The BOOKGASM Guide to Used Book Buying
As most readers of BOOKGASM probably have figured out, I hit the used bookstores quite often, to the say the least, all with varying degrees of success and dread. I’m lucky enough to be able to get to 13 such places on a regular basis, offering a wide variety of titles to choose from. But that’s not the only thing to consider when shopping secondhand. Let’s break it down a bit further …
SELECTION: Nothing makes my eyes glaze over in delight than going to a new used bookstore with a huge selection in a range of topics. And then, of course, there is the complete opposite, where the selection never changes and it’s just pointless to even bother going there, where you see boxes upon boxes of used books going in, but never stocked on the shelves.
Even worse is the used bookstore that is full of itself. These places make me ill like nothing else. I mean, going into this place, you feel as though you’ll have a better chance of finding 30 copies of Marcel Proust and not a single Raymond Chandler.
APPEARANCE/SETUP: Most used bookstores might be a little overcrowded or with shelves all the way to the floor so you end up sitting on the floor looking for certain titles. But there are two I go to which are nightmares, layout-wise.
The first one has books stacked everywhere. I’m not just talking in front of shelves or maybe a pile or two, but piles upon piles of books starting when you walk through the door. They are everywhere to the point that trying to find a certain author is a challenge upon itself. But this can be forgiven since you really have no clue what might turn up.
Then there are the stores that look like they might have a huge selection, if only you could get around the countless boxes blocking everywhere you would want to venture. In one case, I had to move countless boxes just to look at one little area of paperbacks. And that was after squeezing through the aisles. This is the type of place I wish I had that little creature Marlon Brando had in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU to dig around for me.
CLEANLINESS: This might sound a bit dumb, but a little dusting goes a long way, folks. Even a little airing out of the building every once in a while to get that musty smell could do a world of good. This is nitpicking on my part, since most stores I frequent don’t fall into this trap.
PRICING: Here’s where the hate comes in, but first, let me clarify a few things. At some stores I go to, books are half off the cover price, which are fantastic. And then there is one store where all the paperbacks are $1. This place is a godsend — worth the long drive for not only the pricing, but selection.
Then come the other type of stores, where the pricing is fair, but far from perfect. I can deal with these prices since I understand it is a business and they want to make money. But what about the stores where the pricing scheme is just plain bizarre? We’re talking way overpriced for the exact same books I can find for $1.
A perfect example would be that of the ASSIGNMENT series. These are plentiful wherever I go, most for 100 pennies each. But at one store I went to, I saw a beat-up version of one of them going for a ridiculously inflated amount. Who the hell is buying these? And who the hell comes up with this amount? Do they just roll a 20-sided die and go, “Ooh, that’s good.” In these cases, I might browse the store, but I sure won’t drop any coin there, unless it has some book I know I won’t be able to find elsewhere, but trust me, that’s really infrequent.
What about online sellers, you might ask? There are plenty of options with Amazon, eBay, Biblio, Abebooks and so on, where the prices might look great, but you have no clue on the quality. Their idea of great condition might not be the same for you. Personally, if it’s readable, I’ll take it. But some hide their costs in shipping. To be fair, Amazon has a set price for shipping, which is fine, but many eBay sellers charge outrageous shipping fees for a book that would normally cost very little to send. That’s why I stick to driving to various locations, because at least I know exactly what I’m getting. —Bruce Grossman
How true! I stopped at a bookstore in Lawton, OK, worked my way through boxes and shelves of clutter, finding some beat up copies of older paperbacks. No prices. Took them to the desk, and the woman disappeared to a back room with the books. When she came back the books were now priced - she had went to Ebay to see what they were selling for! I walked out of the store. I ran into a store in Wichita Falls, TX that prices their books the same way. Sad.
Tom
Excellent work, Mr. Grossman. This is the kind of piece we all should download, copy, and keep with us. In my experience, the only worse than the sins mentioned in this article are the shocking disappearance of so many independent used book stores. We here in Southern California recently lost one of the very best — Acres of Books, in Long Beach. So for all their drawbacks, such shops need our continuing support.
Good article, enhanced by the fact that I can guess the stores you are talking about!
