About a month ago, one of the oldest used bookselling companies in the US abruptly shut down. Today, we’ll discuss why it happened and also explore other ways of finding affordable books now.
Having been on the bookselling market for two decades, DiscoverBooks went out of business somewhere around March 22, 2024. There has been no official notice or press release so far; the employees were notified on the spot, and many orders were left unfulfilled.
Here are a few of the Reddit user quotes about the current situation:
“I was an employee at the Hammond IN plant. The company closed for good March 22, 2024.
The employees were not given any notice on March 11, 2024. Only 6 employees were kept to more or less clean up,”
– June141953
“As an ex employee at the Hammond Plant we were not given any notice on March 11 that this was going to happen. We got off work at 2:30 PM and at 2:25 we were told that there was going to be a meeting. At 2:50 PM we were notified that production was ending. When you speak of courtesy what would you say that of this date I have not been paid formy last day or the PTO I was promised. The company is now in recievership.”
– 2013Equinox
Other commenters on Reddit mention that they were unable to receive their orders or get refunds. Also, the company’s eBay and Amazon online stores have been deactivated, and their book listings have been removed. Again, according to some commenters on Reddit, bulk booksellers and other Discover Books partners couldn’t get any response from the company and failed to receive scheduled payouts. So, all in all, we can suggest that DiscoverBooks suddenly closed because of financial problems.
At the moment, the DiscoverBooks website is inaccessible. However, they used to run a blog that celebrated famous authors and their works and provided all sorts of reading challenges and recommendations for book lovers. The blog is still accessible, with the archive of posts from May 2016 to November 2023. You can also access their Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest pages. Facebook, however, is no longer available.
Founded in 2004 by Philip McMullin and Jeffrey McMullin, DiscoverBooks used to be “an online gently used bookshop for people who love to read but don’t like the cost of new books”. The company wanted to provide everyone with access to good and affordable books and donated or recycled the books they could not sell. Their mission was to “Let the Stories Live On”. In other words, DiscoverBooks did all in their power to keep good books from going to waste. The sudden closure of the business surprised many customers and partners.
Where to Find Affordable Books Now?
Sadly as it is to see one of the oldest and largest online booksellers go, there are still options where you can get affordable books (and no, they are not just Amazon or eBay).
Amazon
First, you can obviously check Amazon, as it genuinely requires no introduction. Even if you used to buy your reads on DiscoverBooks and liked them for their authenticity, Amazon undoubtedly has its perks, and the first and foremost is the choice of books and the number of booksellers. You can literally find any book you need at any price. You can also sell your books on Amazon; check one of our earlier posts where we covered How to Sell Textbooks on Amazon in detail.
eBay
Naturally, eBay comes next. You can either buy books there for a fixed price (Buy It Now) or place a bid (Auction). There are a plethora of booksellers and individual sellers on eBay, so you can find books in all genres and in all possible conditions. The same goes for price. eBay has a lot of old and rare books, as well as first editions that cost a small fortune. You can also sell your books on eBay and get your money back. To learn how to do it, check our tips and recommendations: How to Sell Books on eBay: A Short Step-by-Step Guide.
BetterWorldBooks
BetterWorldBooks is another well-known bookseller that sells both used and new books. Their motto is “Buy Books. Do Good”. Also, when you make a purchase, you can help others access the books they need by supporting the company’s donation and fundraising programs. Read more about BetterWorldBooks in our article Where to Buy Used Books Online.
BooksRun
You can also find plenty of good and cheap books at BooksRun. They have more than a million titles in stock, both new and used books. You can also rent textbooks and sell your used books back to them.
BookScouter
Finally, we’d like to mention BookScouter, as it’s probably the surest way to find the best offers for used books. You can find book price information from 20+ booksellers on this online price comparison platform. Just enter the book’s ISBN, author, or title and get access to all the current offers. You’ll see the best one in the top right corner, and all the others are listed below in descending order.
Since there are more than 20 booksellers working with BookScouter, checking it in the first place is easier and faster than going to any of the websites mentioned above individually, but we’re just giving you the information. It’s up to you to decide.
Here are more detailed instructions: How Do I Buy Books on BookScouter? and more answers to your questions about why you should buy textbooks with BookScouter.
All in all, every time one of the companies either downsizes or goes out of business completely, we have to adapt and look for other ways to get the books we need. So we hope that BookScouter will be useful to you in finding great offers. Also, if you’re looking for wholesale books, you can check our post about 5 Places to Buy Used Books in Bulk. If you’re looking for kids’ books, we have a post about 6 Best Places to Buy Used Children’s Books.
