines, NOOK Newspapers and NOOK Apps—for these items, the credit card account is charged immediately.

Most debit cards reserve funds from a customer's bank account at the time of the original transaction. That amount, therefore, is unavailable to you. When the order ships, the bank pays that debited amount to BN.com. For digital purchases such as NOOK Books, the order amount is immediately debited from the customer's bank account. Please note how the situations below affect your accounts.

Pre-order Items
If you pre-order an item and pay with a credit card, the authorization for that purchase usually expires in seven days for Visa, or 30 days for MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB cards. For items that are due to arrive in more than 30 days, we may need to obtain another authorization from your credit card company. Your credit card is charged at the time we ship the product. The only exception to this is digital pre-orders such as NOOK Books, NOOK Magazines, NOOK Newspapers and NOOK Apps—for these items, the credit card account is charged immediately.

If you pre-order an item and pay with a debit card, your bank places a hold on your account for the amount of that purchase. If your pre-order has not shipped within the allotted authorization time frame (7 days for Visa and 30 days for MasterCard, American Express and Discover), we may need to obtain another authorization from your debit card company. With the exception of digital items such as NOOK Books, debited funds for pre-orders are only paid to us when your order ships. For digital items, the pre-order amount is immediately debited from the customer's bank account.

Please be aware that bank policies and procedures vary. If you experience any delays or errors regarding the availability of funds in your bank account, direct your questions to the bank.

Backorders and Other Delays
Payment for backorders or delayed products is generally the same as described above for pre-ordered items. If you are using a credit card, it will be authorized but not charged until the item ships. If you are paying by debit card, your bank reserves the funds and forwards that amount to us when we ship the item.

Cancellations
If you cancel an order, or if an order is cancelled because a product is unavailable, your credit card will not be charged.

If you used a debit card, please be aware that although we do not charge your card until the order ships, banks place a reserve against your bank account when your order is placed. If you used a debit card and your order was cancelled, it is your bank's responsibility to release the reserve against your account. Bank policies and procedures vary with regard to releasing a reserve on funds. Any questions about releasing funds should be directed to your bank.

Please Note: Cancellations are not possible on orders for digital products such as NOOK Books, NOOK Apps, NOOK Newspapers and NOOK Magazines. Once purchased, digital products cannot be refunded.

About Credit Card Security

The personal information you enter in your bn.com account -- including your billing information -- is protected using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology. We use this technology to prevent your information from being viewable as it is transmitted over the Internet. The encrypted data goes to a secure site where your information is stored on restricted-access computers at restricted-access sites. Please see our Security Policy and Terms of Use for further details.

Storing Your Billing Information

To make shopping easier and faster, we save account holders' credit card and billing address information securely. However, if you uncheck the box to save your credit card information on the Create an Account page, we will not save any of your credit card data, including your billing address, to your account. You will have to reenter this information to make your next purchase.