Half Price Crooks?
June 27th, 2009At my last post about Book Mooch I received an interesting comment from Amy:
I’m trying it to see if I like it. I refuse to sell anything to halfprice crooks. Although usually I donate to my local library.
Wha????
Why the hatred for Half Price Books? I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience there. It’s always a nice time.
Do you people love, like, or hate HPB — Why?
Also…please indulge my little social experiment here…but after you leave your comments about HPB, please tell me how you feel about Wal-Mart…a simple Pro or Con will suffice.
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June 28th, 2009 at 9:57 am
I just brought a paper grocery bag full of books to HPB and received $26. Is that good or bad? I’m not sure… I’m just starting to use HPB to raise money towards a book donation (fitting way to raise money).
I did find a lot of books I hadn’t read yet – and would like to read, it’s clean, I would recommend it if you are not looking for a specific book.
Wal-Mart… no thank you.
June 28th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I like hpb because you can at least get some money for books that are collecting dust on your self.
I like WalMart too. I like that things tend to be cheaper there – that said, I would prefer to shop at Target and Kroger b/c I feel like they are nicer shopping experiences.
June 28th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I have always had good experiences buying at Half Price Books. If you’re not looking for a specific book, you’ll probably find two or three books that look very good. And the price is very good, just what I think a second hand book should cost.
But I’ve never sold there. If they’re selling books at half price, they are probably buying them at 20% of the cover price or much less. A whole bag full of books for only 26 dollars is not much. That’s why I stopped selling books years ago, too heartbreaking. I trade them on-line and donate what I can’t trade.
I do not like Wal-mart. Target actually has a fairly good book section now.
June 28th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I love my local HPB. The staff is great, and I always find goodies. That said, I don’t sell my books back to them. I either put them on a swapping site, or donate them to the library.
Wal-Mart is the devil.
June 28th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I like browsing through HPB and their prices are great on the sale racks (paperbacks and kids books for .50!) So obviously they pay almost nothing when you are selling. We have taken several boxes of books and got like $12. If it’s a popular book they won’t pay you because they have too many–if it’s an unpopular book they won’t pay you because it’s unpopular. Good place to buy, bad place to sell, but that makes sense.
I have always liked Wal-Mart–can’t beat their prices on Health and Beauty stuff;don’t like to grocery shop there; don’t like the new huge stores.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:30 am
Whoa…quick clarification!!! That wasn’t me!!!! That was some other Amy. You really freaked me out! I haven’t used BookMooch but I think it’s great for people who do.
June 29th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Half Price Books is terrific. You can walk away with a little extra coin in your pocket whether you’re a seller or a buyer.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:04 am
I can admit to purchasing from Half Price Books, but since they don’t pay a fair price when selling, that is why I call the Half Price Crooks. I have watched them take in a $250 collectible book and pay someone $1 for it. Just seems unethical to me. I have a friend that owns a used book store and he gives people a fair price based on what he believes he can sell it for.
But you can get more of a write off then you would get selling to Half Price Books, so I say, donate or go to a book swapping site.
But don’t get me started about people at book sales with pocket scanners. I consider them parasites
July 5th, 2009 at 11:06 am
I tried to sell books to Half Price Books. I didn’t like their method so took my books to another used book store (local only to my area) and liked their policies much better. I understand that a used book store cannot pay a lot to buy the used books. That is not my issue with HPB. I am unwilling to sell them books because they make an offer for the assortment of books that you take to them. They will not tell you which books they are paying for and which they are not. In effect, you are donating books to them. I prefer to donate to my library or trade my books than donate to HPB. When I took my books to my local used store, they offered me either a cash payment or credit (a higher amount) to use to buy more books. They also told me which books of mine they did not want. Much fairer way to do business in my mind.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:21 pm
i hate phb because they dont have an orderly store, the staff at them is rude especially if your selling them books. i sold to them four times. On the fourth time they started wispering about me alot because this was fourth time in two weeks maybe to much i guess and they asked for proof of purchase. i didnt know what to do i didnt have them and the books were obviously older. Now they have me black listed so i cant sell without proof of purchase. They didnt like me overall because the books i sold them they had to pay 5 bucks a piece for and there actually giving somone money instead of riping them off. The store sucks and is built around tricking you into giving them a bag of books for almost nothing. Crooks
Walmart is to damn convenient to be a good thing.