Oyster cards mailed to Canada?

If you buy in advance you with get a visitor Oyster card (£3 non-refundable charge), plus you can't add travelcards to it, better to buy a normal card when you get here.

The four of us pre-purchased the Oyster Card and was sent to us (just North of Toronto) within the week having been mailed from right here in Canada. To us it was worth the 3GBP to not stand in line and we're not interested in the travel cards as we're only in London for 3 nights.
J

I am also Canadian and just booked a trip to London. Have been doing a lot of research and the London Toolkit website has some very good detailed info about the different different cards and ways to combine/purchase for best value.

Duh, why didn't you keep your Oyster Card from last time, instead of cashing it in? They never expire and any credit left on it stays forever.

We ordered cards for our trip in June. They arrived a few weeks later without an issue. I ordered ours directly from Transport for London (TFL).

Ok ,thanks to the posters who replied regarding experience with having cards mailed to Canada . Just what is was looking for and to Chris - DUH....don't reply with snotty remarks , does nothing for you and does not contribute anything. I don't owe an explanation on why I didn't keep my card from 10 years ago but yes, I'm sure that would have been a better option.

" To us it was worth the 3GBP"

It's not just the non-refundable purchase price of the card that you're paying for, you also pay the shipping cost.

Chris F,

At one point in time, the Oyster cards DID expire with no use for 18 months or so. That was the big draw for the "visitor" Oysters when they were first put out -- they have always been non expiring. So you could keep the visitor Oyster for 10 years between trips and it would still have whatever money left on it. Lots of things have improved with the Oyster over the years including instant refundability (for the "regular" Oysters), non expiring of the funds remaining on the card, and ability to add travel cards to name a few. And so what if someone refunds their Oyster every time their visit London ends? Wouldn't you prefer to have cash in hand instead of a plastic card you may never use again?

Judy,

You can now purchase your Oyster from the automated ticket machine, as well as add funds to it if you need, at any Tube station. No line last I was in London Heathrow as there were multiple machines to get your card from.

If you choose to purchase after arrival and want to cash it in when leaving, be sure and use the same payment method if you add funds later every time you do so. And by same I mean always cash or always the exact same credit card. If you don't, the refund process cannot be done at the station and you have to mail it in. This is also true if there is more than £10 of travel funds on it. So pay wisely! :-)

Two weeks ago it took me five minutes at Heathrow to top up my Oyster card, during the morning hours when a rush could be expected. My card hadn't been used in at least four years and still had the plastic case advertising Ikea, included when the scheme was introduced. No problems. There was even an agent working the queue to advise on which program would be the most economical. As travel mechanisms work, this was smooth.

We bought our Oyster card long time ago. So great for each visit. We even loaned our cards to a relative who was going to London. He was happy to be able to use it on his arrival. I am going to have to find out how much he left on it for our next trip, hope enough to get us into London.

I had an Oyster card mailed to me last September with no problems.

Mark, thanks for the tip on using the same method to top up each time to avoid having to mail in the card for the refund on remaining value.

Now you can use Contactless Credit Card instead of the Oyster. The rate is the same and it can cap weekly tickets as weekly travel card.

"Now you can use Contactless Credit Card instead of the Oyster. The rate is the same and it can cap weekly tickets as weekly travel card."

BUT, for a foreign visitor it could incur "foreign currency transaction fees" from their bank.