Just another book seller Instead of rating the quality of their books (acceptable, good, very good, like new) they just use the term 'standard' to cover everything. Previously, you could depend upon Powell books to do a superb job of packaging your books so that they'd arrive in pristine condition. The purchase I just got from them lacked sufficient protective material to keep the books from sliding and tumbling about, during their journey to me. There's nothing special about Powell books anymore. They're just another seller of books.

Terrible business practices Terrible business practices. I recognize that in order to make money selling used books you need to get them for a decent price. However, this place is a gold mine. It's not just that they pay insultingly low prices for your books, it's that they're rude to you while they're doing it. They truly act like they're doing you a favor, and forget that without you selling back your books, they would be out of business. What's worse is that they have aggressively put every other mom-and-pop bookstore in the area out of business. Portland used to have a thriving used bookstore presence but Powell's has driven their competition completely out of existence. And they ripped off their customers with a contemptuous eye-roll while doing it. There are alternatives, albeit mostly online (Thanks in part to the business practices of companies like Powell's). I get that there is a thrill in hunting through thousands of books in order to find a diamond in the rough, but for ethical reasons, I will be going elsewhere in the future. Don't waste your time.

Ordered a book by James Fenimore Cooper… Ordered a book by James Fenimore Cooper and 5 days later the said they "discovered" that they do not have the book after all and the order is now closed. I suspect they realized they may have listed the book too cheaply and it will mysteriously as appear later ar a much higher price. I will not do business with this company ever again.

I sell A LOT of books....I mean… I sell A LOT of books....I mean literally TONS of books! Until about 8 months ago Powell's was great to work with. Then, something changed and now their website is pure crap....and they're not doing a thing about it. Input books to sell, accept the offer....and the site "times out". Re-input the same books and now the site will only take about 2/3 of them...accept anyways (just to salvage your time) and the site times out. Re-input for the third time (same reason as before) and ANOTHER 1/3 is rejected.........and it times out. Until Powell's gets out of the stone ages and upgrades/fixes their site......I'm not working with them. I'd advise anybody not to waste their time here!

Their website absolutely sucks for booksellers Their website absolutely sucks. After about 2 minutes of entering ISBNs of books to sell, it times out so that you have to start all over. If you don't completely finish your transaction in about 5 minutes, you have to start over. It's ridiculous.