Half Price Books — Local services in McKinney

Went in to take a huge load of books there and wait and the guy that seemed to be the lead of taking in books, said be prepared to stay an hour. Okay. I know the rule you cannot leave while they're in taking your books. So an hour and a 1/2 goes in. I see them taking in other people's books and because they have less books.They have not even touched mine. I was doing this for a friend which is fine. But I was on a time schedule, and when he set an hour. I knew I had at least an hour. An hour and a 1/2 and I'm like, how much longer cause I just now saw that he was taking my books. But in the meanwhile, they had taken other people's books that had less. So I go up because I have to be at the airport, and tell him that I've seen what happened. And I saw that they just now took my books. And now I've waited an hour and a 1/2 and I've been patient. And while I was being kind, he snaps back, and I was not appreciative of the snap, when all I've been doing is waiting patiently, and he did that in front of Everybody that was there. I was not humiliated. I am very aware that they were under. Stress, but it's not that serious. And it wasn't warranted, and I did not deserve that. I was very nice back and he still snapped. So I said, look, I waited much longer than what you said, with no one coming to tell me that, Hey, we are taking a lot longer than we thought. Sorry, we're just getting to your books. But there's no outlet for if I'm waiting longer than what you say. You now have to pack app my books back because I don't have time to stay because now I've overstayed the time I allotted myself. They seemed understaffed and overwhelmed. And while I respect that, it doesn't condone his actions. He did apologize once I walked away.But I don't feel like it was sincere because he was overwhelmed. While I don't need an apology, I felt that these kids should know, but it's not that serious, they are books and people deserve to be told that, hey, we are running over the time that we told you initially, instead of being snapped out in front of everybody that is waiting around me like i'm being i'm out of line. Not cool and I would not recommend this bookstore. A special note that if you come on a sunday to take your books, you should probably allow two...

Recently moved to the area and have been looking for a used bookstore to replace our favorite mom and pop store from where we used to live. A number of neighbors pointed us to half price books.

Buyback prices are low, which is fine if the price of the books for sale are also low. Unfortunately the prices just aren't low enough to be competitive with online used books. The prices are competitive with Amazon-used books but not eBay-used books.

But all this I was willing to set aside until my most recent experience at half price books. While looking in the children's section for history books for our homeschool curriculum, I couldn't read anything on the top shelf, which is where all us history books are located. I grabbed a nearby chair and was happily browsing away, when an employee called at me from halfway across the store to get down from the chair, that it's a liability, etc. I said I was sorry, that I couldn't see the top shelf, and what could I use to stand on to see the top shelf. She told me there was nothing I could stand on but she could help if I was looking for something specific. I explained I was browsing the section. She repeated she could help find something specific if I needed help. I asked if there was any better solution than pulling down the entire self one by one. She had no suggestions.

Now, I understand a customer, who is a stranger, standing on a chair could be considered a liability. But to have tall shelves in a book store that are inaccessible by customers is just the craziest thing I've ever heard. Even the public library has little stools you can push around.

After being embarrassed by an employee yelling at me halfway across the store plus the complete lack of solution for what I needed, I put my books back and left. I don't think I'll be back. I've had positive interactions with employees up to this point at this location, but that really left a terrible taste in my mouth. I guess I'll keep looking for a better second hand...

Have patronized Half Price books for years, I stopped by today to sell a bunch of mystery books I had accumulated over the last year (I'm a voracious reader). I took in two nearly full reusable, cloth grocery bags that contained around 40 books both paperback and hardback. The books were in good condition. The associate at the buying counter told me it would be around 20 minutes. While I waited, I browsed the used mystery books and selected three from well known authors. I figured I would surely receive more than enough from selling my other books to pay for the three. They called my name and I went up to the counter and they offered me $1.00 (this is not a typo, one whole dollar). They explained that they were getting a lot of mysteries and that was all they could offer. Said "supply and demand" as if that said it all. i then said, if they getting so many mysteries, shouldn't I see a corresponding reduction in the price of books they were selling? They replied it didn't work that way and made sure to tell me again "supply and demand". I took the dollar and went to pay for the 3 I had selected. The cost for the three books was $16.21! I asked to speak to the manager. The assistant manager came up and basically told me the same thing. So....based on what they told me, I can help them out by never selling them another book again. This should help reduce the "flood" of mysteries being sold. I also told the asst. Mgr that I wouldn't return to this or any other Half Price book store. I'll just stick with my Kindle. What a ripoff! They lost a customer of...