If you’re living in Chicago, this post is for you.
If you have books (and textbooks) waiting for their turn to be sold, given away, or donated, we can give you recommendations on the former. So, tune in.
How Can People Sell Used Books in Chicago?
There’re many options, and depending on your location, preference, and profit expectations, you can choose the one that suits you best. In Chicago, there’re plenty of ways to sell your old books and used textbooks.
Many used bookstores and college bookstores accept books. Also, there are more modern, convenient, and—which is more important—more profitable ways to sell used books. Today, we’ll take a look at traditional bookselling options and discuss online booksellers and online price comparison platforms you can use.
Where to Sell Used Books in Chicago Locally?
If you prefer doing things in person, you can check this list of local book businesses that accept used books
| 🛒 Bookstore | 📚 Books They Buy |
| 🛒Myopic Books 📞 (773) 862-48821564 📌 N. Milwaukee Ave.Chicago, IL 60622 🗓️ Friday, 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.Saturday, 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. |
📚 Books on photography, fashion design, graphic design, gallery and street art, tattooing and tattoo flash, contemporary poetry, philosophy, cooking, architecture, contemporary race, and gender studies, and etc. |
| 🛒After-Words New and Used Books 📞 (312) 464-111023 📌 East Illinois StreetChicago, IL 60611 |
📚 A limited number of books for store credit. |
| 🛒Powell’s Books 📞 (773) 955-77801501 📌 E 57th StChicago, IL 60637 🗓️ Wed – Sat 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. |
📚 Contact them in advance before selling. |
| 🛒Volumes 📞 (312) 846-6750900 📌 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611 🗓️ Mon – Sat 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.Sun 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. |
📚 A limited number of books for store credit. |
| 🛒Sabrabooks Free pickup service in the Chicago area (weekends only).Fill in the form on the website. |
📚 All kinds of books apart from large reference books and books in deteriorated condition (Payment by check for the value of the books listed for sale). |
| 🛒Chicago Booth Official Bookstore 📌 450 N. Cityfront Plaza DriveChicago, IL 60611 🗓️ Mon – Fri 12 a.m. – 6 p.m.Sat 10 p.m. – 2 p.m. |
📚 Textbooks |
| 🛒Pilsen Community Books 📞 (312) 478-94341102 📌 W 18th StChicago, IL 60608 🗓️ Wednesdays and Thursdays between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. |
📚 Used books in excellent condition. |
| 🛒Loyola University Chicago Lakeshore Campus Bookstore 📞 (773) 508-73506435 📌 N Sheridan RdChicago, IL 60626-5309 🗓️ Mon – Fri 12 a.m. – 6 p.m.Sat 10 p.m. – 2 p.m |
📚 Textbooks |
The list is by no means comprehensive; plenty of local and college bookstores accept used books. You can check Yellow Pages as well as other Chicago bookstores to find the ones that may be in your vicinity.
If you are not inspired by the old-school ways, here’re other options for selling used textbooks faster and more efficiently.
Best Places to Sell Books in Chicago Online
Facebook Groups
For instance, Sell and Buy Books For Students (UIC) is a place where students meet and exchange textbooks and other things. You can look for a similar group in your college or university.
Half Price Books
This is an option to sell books both locally (there’re 126 bookstores across the country) and online directly on their website. The company is famous in the industry and has been operating since 1972. In fact, Half Price Books is one of the biggest family bookstores in the U.S. They accept a wide range of books and often pay reasonably for them.
Better World Books
Another good place to try and sell your used books is Better World Books. They offer affordable prices, and you can also sell your used books online to them if you don’t want to visit the store in person. Besides, they also donate books they collect to various charities and organizations. See Better World Books reviews on BookScouter.
Amazon
Surely, Amazon. There’s no need to focus on it too much. You already know that this is one of the biggest bookselling platforms. Regardless of the fact that Amazon discontinued its textbook buyback program in early 2020, you can still sell your textbooks on the platform. We’ve covered all the options in one of our earlier articles—How to Sell Textbooks on Amazon—we recommend checking it if you’re considering selling on Amazon.
eBay
The same story here; we’ve also mentioned it several times in our numerous articles. The platform has pros and cons, but you can use it and see how it goes.
