Selling Your Used Books

What we buy!
We are active buyers in all subjects, ranging from individual items to entire collections.
We are especially interested in buying books on Bellingham, Whatcom County, and Washington history. to receive a list of other titles, authors, and subjects we'd like to buy. We do not buy text books .
You must have a valid photo id to sell books.

What we don't buy
There are a few categories of books that we generally do not buy. These include encyclopedia sets, magazines, old text books, Reader's Digest Condensed, and series romances (Harlequins & similar series). Of course there are always exceptions for specific subjects and authors, so you might want to call and ask us about these.We invite you to browse our store while we consider your books.

We invite you to bring your books in to us.
Please bring books in clean containers. Boxes are preferable. We have hand trucks available for use at the store. If you know you will need assistance in carrying boxes into the store, or if you have more than 5 boxes, please call ahead to be sure we'll have staff available to assist you.

We welcome book scouts and volume sellers but request that they do not bring books to sell on Sundays.

Our Store Hours:
10am to 6pm Monday - Saturday
Closed Sundays

We Buy Books:
Till 5:30 Monday - Saturday

We will travel to your location in Northwest Washington and further for better collections, libraries, and estates.

Generally we will make an offer in cash for what we want to buy or double in trade.
If we offered you $10.00 in cash for a book, we'd offer $ 20.00 in trade. Trade credit does not have to be used the same day. If you don't want to shop the same day, we will issue a trade card that can be redeemed later. Trade credit does not expire, but we cannot replace lost or stolen cards. Trade credit can also be turned into gift certificates for your friends at any time. However, trade cards are not redeemable for cash.

Market Demand
Is the book on the NYT best-sellers list? Is the book rare or collectible?
Is it just a good, salable bread and butter book (which make up most of our stock)? If so, and the below conditions are met, you may have a good seller. Please keep in mind that when you buy a new hardcover book at Costco, the market demand can be pretty high, but a few weeks (or even days) later, the market may be saturated.

Book Condition
While both hardcover and paperback books have used bookstore appeal, a marked, highlighted, tattered, dog eared book loses value fast. A paperback book loses its value if the binding is stretched or the pages are bent. To eliminate creases,use a bookmark and stop folding those pages. Don't over-flex the binding; most paperbacks will split easily. We always prefer to buy a hardcover book with its dust jacket, but don't let that stop you from bringing us the ones that lack them.

In-Store Stock
Our stock fluctuates depending on what is offered to us, what we buy and what we sell.
Ask us if there are any that you should bring back later.

How Much Will We Pay?
For general used books we pay up to 1/3 of used retail value depending upon desirability of the books. A book that sells for $5.95 new will may sell for around $3.00 in our store and we may offer $1.00 for it if we think it will sell quickly.
If we have other copies of it or see less demand we may offer 50 or 75 cents for it or not buy it at all.
When deciding how much we'll pay, we always consider how long the book will stay on our shelves and how much space the given book will occupy. Anyone who's been to our store can tell you that space is a primary concern!

Michael's Books
109 Grand Avenue
Bellingham, WA 98225

Voice 360-733-6272

Fax 360-351-2711

If you have any other titles or subjects you are seeking, we welcome you to send us lists and we can search our inventory of almost 200,000 books in all subjects.

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109 Grand Ave., Bellingham, WA 98225 • (360) 733-6272 •
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