Mandolin Books and Coffee Company is always interested in buying quality used books. Here’s what you can expect when selling your books to us:
Condition
We are always trying to improve the condition of our stock. It’s the first thing we check on every book we buy. If we pass on your books due to their condition, it’s nothing personal. At some point every book becomes too worn for us to display and sell.
When Do We Buy Books?
There’s no appointment required, but if possible, we’d prefer if you were able to drop your books off to be evaluated. We will get in touch with you once we have had time to look at them. This could take a couple weeks due to the volume of books we must evaluate.
What We Buy
Almost any category of used books is fine. Classic literature, general fiction, history, self-help, spirituality, philosophy, children’s books, business, and parenting are just a few of our sections. We accept either hard cover or paperback – it’s the condition we care about more!
What We Don’t Buy
The list of items we don’t buy is much shorter. Here are some items we’re likely to pass on:
- Encyclopedias
- Reader’s Digest Condensed Books
- Cookbooks
- Ex-Library Books
- Audio Cassettes
- Textbooks
- Travel guides older than 5 years
- Magazines
What Does the Book Buyer Do?
The book buyer will examine each of your books, and separate them into two stacks - those we need, and those we don’t. He will calculate the value of the books we need, and make you two offers; one is the price we will pay for the books in cash, and the other is the price we will pay in store credit. The store credit offer will always be higher.
What is Store Credit?
If you accept store credit, we will load up a gift card for you which can be used for anything in the store including books, CDs, food and beverages.
What About the Books You Don’t Want?
Unfortunately, we can’t buy every book we see. As space on our shelves becomes limited, we are becoming even more selective. Condition and subject matter are the most common reasons for us to reject a book. Our current stock situation is also important, as we try to avoid excessive duplication on our shelves.
I Don’t Want to Lug Those Books Back to My Car!
You don’t have to. If you’d rather not carry the rejected books around, we’ll dispose of them for you. We regularly donate our damaged and overstocked books to local charities. And please, make it easier on everyone by not using large boxes to pack books. We’ve found banker’s boxes work best.
Download our Book Buying Policy as a PDF for printing.