Half Price Books — Local services in Chesterfield

This review is towards selling only.

The tldr is pathetic offers, randomly changing policies, and trashing good items after claiming they recycle and donate.

As a book lover and homeschool mom, we buy and sell a lot of books. I'd prefer to keep them all but there is a limit to how many bookshelves one can have. I've been selling to hpb for the past year, probably 25-30 times. Mostly to this location.

After they tell me their offer, they have always let me look through the books they don't plan to buy.

It doesn't take long to see this company throws lots of items in the garbage, it's on tiktok, reddit etc.

This past Sunday, a man named Alan gave us an offer, then after the receipt was signed, said the offer was for all of the items. Well over 100 books including DK , new hardbacks, plus cds, dvds and games, and a SunsOut puzzle too. I was offered 36 dollars or so. As someone who has sold often and recently, this offer was an insult for every single item brought in.

I was very upset that I wasn't able to look through the "rejects" like I was able to every other visit, most recently 5 days prior to this visit. When I called to ask about this, I was told my books were children's books, and would have to go straight to the clearance rack for a dollar.

I shop their clearance books every visit, they are jammed packed and thus, hard to even browse. So I'm supposed to believe all those books are going to the clearance shelf? Right. I'm so upset by this supposed "new policy" where the offer is for all of the items. I was told it was a covid policy and they are going back to it now. I wish I had known before I accepted the offer.

Even though HPB used to be a favorite, I refuse to step foot inside one from now on.

Go to V-stock to sell used items. They always give the unsold items back. No promises to recycle or donate, no trashing perfectly good items. V-stock has books in addition to media. Thriftbooks is almost always cheaper, and has great rewards for repeat shoppers. Barnes and Noble has a great selection too.

Lastly This company doesn't inspect what they buy. No one wants to pay $10 for a popup book that is ripped on almost all the pages. I have seen badly scratched dvds. They also have no problem charging money for pamphlets you can get for free, from the MDC. (You can go to their website right now and they will mail these pamphlets...

Even if I wasn’t an employee, I’d recommend this place after discovering it. Think V Stock but with a stronger emphasis on books and a really warm, homely atmosphere. Although we are migrating towards a digital only future when it comes to books and entertainment, places like this matter and the amount of traffic we’ve received over the holidays proves there’s a place for physical media in 2020.

I can also say that, a someone who’s been collecting older video games for almost a decade, that the prices here are a lot better than what I’ve found at similar stores and even some mom and pops. Of course, the selection of those is a bit smaller than our competitors since the emphasis IS on books, but I’ve seen quite a few quality titles from flagship franchises come in at fair prices. We’ve also got quite a few novelty items such as MegaMan dolls and stylized NES controllers...so I say it’s also worth a look for my fellow retro gamers and collectors out in the area.

Also- thank you Mr. Skullasticgamer for that positive review and mention of my name! Was super happy to see that upon investigating...

Dreams of erudition come to fruition with books, or so I am told. However, I read slowly and cannot seem to get away from anything for long enough to read and cannot seem to get myself into anything that I read. For all indecisives and those plagued by terrors of the utterly ambiguous focus, faith, interest, and self-imposed anxious learning torture based sort, this is the perfect place to get your literature, AP or non, that you can learn something from or throw to the side. Both of the books I have searched for here I have found, for under $10. I have also picked up a Gordon Lightfoot album from here because they have albums for reasonable prices and because I like Gordon Lightfoot. Perhaps if I keep buying from here, I will be able to read more quickly. Unlikely, however this place is still...