[removed]

You should expect about 25% of the market value as the store has to make a profit.

So if a somewhat new good condition hardcover has a retail price of $40, the store would likely sell it at $20 and offer you like $8 cash or 10$ credit

That actually sounds about right for a used book store, which are the only book stores I know of that buy used books, regardless if you read them or not still rated as used.

Try selling them yourself online. eBay, FB marketplace, Mercari. Ship via media mail.

thats so sad. I wish places like this actually valued the books that were brought in. Ive spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on books it pains me to see that people dont value them

That sounds like a good plan. I’ll most likely try that out. Thank you so much

I wasn’t expecting more than 50 purely because of the amount of hardbacks and the quality I keep my books but to have over 15 books total $14 was quite disappointing

[removed]

It could also be whether the store already has too many of a title or thinks a title won't sell...or the owner doesn't have any competition, knows he has you, and is being a greedy arse

That sounds about right and you need to factor in how in-demand those books. Unless they're a rare book or one that is in high demand then you're not going to get much for it used.

You may have paid $40 for that hardcover but they might only be able to resell it for $5 if it's not popular. They're only going to give you like $1 or $2 for that.

This is true. I have one signed first edition, and it still isn't worth much. I didn't get it for investment anyway.

Sounds about right. I used to work at a used book store that gave cash for books. Books were priced at MOST half the US list price, but most didn’t sell until marked down to 7.99 or even 2.00 clearance. So we were told to pay based on desirability, if it was new and likely to sell quickly we paid 30% of what we would put it out for. (So like a brand new release aka within a month or two of its release date) It’s sucks, as a book lover I wanted to value the books more, but after a while you see just how many copies of Twilight, 50 Shades and every single James Patterson novel…. Ugh

Hi there. Your post would be better asked in our Simple Questions thread. It helps us keep the main subreddit focused around broader discussion rather topics which only apply to an individual. Thank you!