Los Angeles has many bookstores; however, not all of them buy books back. If you live in Los Angeles and want to know where to sell your books, this article is for you. We’ve gone through the list of brick-and-mortar bookstores that not only can boast great collections but are constantly expanding them by accepting used books from customers. So let’s take a closer look at the ten best places in Los Angeles to sell books.
Best Places to Sell Used Books in Los Angeles
Check the places we’ve selected in Los Angeles for you. Depending on your location, you may find some of them more conveniently located than others. Also, keep in mind that not all of them accept used textbooks; therefore, we recommend contacting the bookstores in advance for any questions.
The Last Bookstore
📌453 S Spring St Ground Floor,Los Angeles, CA 90013
“We’re not really the last bookstore—thank goodness—but we are the largest new and used bookstore in California,” the store states on its main webpage. Well, with 22,000 sq. feet of everything, The Last Bookstore has the right to say so. Apart from books, they also sell merchandise products and gifts and provide their space with “high soaring ceilings” for all sorts of events, from cocktail parties and weddings to corporate events. As one of the largest new and used bookstores in Los Angeles, it normally accepts books for sale and donations; however, at the moment, they only accept donations, as it cannot process buyback orders. Nonetheless, if you live in Los Angeles and have valuable books you want them to look at, you can schedule an appointment.
THE BOOKMAN
📌320 E Katella, Orange, California 92867
“Southern California’s favorite Bookstore since 1990,” as they say on the main page, The Bookman sells and buys used, unique, and out-of-print books. Visit them in person in Orange from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday through Saturday to sell your books. However, it would be even better if you called ahead. Mind that the store’s cash-buy price is less than the store credit they offer; besides, cash is offered on the basis of the store’s monthly buying budget. Bookman prefers to buy hardcover non-fiction; however, they also accept mass-market paperbacks (for store credit only). They do not accept textbooks or Book Club editions.
Angel City Books & Records
📌218 Pier Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90405
If you live in Santa Monica, we recommend visiting Angel City Books & Records, “Santa Monica’s last indie bookstore.” Not only it’s a great indie bookstore, but it’s also a fantastic record store. So if you’re both a book and music lover, you’ll definitely like the place. Take a look at their Instagram page to see photos of the store. Go for the atmosphere first, but take your old books with you, too. Angel City Books is mostly interested primarily in classics and fiction; however, we recommend you contact them in advance for details. Here is the list of books they buy: “classic literature, poetry and philosophy books (paperback and hardcover) like Hemingway, Steinbeck, Dostoevsky, Camus, Kafka, James Joyce, Ray Bradbury, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie and newer top literary authors like Kurt Vonnegut, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, Joan Didion, Murakami; Nietzsche, Derrida.” They don’t buy textbooks, and may consider buying coffee table books and art, photography, and architecture books but only after prior discussion. You can also sell classic rock and jazz vinyl records at the store if you have any!
UCLA Store—BookZone
📌308 Westwood Plz, Los Angeles, CA 90024
If you’re looking for a place to sell your used textbooks and your college bookstores are no good, you can check UCLA Store—an independent university bookstore in Los Angeles. For one thing, they have a huge collection of used textbooks, so students can really save a lot of cash on getting discounted materials for their studies. For another, they also offer in-store textbook buyback for textbooks, and by doing so, they allow the previous option to exist. The store states that their “preference is to purchase them [books] from you rather than purchase them [books] from a used book company.” Which is exactly what makes it stand out, so to say. You can sell your used textbooks to the UCLA Store at any time during the year; however, you can get the most out of the opportunity by selling your books “during the 10th week of the quarter when the store begins buying books for the next term”. Keep in mind that you’re likely to be offered less for your textbooks later when the store gets the necessary stock and the demand decreases. You can bring almost all of your textbooks; however, the store doesn’t accept course readers, international editions, instructor editions, and educational software.
The Iliad Bookshop
📌5400 Cahuenga Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601
Another interesting place in North Hollywood is The Iliad Bookshop, which is one of the largest used bookstores in the Los Angeles area, with over 150,000 books in stock and over 11,000 books listed in their online store. While they specialize in Literature and the Arts, you can also find books on all sorts of subjects. The Iliad Bookshop used to accept books for sale, but at the moment, they only accept donations. So, we’re listing this bookstore so that you can check it in the future; they may resume their buyback program anytime. However, as we’ve mentioned, they’re mainly interested in fiction, arts, etc., so if you have textbooks to sell, you should go to the store we mentioned earlier, as this bookstore isn’t interested in textbooks. Nonetheless, we recommend visiting the place simply for its atmosphere.
