If you’re looking for the best places to sell books in NYC, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ve collected the local bookstores that accept old and second-hand books. Apart from a chance to get extra cash for the books you no longer need, you can also enjoy the atmosphere of a brick-and-mortar bookstore with endless rows of books.
Best Places to Sell Used Books in NYC
The Strand
📌12th Street between Broadway and 4th Avenue
Since it’s one of the oldest bookstores (1927), we’ll mention the Strand—a “Legendary Home of 18 Miles of Books“—first in our list of the places to sell your used books. If you’re a book lover living in New York, you know all about the store and its history. It started as a small place and grew into a large and reputable bookstore specializing in all sorts of books. With no fewer than 2.5 million titles, it probably has what you are looking for. It also buys used books, so if you have a few (or many) books that collect dust on your bookshelves, you can bring them to the Strand. If you have more than forty books to sell, you’d better book an appointment. The Strand accepts various books from classics to rare collectibles except for hard-cover popular fiction after its paperback release, heavily used books, magazines and periodicals, encyclopedias and dictionaries, etc.
Mast Books
📌72 Avenue A New York, NY 10009
If you have some rare, out-of-print editions or new books from small publishing houses, you can sell them to Mast Books. The bookstore was established in 2010, and its website is an aesthetically pleasing resource of all sorts of books on arts, architecture, photography, etc. The store itself is also a place of interest with regular art events and exhibitions. Mast Books doesn’t buy just any books in bulk. Instead, they focus on “quality single items, large personal collections, and institutional archives.” If you feel you can offer them something that matches what they already have on the website, send them an email with a brief description and/or photograph(s) of your books.
Book Culture
📌536 West 112th St
2915 Broadway
You can pick one of Book Culture’s locations depending on which one’s closer to you: they have two addresses in New York: 536 West 112th St and 2915 Broadway. It’s yet another recommended place to sell your used books in NYC, especially if you have literary fiction, nonfiction, or recent academic text. Book Culture doesn’t accept kid’s books, journals, catalogs, or advanced reader’s editions. Please keep in mind that the store accepts “gently used, resellable books,” which you can bring to the store on 536 West 112th St between 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM Monday through Saturday. Your books will be evaluated in both store credit and cash. To sell your books to Book Culture, you need to come in person and bring your photo ID.
Unnameable Books
📌615 Vanderbilt Ave.
Are you looking for a place to sell your used books in Brooklyn? Go to Unnameable Books. They have all sorts of books, from fiction and poetry to philosophy and photography and art books, and they also accept various used and old books for resale. To make an appointment, contact them for details either via email or the contact form on their website. As they write on their contact page, they don’t accept donations, so you should make sure the books you bring are in good condition and be ready to take home everything they won’t accept. Well, that’s not a problem, you can try other places.
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks
📌28 East Second St. New York, NY 10003
For instance, if you have some beautiful old cookbooks that no one seems to appreciate, you can bring them to Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks. Established in 1997, this peculiar bookstore will definitely impress you with its collection of cookbooks and magazines—some of its titles date back to the 18th century. It’s a real paradise for foodies and book lovers, especially if you’re both. Working hours aren’t the same every day, so you’d better make an appointment in advance to be sure. Even better, send the book information and photographs to bslotnickbooks@gmail.com in advance to get approval for what you want to sell. Donations are also welcome if they are relevant to the store’s theme.
East Village Books NYC
📌99 Saint Marks Place between First Ave. & Ave. A
Moving from Brooklyn to Manhattan, what are the best places to sell used books here? Check East Village Books first. According to their own description, they’re a “cash-only used bookstore in Manhattan” specializing in estate and scholarly libraries. You can also come with your “art and photography books, textbooks, philosophy, mathematics, religion, occult, etc.” books—in fact, they accept a really broad range of genres and subjects with a few exceptions (check their website for more info). Contact them before visiting to understand what books you can bring and get money for (instead of bringing a box of titles they don’t need).
Midtown Comics
📌200 W. 40th Street (corner of 7th Ave) · New York, NY 10018
Another place in Manhattan that you should probably visit for the sheer pleasure of experiencing its atmosphere is Midtown Comics. It’s not a conventional bookstore; Midtown Comics specializes in comic books, graphic novels, manga, etc. Apart from selling comics and graphic novels, they buy them back, as well as action figures and toys. Here is what they say on the website, “We buy Golden/Silver/Bronze/Copper and Modern age comics raw and graded (ex. CGC, CBCS, etc.). We also purchase original comic art, graphic novels, vintage action figures, toys, statues, Funko POPs, and more: Star Trek, Star Wars, Buffy, Superhero, Rock’n Roll, Political, and almost any kind of pop culture memorabilia you can think of.” So if you happen to have a collection of comic books that you’ve been creating since your childhood or teenage years and need to sell now for some reason, this is the place. Contact Midtown Comics by email to make an appointment and learn more about their buyback terms.
