Anyone sell to half price books?

[kymom99]

I took a box of books to half price books today hoping to make a few bucks. There were 15 books in the box. Some were hardback. All were in good condition.

I was directed to the “sell” counter. The employee explained the process. She would scan all the books and present me an offer. She explained the offers are not itemized. They buy them all for one lump sum. I said that’s fine and browsed the shelves while she went through my books.

A few minutes later she paged me and I returned to the counter. She told me that unfortunately they couldn’t offer me anything for my books. She said they were mostly books that they get a lot of. She said she could take them off my hands if I didn’t want to drag them back home. I said no thanks, I’ll take them back. I took them to my car and donated them to my public library. I wasn’t just going to give them away to a for profit business.

It seemed underhanded to me that they would not offer me anything for the books, yet they wanted me to leave them. Also, one of the books was a hard to find book that my son needed for a dual credit history class in high school. We looked all over for it. So the comment that they were books they get a lot of didn’t seem plausible to me. In fact there were a few titles that were bought for school.

I remember when HPB would let you trade 2 books for one. I guess that’s not a thing anymore.

 

[barkley]

not familiar with this company but our local used book stores also offer to let you leave books if they are'nt buying-they put them by the door and mark them as 'free'. as for the school books-have you googled any of the sites that sell/rent text type books? i purposely held on to the books my college student kids had to buy (vs rent-much cheaper) and would do a search on these sites every quarter for a couple of years b/c sometimes an older book would pop up as one being sought by the companies for purchase.

 

[melissalovesfigment]

I buy a lot of books from HPB. Like a hundred a year. I usually just put them in our "little free library" when I'm done. I have brought an entire large box of good hardcovers back to HPB and gotten so little $$, it isn't even worth the effort of carrying them into the store.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I sell at Half Price Books quite a bit. I have had them tell me they really can't use my stuff. Some people probably don't want to haul it back out and are glad to just leave them there. Like you, I've taken mine with me though.

 

[kymom99]

I sell at Half Price Books quite a bit. I have had them tell me they really can't use my stuff. Some people probably don't want to haul it back out and are glad to just leave them there. Like you, I've taken mine with me though.

I’ll just take mine straight up the library from now on. We are moving and I have given away/donated so much stuff. I thought maybe I could make a couple bucks. Oh well.

 

[Moneypenny]

Our Half Price Books donates whatever they don't buy. They are always sure to tell me they'll gladly donate for me if I don't want to take the books back home.

 

[DisneyTexan]

Selling books at Half Price Books is usually a disappointing experience. However, its convenient, and I usually spend the credit rather than wait in line just to get a few dollars.

 

[HopperFan]

Most resell bookstores handle it the same way, if they can't sell they offer to take and then they donate them. I don't think they were trying to be shifty, just giving you an option. One of our stores partners with teachers and they have it set up if you don't want credit for your books they put the credit into a teacher's fund for them to use.

Look on Amazon and you can see how much your books will sell for. When you factor in the free shipping most have there is a very narrow inventory of books that are really profitable for resale. I've sold a few on eBay mostly car manuals, but most is not worth my time. I know there are lots who sell books via Amazon but they have it down to a system.

Regarding textbooks, they have a short lifespan, books change over regularly. I think I would have tried to sell that to a student at the school who uses them. Or donate to school library.

 

[kymom99]

Most resell bookstores handle it the same way, if they can't sell they offer to take and then they donate them. I don't think they were trying to be shifty, just giving you an option. One of our stores partners with teachers and they have it set up if you don't want credit for your books they put the credit into a teacher's fund for them to use.

Look on Amazon and you can see how much your books will sell for. When you factor in the free shipping most have there is a very narrow inventory of books that are really profitable for resale. I've sold a few on eBay mostly car manuals, but most is not worth my time. I know there are lots who sell books via Amazon but they have it down to a system.

Regarding textbooks, they have a short lifespan, books change over regularly. I think I would have tried to sell that to a student at the school who uses them. Or donate to school library.

Thanks for the insight.

The one book I mentioned wasn’t a textbook. It was a novel for a dual credit history class. I had trouble finding it so was surprised that wasn’t something they would want. There were a couple other high school novels in the box as well.

 

[MickeyP]

Any ideas for children's books???
Picture books, Chapter books, Reading (learning) books?

 

[HopperFan]

Any ideas for children's books???
Picture books, Chapter books, Reading (learning) books?

You mean what to do with them?

 

[kymom99]

Going forward I’ll just keep taking my books to our public library.

 

[MickeyP]

You mean what to do with them?

Yep.