BookMonster Santa Monica
📌212 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401
BookMonster Santa Monica has been selling books, music CDs, and DVDs online since 1999 in South Korea. In 2008, they started buy-and-sell online services for used books, CDs, and DVDs, and in the next 10 years, opened 42 retail stores in South Korea. They used to have a store in Santa Monica, which served book lovers in the US; however, it’s marked as “Permanently closed” on Google Maps, so they probably work only online at the moment. BookMonster offers online buyback options where you can also sell used CDs and DVDs. Yet, check their buyback policy and condition guidelines before sending any books to them. They don’t buy “Ex-library (including items withdrawn/discarded/sold from a library or public institution), BCE (book club edition), Advanced Copy, Uncorrected Proofs, POD titles, or items marked “Not for Resale/Not to be Resold”, or items with open/scratched access code (damaged/revealed/not sealed) or items without their original supplements.”
알라딘 중고서점 LA점 Aladdin Used Books
📌621 S. Western Ave STE 300, Los Angeles, CA 90005
Another South Korean bookstore in LA is Aladin Used Books, located in Room 300 on the 3rd floor of Madang Mall in Weston, Wilshire. Surely, this bookstore will be probably interesting to you either if you’re Korean, have a library of Korean books at home, or know the Korean language (or are learning it). The store’s website is in Korean, but you can use Google Translate. The bookstore offers all sorts of books in Korean, from native Korean literature to popular fiction and classics translated into Korean. They buy back various books in Korean, too. So if, by any chance, you have something like this at home, you can bring your titles to the LA store. To understand how much you can get for your Korean books, look for their ISBNs on the website. The purchase price will be settled in dollar cash on-site. Don’t forget to bring a photo ID when you come to Aladin Used Books.
Counterpoint Records and Books
📌5911 Franklin Ave., Hollywood, CA 90028
Counterpoint Records and Books is one of the oldest bookstores in LA. They’ve been around since 1979, and “have a wide selection of books focusing mainly on the arts, literature, poetry, film, stage, and philosophy with a wide variety of other categories including memorabilia and ephemera.” If you’re a real bookworm, you should pay them a visit. They also sell vinyl records and CDs, so music lovers frequent the place, too. Apart from selling books, the store also accepts used books and vinyl records. However, there’s no set policy for either pricing or the best period to sell. If there’s demand, you can get a great offer. If not, they will most likely refuse. Therefore, we recommend checking the details with them by phone or email before coming. The bookstore also offers its services to those looking to consolidate their own collection or liquidate an estate. Contact them via email at orders@counterpointla.com to set up an appointment, and the store representative will go through your books, records, etc., and make an offer based on the value.
Selling Books to a Brick-and-Mortar Store in LA or Online?
While in this article, we focused mostly on brick-and-mortar bookstores that accept used books for cash or store credit, they may not be offering the best prices for your books. Many prefer store credit to cash; also, some buy back books depending on demand, others stick to one or few subjects, yet others stopped accepting used books for the time being. Besides, the in-person method requires making an appointment with the store and going there with the books. Alternatively, you can do everything way faster and more conveniently.
BookScouter
Whether you live in LA or somewhere else, you can find where to sell your used books at the best prices via BookScouter. Why is it a good alternative to the manual search of local bookstores on Google? Being a completely online price comparison platform, BookScouter saves time and effort and provides immediate price and shipping information from 30+ vendors. In other words, you see all the best offers for your book right after typing in its ISBN. Then you choose the best offer, go to the vendor’s page, ship the book to them, and get the money. Fast and easy, no need to make appointments and visit local bookstores. Even if you’re a book lover and an avid reader, knowing about such a resource is a benefit. After all, you can check the offers for your books at BookScouter and sell them at the best prices and, at the same time, visit any of the Los Angeles bookstores for sheer pleasure.
Final Thoughts
We hope that our list of bookstores in Los Angeles will be useful to you whether you prefer doing things online or offline. Indeed, there’re way more bookstores and college bookstores (when you’re going to sell textbooks) than we’ve mentioned today, and if you know any great places where you can sell books in LA that we missed, let us know on Instagram or Facebook. In the meantime, happy bookselling in Los Angeles!