I don’t have ONE used bookstore anywhere in my area. Man, I miss Winnipeg sometimes, some great ones there.
I love used bookstores, especially the ones where you stumble upon long-searched-for treasures that you never thought you’d find. And pricing is important, too. There’s one store in the Twin Cities area that has a great collection of books, but they’re all price at “collectible” prices. I went there once and drooled over the selection, but I’ve never been back. Makes more sense to price consistently, so that your inventory moves off the shelves. You should also address the whole selling-your-books-back rigamarole. If it wasn’t such a chore (stores that pick through your stuff and buy some but not all), I might not have so many boxes of books I’ve already read littering my house.
Craig I sold books back to one place and never sold any ever again. Since you get royally ripped off plain and simple. That’s why I pass along any books I would sell to my family and friends instead.
I was hoping this was going to be like those other articles and focus on the kind of people that would frequent used bookstores. You know — the sleazy, degenerate types.
I’ve only been to one used bookstore and I didn’t enjoy trying to find stuff in the random shelves and piles. Now I get all the used stuff from Half.com. The thing is, as soon as you pick something Very Good or lower, you can get either a book that smells because of age or because of cigarette smoke, which is the worst kind of smelly book. Even if you stick it in front of a fan and spray it with Febreeze or cologne, you can’t totally get rid of the stinkiness, and you have to end up throwing the book away when you’re done with it. This is the case with the book I’m reading now, appropriately titled “Smoke.”
R most the people I find at Used Bookstore are not what you would consider list worthy at all. There might be one or two that need to learn what soap and water do. But they are infrequent with some of the places I go to.
Nah, I was just kidding about the sleazy types. I’ve only been in one used book store in my life, two or three times, and I think I was the only one in there at the time.
Great Article. Here in Boston there are a ton of used book stores, but they run the gamut from mom-and-pop places like Diskovery in Brighton or the Boston Book Annex on Beacon Street, to really high-end places that just make you feel like a chump (there’s on in Kenmore Square who’s name escapes me that I can’t ever buy anything in because it’s 90% overpriced reference hardcovers).
I know it’s great to order stuff online and get what you want, but for me, sometimes the thrill of the hunt is half the fun. I like spending a couple of hours rummaging through a bunch of old paperbacks to find a hidden gem of something I’ve been looking for for ages - it’s a great sense of discovery and achievement that you just don’t get from ordering online.
There aren’t that many used bookstores in my area, but I love them to death.
I would like share one of my pre-internet used bookstore finds and would love to hear about some of your finds as well.
I was browsing one of my favorite used bookstores in Memphis, Tn and in the horror section found a used copy of Richard Bachman’s original paperback copy of Rage, get this, selling for $1.30.
Bought it, had already read it in The Bachman Books, and sold it for $250 to a Stephen King collector.
Do you guys ever buy multiple copies of your favorite paperbacks?
I have numerous copies of Mark Rogers’ The Dead, love this cheesy horror paperback about the Apocalypse, zombies, the Antichrist, Legion, barb-wired victims, etc.
If I see a copy of it, I buy it.
Take care and share your finds please,
Troy
If I find a better copy of a book I have I might get it. Case in point have an extremely beat up copy of ;Free Fall In Crimson’ so I found a version not as beat up and grabbed that. I also have a habit of not realizing some of the book I have end up as duplicates this usually happens with series mainly Mike Shayne stories. So I pass them along to friends.
Why are you all ignoring the greatest used bookstore of all time?
As Steve Faust can attest to there is one store that I mentioned that is just as bad.
That store literally makes me feel dirty. I sort of want to go back, because I’m sure that there is stuff that I would love to have, but I don’t honestly have it in me to go digging through it all. If they cleared all the crap from the aisles, then I’d love it, but I’m not going to move a literal ton of boxes to get at the books.
At least with used bookstores, you can see what you’re getting. Online sellers are notorious for flat-out lying on describing condition. By far the worst experience I ever had was with an outfit called “ts-books,” who had advertised a paperback as being brand-new but was anything but. When I left negative feedback, he left me the same and claimed I never e-mailed him (which I had, multiple times). When you look over all the negative comments he has about items not being in the stated condition, he usually follows up with “certainly this buyer must have us confused with another order!” Laughable.
