Half Price Books

First of all, this review is more in response to other reviewers. Some of your so-called "inside" information is flawed and sounds like a disgruntled new hire that was maybe fired, I have never experienced any of what he/she was talking about. Some other seem to have some misinformation. Most stores do not have the ability to check their inventory for a book. Half Price Books has not had a computerized inventory. The stores that do now are few and far between and are just now putting the system into place (as of the year 2010). Half Price Books does not have the ability to order a book for you. If you thought you "ordered" there was a misunderstanding somewhere. HPB buys their inventory from their public and if you request a specific book not in the store at the time you can be put on a wish list for it. Employees will try to call the wish lists as they see the book come in. Keep in mind this is about 90% accurate as the section worker only works 40 hours a week. So there is... Read more

I am not a big fan of chain retail stores but Half Price Books is really great. They offer quality used books, discounted new books, PC software, vintage items of all sort; cd's, records, toys. The used cd's are never scratched, and the mix of old and new items for sale is very cool. It's a great place to check into once a month just to see what you can find.

i've visited the half priced books store in arizona near paradise valley yesterday & expected much more, to be honest. i was planning on selling 13 books, 11 which were books out of print. i didn't expect anything too expensive for their offer but was shocked when they simply wanted to give me 5$ for all of it! seriously messed up considering i know if i would have taken that offer, they would've sold my books for much, much more. extremely disappointed. managers and staff were not professional at all and gave off a strange, drug-induced vibe, if you know what i mean. will never visit or recommend to anyone. :]

I ordered a book listed as "in stock" and waited a month for it (as they said it could take up to 21 days to arrive!) I e-mailed asking about it and they told me my order was cancelled as the book had been sold. Too bad they hadn't bothered to actually TELL me they were cancelling it.

I'm disappointed in the offer I received for an entire suitcase of books and video's, It was a large 40" by 25" size suit case and the books were in decent shape, the whopping total for all 107 pieces....$10.00! This was insulting! If I had to do it over again, I would have asked to talk to the manager and either got a better price, or sold my stuff on e-bay! As a result, I wrote the home office, and they issued me out some coupons for my next visit.  "SELLER" beware, don't expect much.Also I went back a few weeks later to see my books with an expensive price tag on them (many had over $10.00 on them) and then I got really mad, I was told they weren't worth much because they weren't ones they needed, but they were the only ones in those categories! They Lie and I feel this to be an unethical business practice.

Well It's hard to sell anything to Half Price books so I gave up on that. Also, you could shop for book bargains at Goodwill and other thrift stores at better prices, hell, I even got books from bookstores that were getting rid of old books, for free, as well as library book sales et cetera. Actually I have been to thrifts that had old Half Price books, the stickers were still on then, Half Price probably gives away many such books, tapes, other materials. Sometimes you can find good stuff there at a decent price though.

I used to work at Half-Price Books in the Irving, TX area. Here's some inside info: The corporate office will buy remainder copies of worthless manuals, pulp novels nobody wants, and various other crap to sell at inflated prices. When I worked there they actually held good books behind the counter to make space for 15 copies of no-name reprint that you could get entirely free at the local library or on the web. You need to keep in mind that the reason their customer service often sucks is because the managers and their cronies dump all of the real work on new hires who don't know much (and are treated like intruders to boot), while they're sprawled out in the inventory room screwing each other (I'm not lying, so watch out if any of the books is sticky.) I had 7 "team leaders" at one store, 6 of whom just so happened to be ex-lovers or best-friends-forever of a manager. Real 7th grade shit. Maybe as a customer you won't care about that, but believe me, everything's related. Wha... Read more

Iffy, depends where you shop. I visit Half Price Books all over the country as I travel. If you're shopping them in Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, or Pennsylvania, you'll find some great bargains and meet some nice people. Don't shop Washington state or California, though. The stores are a mess and impossible to shop with all the boxes piled in front of shelves, items are inclined be priced higher, and the employees tend to be bored and unfriendly. Stay away from the west coast for some really nice stores.

It's a bit of a "split decision" for me. It's a decent enough store-- with some good prices-- if you have a couple of hours to kill just looking around and picking up anything that looks appealing. However, if you're looking for a SPECIFIC book, it's a completely hit-or-miss proposition. Not only that-- but they have the ability to check their central web site for availability of a given book... but even if they FIND it, they have no idea which store has it. And with a 100+ stores, that means you might as well have stayed at home and ordered it online.

I was looking for a book and called half price books to see if they had it in stock. The clerk answered the phone and immediately put me on hold. Then, when he did return to the phone he yelled at me "are you on a cell phone, I can't hear you". He was rude and took my name to call me back on my request for a book in stock. Maybe he'll call me back one day.

A good selection of low-price used and retail books at low prices. they have excellent low prices. for example, some large hard cover books are half the price of their retail price in a regular retail bookstore. On a few occasions, they had Time-Life books for a few dollars each. I also like their gift certificates and their bargains.

HLF-PRICE BOOKS IS A GREAT PLACE TO FIND A GREAT BOOK AT BARGAIN PRICES. I'VE EVEN FOUND FIRST-RUN ANNE RICE NOVELS THERE AT 30% OFF. THE ONLY DRAWBACK IS THE SELECTION IS SUBJECT TO A HIT OR MISS METHOD OF PURCHASING. YOU HUNT DOWN A TITLE OR AUTHOR, ONLY TO FIND IT'S NOT ON THE SHELVES. AND, NO, YOU CAN'T SPECIAL ORDER A BOOK.