We buy books on Mondays and Fridays 11-5

We acquire much of our used & rare inventory from people bringing us their books to trade. Others are purchased from estates, auctions, moving sales, consignment, other dealers, etc. Although we occasionally arrange to come out to look at large and specialized collections, in general we ask that you bring your books into Loganberry for evaluation.

We call the people who sell us books book traders. We have some specific guidelines for how this works. Please read over the following before you come in.

The Book Trading Process

We do not make specific time-slot appointments, but we would like to talk to you before you come to do a preliminary vetting to make sure the books you are selling are appropriate for our store. 

  • Please call 216-795-9800 to be approved to bring in your books.
  • Once approved, you can bring your books anytime on Monday or Friday. Because we need to control the quantity of books we look at each week, we limit each person to 4 boxes per drop-off. If you have a large collection please discuss this with us when you call.
  • We will try to look over your books while you browse the store and make you an offer on the same day, as time (ours & yours) and quantity allow.
  • At the store, we'll have you fill out a registration form (your contact info and agreement to our book trading terms, which are outlined below).
  • If we are not making an offer to you in-store, we will give you a receipt for your books and you will leave them for us to look at as we have time.
    • We’ll call you within 7 days to discuss our offer. 
    • You will then come back to pick up payment and retrieve any books we are not buying. You must remove any unpurchased items; we cannot dispose of them for you.

Please note: we do not make appraisals. As we are book dealers engaged in the practice of buying and selling used and rare books, offering an appraisal would imply a conflict of interest. We also do not accept donations of books.

 

What We Buy

We buy books in almost any genre or age, but we are quite selective and consider individual books carefully.

When determining the value of books we always consider the demand for the book in our market and the book’s condition. Condition is the most important criteria. (See the Collectible Books Resources page for more on book condition.)

We buy both hardcover and paperback books. We prefer hardcovers with their original dust jackets. We do buy some mass market paperbacks, but only select, classic titles.

Some general areas of interest are:

  • Children’s books:  classic, vintage and contemporary (not television or film tie-ins)
  • Fiction:  classics, vintage, translations, poetry, mysteries, science fiction, contemporary
  • Non-fiction:  serious scholarship or interesting examinations for the general reader in all genres (not surveys or textbooks)
  • Art:  monographs, niche history (not broad overviews), pretty books with great color reproductions
  • Performing Arts:  academic and pictorial histories, plays & scores, and some biographies
  • Cookbooks: classic titles, specialized subtopics and cuisines, contemporary, and writing about food
We also buy first editions, collectible and rare books, leatherbound volumes (beautiful old things in good condition, hopefully with literary significance), and even some ephemera.

This is just a general overview. Our buyers know what sells in our store and what we currently have or are in need of. After appraising your drop-off. They will let you know what we would like to buy and what we will be returning to you.

What We Don’t Buy

We do not buy condensed book club editions, textbooks, encyclopedias, incomplete sets, nor most magazines. We also avoid library copies and dated materials like travel guides, how-to manuals, or computer manuals. 

We will not take anything in bad condition, dogeared or missing pages/covers, or anything musty, mildewed or underlined/highlighted.

We do not buy non-book items like records (LPs), cassettes, CDs, VHS, DVDs, etc.

We are also wary of trends. We tend to skip yesterday's trends, and we limit our buying on recent trends.

 

What We Pay

We pay in cash or credit – your choice. Our store credit offer will be 20% greater than the cash offer. Any cash offer over $10 will be rendered as a check. Store credit expires in one year. 

Keep in mind that most used books are sold at half the original cover price, so we will be offering you considerably less than that. Rare books are assessed on a per-book basis, with current marketplace supply/demand, condition, and regional interest kept in mind. Condition is always a consideration.

Please note, since we’re making an offer on your books, we cannot make appraisals.

Payment Pick-Up

We will email or telephone you with an offer within 7 days of your drop off. Please accept or reject the offer promptly, so we can begin processing your books. You may come claim your payment (store credit or check), along with anything we did not purchase, within 7 days. You must remove any unpurchased items, we cannot dispose of them for you.

Holiday Hiatus  

in preparation for our biggest events of the year, we go on book buying hiatus for 2-4 weeks prior to major events. We will post an update on the site when this is in effect.

 

Thank you for trading your used books at Loganberry Books! It’s always time to find new books!

Section Links