BOOKOFF USA

I love this place

Great deals on used cd's, vinyl records, books and second hand electronics including bric-a-brac and collectables.

I wish all the video games were 5$ again book off has had the same inventory since I've been shopping there since 2011. And now on top of most of there unsold inventory they have even more like laptops and overpriced action figures. Hey bookoff remember when you use to actually sell the items in your store? Well stop over pricing everything and maybe you'll get more people to buy and sell! I saw a copy of Tetris for $10 in the store. Fix it book off, Fix it.

I first visited BOOKOFF in Japan!!! What a delight to find a branch here.

They offer an excellent selection of Blu-rays as well as games. And they've got a great number of Japanese language books and games. I was disappointed to find their anime selection limited to three bookshelves. For a Japanese store I'd expect more! Their English manga was also limited; although there are more than a dozen bookshelves I didn't find a single title I was looking for. They do offer a nice range of manga box sets. They have a strange mix of other goods, like housewares and calculators, which dilute the idea of what a used book store is supposed to be. I'd rather they focus on expanding their media selection.

Prices aren't great, but aren't unreasonable given the location. It is too bad I haven't found anywhere in Manhattan that approaches Internet prices. For one example, they charge $100 for an SNES when a fair price is just above $50. Ultimately the cost-benefit analysis favors streaming for video titles, many of which are available legally and free online. Thus is the state of physical media.

They do have plenty of sale items, some for $1. And some items are surprisingly affordable -- take the $20 PS1s.

Products are clean. They note how they'll give you more trade-in value for clean products, and it fits the quietly refined Japanese aesthetic.

I wanted to support them but didn't find a must-have. So I walked out empty-handed.

This review is based on their book buyback program. These guys are a complete ripoff. Do NOT sell your books here. I repeat, do NOT sell your books here they don't bother to check the ISBN # and default to giving you $1.00 and change for every book regardless of condition or what it sells for online used.

The process goes like this:

You drop your books off at the counter and you get a number which they call over speakerphone. When you come to the desk, they give you your "book evaluation" which tells you how much you're getting for your books. It does not list the books nor gives the price you're being paid for each book individually. In fact, it doesn't contain ANY information about the books you just handed them, just a bunch of policies and the total you're getting. This is RED FLAG # 1.

RED FLAG #2. I stood by the counter waiting for my turn to be called. I watched my books the entire time. They were placed to the side, and no one even picked them up or looked at them when my # was called and I was offered $15 for the books I turned in.

RED FLAG #2. They said they were paying me for 10 books, I told them I only gave them 8 books. Again, no one even looked at my books. The fact they counted 10, speaks to the fact that no one even bothered to count them let alone check their condition (BRAND NEW) or look up the ISBN#.

RED FLAG #3. I asked them how they calculated their payouts and they said online. When I said what website did you use, the lady caught an attitude and aggressively repeated ONLINE. At that point, I told them: I watched my books the entire time, no one even picked them up so how could you have checked online? She said nothing and walked away.

At that point, I asked for my books back and left the store. Unbelievable the scam they're running at this place. I sold just 1 of my books for $15 at Lower East Side Books on St. Marks Place between 1st and 2nd ave. Amazon books gave me a total of about $130 for the rest of books. Altogether $145 bucks and these CROOKS wanted to rob me and give me only $15 for ALL 8 books.

Stay far, far away from this place. They are crooks. They do not bother to look up books online or check ISBN#'s, they just make pretend they do and then offer you $1 and change for each book. I think this is why they have a ticketing system in place, so you walk around the store until your # is called and you don't see that they actually do nothing with your books.

Strand books on 12th street and Broadway buys books except on Sunday. And Lower East Side Books will buy books from you as well. Stay the hell away from here unless you wanna get ripped off.