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Enter the ISBN of each book you wish to sell, click "Sell these books," and wait just a few short moments to receive our offer. If you like our bid, just send the books to us (we'll cover the freight) and receive credit to your Powells.com account or payment via PayPal.

Click here to sell us your books online.

2. In Our Stores

Sell your books over the counter any day of the week. If you have several boxes, make sure to arrive at least an hour before our buying tables close or consider calling to make an appointment.

You can also head to our warehouse in Northwest Portland and enjoy the convenient, free parking. You can also drop off your books and return later.

If you're coming in to sell us textbooks that are up-to-date and currently in use, be sure to bring a current student ID.

Please keep in mind that each of our locations buys used books, but each location buys only for its own need.

3. By Arrangement

Powell's seeks large and specialized book collections. We especially value scholarly and other high-quality books. We buy rep samples, library donations and deaccessions, bookstore inventories, and personal libraries.

For collections of 500 books or more, we may arrange to have the books shipped to us for evaluation. Please send us an email with a list of the books (Excel or .csv file preferred) and/or digital photographs of the collection. Lists should include title, author, publisher, ISBN, and quantity. Emails can be sent to sell@powells.com and should include your name, geographical location, and phone number. For more information, please call us at 503-228-4651, ext. 1448, or 1-800-878-7323, ext. 5622.

If your collection is especially large — a bookstore inventory or private collection of approximately 10,000 books or more — and you're located in the United States, we may be able to send our buyers directly to you.

For fewer than 500 books, please use our online buyback service, or bring the books to one of our Portland-area locations.

With the exception of minors, we require current, state-issued, photo ID from all sellers. Additionally, for sellers offering college textbooks we require valid, school-issued, student ID.

What we pay for used books

Whether in-store or on-line, we buy books we can resell. Our bids are based on the expected retail value of the books we buy. That retail value is derived from the books' desirability, current and historic market values, in-print prices, conditions, and our current stock levels. We offer 20% more in Powell's credit (to be redeemed in our stores or online) than we do in cash at our stores or through PayPal online.

What we won't buy

With so many books in the world, and our own stock continually changing, it is impossible to say exactly what we'll be interested in at any one time. However, we can say exactly what kinds of books we are not interested in. Those are:

Damaged books
Family bibles
Outdated textbooks
Old encyclopedia sets
Adult series westerns (Longarm, etc.)
Adult series romances (Harlequin, etc.)
Many book club editions
Magazines
Original software users manuals

For more information about selling your used books to Powell's email us at sell@powells.com or call us at 503-228-4651, ext. 5952 (or toll free 800-878-7323, ext. 5952).

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Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.