I’ve been lucky enough not to have this problem, so far. There have been two or three times, though, out of hundreds, when the book never came in the mail, which I assumed was because of the post office. I eventually got refunds.
At Half.com they recently started a new thing where you can give feedback and the seller can’t respond anymore. It’s to encourage more honest feedback from the buyers, without fear of retaliation. From my own experience Half.com is better than eBay. I stopped using them years ago and stick with Half.com.
“Free Fall in Crimson”?
Travis McGee novel?
Troy
The one in the same my older copy is extremely beat up
my favorite bookstore here in San Diego is…well, i don’t know. it just has a big sign out front that says “books”
you can smell the musty book-stink from down the block, it’s run by a bunch of burnt-out hippies and they blast awful jazz. BUT! there’s an entire room of paperbacks in perfect sections-Horror, Mystery, and Mens.
i never leave without at least 5 books, even if i’ve been in recently. paperbacks are $1.25 or 10 for $10. i’ve grabbed multiple Executioners, TNT, Soldier Of Fortune, Guy N. Smith, Donald Hamilton, and even the odd Edgar Wallace
My local used bookstore has a decent selection and decent pricing, but it also has a cafe in it (it’s in town near Penn State). So there are many sections of books, particularly the sections I like to browse, that have these massive tables in them that students sit at and basically block the entire section. I have to bend around tables/students (who act like they pay rent on those chairs they sit it) or strain my eyes to see what’s on the shelves. So I generally avoid going there. I got tired of it.
Sadly, the nearest bookstore (new or used) to me is fifty miles distant, so I usually buy through abebooks.com. But I’ve seldom hit any bad deals, except in prices. When I do drive the fifty miles and have a chance to hit the thrift stores, I buy as many interesting books as I find. Thus, I’ve ended up with a couple thousand that I use for swaps with other collectors. But then, there’s the problem with finding other nuts like me (LOL) to swap with.
Good used/indie bookstores are a thing to cherish but others…ugh. You probably know what I’m speaking of: the store is a poorly organized mess, with a shop cat that leaves a strong smell about the place. The selection is arranged in an almost surreal manner which makes sense only to the owner with genres or subjects that have nothing to with eacher other getting mixed up. Customer service is either non-existent or totally vile. I recall at one store a friend of mine let his kids pick out whichever books they wanted. The girl got a picture book about fairies and such and the boy picked out a Big Book of Reptiles type volume and when the scrawny clerk was checking out the books he smirked and said to my friend in a snotty tone “Hey dad, way to enforce gender stereotypes!” My Another friend, she went into to a little indie place that dealt in used and new-ish volumes and asked about their mystery section. The woman behind the counter got all high-horsey and said something like “Oh, we don’t carry those sort of books here. Maybe you should check out the bookrack at the Wal-mart.”
Thorpe I’ve never had a problem ever with customer service at any stores. Most of the people I deal with are nothing but nice and helpful. Even when I would go up with a stack of some truly bottom of the barrel reading. I have dealt with the cat smell at one certain store but that is just a small price to pay.
Within the last year, 3 local (west Chicago burbs)used bookstores that I visited regularly went out of business. The closest remaining store has a policy of gouging out the cover price so they can jack it up with a handwritten price on the inside cover. The books actually have a white space on the cover where the price has been surgically removed. My absolute favorite used bookstore is an 8 hour drive. I’ve gotten in the habit when we travel of checking Yahoo Yellow Pages for used bookstores in the area we’re vacationing in. One day of a week’s vacation is dedicated to “The Hunt.”
I don’t mind the cat smell in the store, but I have bought books at one store and found out that the smell had been “territorially marked” to some of the books-took them back immediately.
To the guy who found the King/Bachman book: On a trip last year, we stopped at a flea market on a whim. To my delight, they had an entire wall of used hardbacks and paperbacks. I picked up a book by Jonathan Carroll, THE LAND OF LAUGHS, because I’d read THE WOODEN SEA and enjoyed it. Turns out I paid $1 for a first edition hardback that fetches as much as $200 on the secondary market. I haven’t sold it yet, but just knowing I got such a good deal makes me smile.