Buyback InformationWhat quantity and kinds of books do you buy?We buy any quantity of books. Whether you have only a few or an entire library, we can work with you.
We buy academic books in practically every discipline within the university, from religious, cultural and gender studies to biology, physics and mathematics.
Our highest offers are for what we call “good academic books.” Good academic books are on important subjects for academic, practical and personal research, have clean pages, tight bindings, no blemishes beyond normal reading or shelf wear and generally come from university presses and other well respected publishers.
We generally avoid college textbooks, mass market paperbacks, magazines, damaged books, family bibles, and other books that go out of date quickly or are poor printings.
How will you pay for and pick up the books?In general, we pay with a company check or cash. We also trade books.
With books of lower quality or limited quantity, we generally ask that you ship to us at our expense, giving you a soft offer of what we believe their value to be before you ship. A firm offer will be given once we can evaluate the books directly.
With collections of high quality or large quantities, we sometimes make trips to evaluate and make a firm offer. You generally need a thousand or more good hardback books for us to make a trip unless you live somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic states. We will need to speak at length on the phone before a trip can be planned.
Every situation is different, however; it is best if we speak on the phone to discuss options for buying the books. Call us 9:00 – 4:00 EST Monday-Friday at 443-303-2467. If we don't pick up, just leave a message and we'll get back to you promptly.
Why should I sell my books to you?We know used books. The owner has worked in the book industry, both new and used, for two decades.
We work with you personally. You work directly with the owner every time you call.
We know academic books. The owner has a graduate degree in philosophy, theology and biblical studies and undergraduate degrees in English, religious studies and political science. He is currently writing his dissertation on evolutionary theory, Darwinism, and the nature of purpose in the philosophy of science. He has also taught at the college level for over eight years in religious studies.
We are passionate about what we do.
We have a larger purpose than to just make money. We work with other academic and theological booksellers to help build libraries for various institutions, including seminaries, synagogues and individuals, around the world. We often donate books, such as old, worn or common editions, to important causes. We are also working on a scholarship fund to support research into the relationship between religion and science. Of course we are a business and one of our primary goals is to make a profit, but we want to do so in a way that enriches the lives all those who do business with us. How do you determine your offer?After getting list of books from you, the first thing we do is assign values to your books. While doing this, we divide your books into three batches: Those we want, those we’ll take, and those that have little or no value (financially speaking). If there are a small number of books or the books do not vary much in quality and/or subject matter, we can usually value those we want and those we’ll take quickly and make a soft offer on each batch or both batches.
We usually start with a batch offer because it's generally better for individuals to sell books in a lot than it is to have them cherry picked and then be left with a bunch that may not bring anything. This approach assumes you (really) want to sell them all and uses an average price per book approach to book valuation, making it quicker for us to value the books as a whole. The average prices are based on binding, condition, subject matter and the current market value. Your advantage is that you move all or most of your books quickly, easily and at a fair market value for the lot.
We will also make offers on individual titles if our bulk offer is not what you want or you do not wish to sell all of your books. If this is the case, we will determine offers for each volume or set that we want or would take. This can take some time if there a large number of books or the collection is diverse. One main difference between the batch method and the “cherry picking” method, from a dealer’s point of view, is that bulk buying gives a dealer a certain margin for error, knowing that while some books bought in a batch will end up bringing little or nothing, they will probably be offset by others that might bring more than expected. “Cherry picking” requires a dealer to be much more confident that every title bought can both 1) be sold and 2) for an amount that doesn’t lose money.
On occasion we get a list of books that is of high enough quality that each title needs the kind of careful research we do when we “cherry pick.” We will let you know if your books are of this quality. How do I get you a list of my books?All you need to do is
download our excel spreadsheet and list your books according to the guidelines enclosed.Shipping GuidelinesDon't use a box that's too big for your books. Air space in boxes can result in movement and damage of the books during shipment. Larger boxes also sustain more damage in transit. If you have a lot of books and must use large boxes, make sure they are sturdy (at least an 1/8 inch thick cardboard) and use packing tape to seal them. Double tape the bottom and top of the box. It is especially important that large boxes are packed tight or the books will be damaged from movement.
Pack your books tight and flat. Place books of the same size flat on top of each other in piles in the box. You may need move your piles around in the box to find the tightest, most efficient fit.
It's is best to use bubble wrap and/or styrofoam as packing material. A layer of bubble wrap on the bottom and sides of the the box and styrofoam to fill in air spaces is often ideal. U-Haul and the post office have good packing materials available. Newspaper that is wadded up can be used to fill up small air spaces in small or light boxes with fewer than 20 books. Please note that newspaper will not protect heavy books or shipments from damage. It is especially important to pad the corners of larger, heavier boxes with bubble wrap or a layer of wadded newspaper. Dented and ripped corners of boxes are by far the most common form of shipping damage.
Please print and enclose list of the books with the shipment.
Please read the Guidelines put out by the US Postal Service:
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