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
📌126 Crosby St.
Let’s move on to the next bookstore in Manhattan. Housing Works Bookstore has a bookstore and several thrift locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The bookstore hosts and sells different used books and accepts used and old books as donations. Perhaps, you may consider it an option if it’s close to you and you simply want to free up your shelf space.
Codex
📌1 Bleecker Street (near Bowery), New York, NY, 10012
Codex has a beautifully laconic website. It’s also a small bookstore and coffee shop where you can enjoy both books and coffee (and coffee cups). Codex has a cool collection of literary fiction and art books, and it also hosts various artistic and literary events. Codex also buys “your gently used books.” To understand whether your used books correspond to that condition and will be welcome at Codex, contact them at book@codexbooks.info.
Westsider Rare & Used Books Inc.
📌2246 Broadway New York, NY, 10024
One more Manhattan-based place where you can bring your used books to sell is Westsider Rare & Used Books. The bookstore specializes in used and rare books and records. If you have used books in good condition, you can change them for cash or store credit. To understand what books they accept, look through the website and check their categories. If you bring just any books, the bookstore won’t pay for them but can take them as a donation.
Binnacle Books
📌321 Main Street in Beacon
Binnacle Books is a small bookstore in Beacon, NY. If you live nearby and have paperbacks in excellent condition, you can try offering them to the store. Binnacle Books prefer philosophy books and books about literature, poetry, and political history titles, but they’ll be equally happy to accept your used graphic novels. Since this isn’t the Strand, this bookstore will only take a limited amount of books they’re interested in, and they’ll be highly likely to pay for the books in really good condition. So to make sure you don’t make a trip to Beacon in vain, contact them before you come to the bookstore.
Left Bank Books
📌41 Perry Street New York, NY 10014
The last brick-and-mortar bookstore in our list of stores that buy used books is Left Bank Books. They accept “literature, fine art, photo, film, music, fashion, queer culture, architecture, design, theater, dance, children’s books.” However, keep in mind that they’re only willing to accept books in really good condition, preferably first or interesting editions or books with original dust jackets. To understand whether your books will fit their requirements, please contact them at info@leftbankbooksny.com and include the information about your books (e.g., book title and author, publisher, the year of publication as well as a few photos of the book or the photos of a collection). They promise to contact you back in case they’re interested in your offer.
BookScouter
Finally, we’d like to offer an alternative. All the places we’ve mentioned earlier are great if your goal is to sell your books and interact with the bookstores in person. If you’re in a hurry or just don’t have time or the mood for conversations and going to each of these places, you don’t have to because you can do everything on BookScouter. With the help of this platform, you can sell used books in NYC or any other location in the U.S. It’s fast and convenient, and you can immediately see the best offers for a given ISBN. You have more chances to sell your used books with more profit by using BookScouter, as you can compare what different vendors are ready to pay for them. When you do it manually, you must go (or call) and check each bookstore in person to create a picture. With BookScouter, you just enter the ISBNs of the books you want to sell and get the entire picture at once. Then you pick the best offer, pack your books, ship them, and get the money. It’s a great alternative to local bookstores; keep it in mind. There’s an article on how to sell used books with the max profit.
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Where to Sell Books in NYC FAQs
Where to donate books in New York?
New York, like any other city, has plenty of options to donate the used and old books you can’t sell. You can start with local libraries and hospitals; check local non-governmental organizations that use books in their activity (e.g., ReLIT NY, a reading and recycling program that brings free books to New York’s commuters); offer your books to local homeschool groups. There’s also Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Books Through Bars, and whatnot. Just browse for the closest place to your home.
Where to recycle books in New York?
As with donations, there’re plenty of ways to recycle books in New York. Organizations like the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and Housing Works accept books in any condition and then decide what to do with them. You can also find a book recycling center near you with the help of this recycling locator. Also, check our blog post about How to Recycle Books in 2023: A Complete Guide for more information.
Where to sell textbooks in New York?
As we’ve already mentioned, East Village Books accepts textbooks. Alternatively, you can check various New York college and university bookstores, college Facebook groups, and campus stores.
Where can I sell encyclopedias in New York?
Again, you can try East Village Books first. If not, you can give away your old encyclopedias to local libraries and schools. If you’ve found some very old atlases in your attic (with political maps that are way out of date), your only solution will probably be to recycle them. However, if the books aren’t entirely outdated, schools may gladly accept them.
You might find it interesting to explore articles that cover places to sell books in Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, Denver, San Antonio and Florida. These articles will provide more information about local bookstores and online selling opportunities in each area.