In our earlier article, we also discussed other options where you can sell your used books—When Amazon Trade-In Is No Longer an Option, What Is?—you can check it, too.
If you’re exploring different options, don’t forget to read our guide on the best places to sell used books for additional tips and insights into platforms that could help you maximize your earnings.
Where to Sell Books in Chicago with the Most Profit?
While in-person communication with bookstores can be an interesting experience, it takes time and effort. So does a manual search for the best online bookseller or platform. Before you know it, buyback prices may change, and the best offer you found yesterday is no longer the best one today.
Therefore, we recommend using such practical tools as BookSouter. Such price comparison platforms save you time and effort by checking several (more than 30 vendors at once) and finding the best price.
BookScouter is easy to use: you type in the ISBN of the book you want to sell and immediately get price information from all the current vendors.
For instance, if you were taking Korean in college, you may have started with Integrated Korean Beginning 1. Now that you’ve achieved your TOPIK 6, you no longer need it, and you want to know how much different vendors offer for it. So, simply enter the ISBN into the search field:
Multiple Lookup
Suppose you have a few Korean textbooks: Integrated Korean Beginning 1 and 2 as well as Integrated Korean Intermediate 2 and probably Easy Korean for foreigners 1: Language Plus. With BookScouter’s multiple lookup, you can see how much you can get for them all at once by using the multiple ISBN lookup tool (just enter several ISBNs in the search field):
Here, you can add up to 20 ISBNs and see the current offers from vendors (the best offers are highlighted for your convenience):
Ok, probably Korean textbooks are not that popular. Let’s see what you can get for your forensics textbooks:
Looks more promising, doesn’t it? Surely enough, you can hardly expect to get 100% of your textbook cost back. However, with multiple lookup, you can immediately devise the best strategy.
The multiple lookup option is great if you sell 10–20 books and want to make the process as simple as possible. In our example, you can sell the entire textbook set to TextbookRush and get $312.10. Alternatively, you can selectively pick the best offers from each vendor, pack your books into three boxes (e.g., one for TextbookRush, another one for BooksRun, and the last one for SellBackYourBooks) and get even more in total—$319.96. In the latter case, you need to check the shipping options for every book (just in case).
It’s incredibly convenient, and you get all the information in one click. We do recommend using BookScouter whether you sell books in Chicago or anywhere else.
Bulk Lookup for Professional Sellers
If you are a seasoned seller who’s got lots of books, you can use Pro Tools and all the features that can make your book reselling business run as smoothly as possible. Earlier on our blog, we covered BookScouter Pro Tools in detail; you can check the post for more information.
Today, we’ll only highlight one of the features that may come in handy—the Bulk Liquidation Tool that allows you to look up 10,000 ISBNs per day and get rid of your excess books at the price you set by selling them to vendors with matching buyback offers.
Final Thoughts
To sell used books in Chicago, you need to decide upon a few things. First of all, you need to understand whether you want to engage in the fascinating but time-consuming task of making appointments at local brick-and-mortar bookstores in your vicinity and then visit them all in person, trying to bargain for the best price. If not, are you ready to make posts in Facebook groups and wait for the reply (that may never come), or wait until someone makes a good enough bid on eBay, or go through all the hassle with Amazon?
Don’t forget that we have compiled information on where to sell used books in Dallas and Seattle, selling books in Denver, or places to sell books in Ashburn, so if you are from these cities or planning to move there, this information may be helpful.
You should know that there’s a better, time-saving, easy, and rewarding option to sell your used books and textbooks fast and at the best price—BookScouter. Bookselling doesn’t have to be hard or complicated. We recommend using your best options if you want to sell books in Chicago or other cities effectively. And we definitely recommend checking out all the offers via BookScouter first.
