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.

Dishonest merchant -- keeps making… Dishonest merchant -- keeps making promises they don't keep with regards to book conditions, buying of used books, etc. Constantly change their own polices and then fail to follow said policies. We can no longer trust them, and their book selection seems to get worse and worse (they rarely if ever have books I'm looking for in stock, when nearly every other seller DOES have them in stock). Not worth the hassle with the slowwwwwwwww website either. Powells used to be ok to good; now they can't be trusted -- but aren't (yet) as sketchy as most Amazon 3rd party sellers. And Powells was smart enough to stop selling on Amazon, so maybe there is a very very faint hope they will finally improve their company, stop telling lies to customers, and make a genuine comeback... but sadly we've had to move on to more honest sellers who don't tell lies. We refuse to put up with blatant lies, so we will never use or visit Powells again.

RIP OFF Book Buyback - DO NOT SELL YOUR USED BOOKS TO POWELLS This review is in relation to the used book buyback program and does not reflect on any physical location. As a graduate student I amassed numerous books over the years which I no longer required. Selling them was a prime means to attain extra cash as well as provide a MUCH cheaper alternative for other students or those who require certain texts for various courses. I am sorry to say I decided to sell any books to Powell's. I was quoted a specific amount online prior to shipment and return and had to wait several weeks only to receive almost half of the amount promised. This amounts to a rip off. All of the books I submitted were used but in adequate condition and in similar condition to other online buyback book programs which I recently used. I sold books to: TextbookRush Textbooks.com sellbackyourBook.com Textbook Maniac ...and receive the EXACT quoted amount for all orders. In fact, I sold several orders to Textbook Rush and received the exact amount quoted and payment was received almost immediately. Powells delayed payment even after 10 days. The order was received by UPS on 04/07 and even after 10 days I received ZERO response. I had to email on two occasions before finally recieving payment which was reduced by almost half the quoted amount. Do yourself a favor - AVOID Powells for reselling used books. You will get ripped off compared to all the other buyback programs available and listed online. Not one of the other vendors ripped me off on the quoted amount and paid me immediately through PayPal. Powells delays and uses some felonious unaccountable and non-transparent means of accessing a book's value. Seems like the principal criteria is to save Powell's money irrespective of the book's actual condition. Sell to TextbookRush and get paid exactly what was quoted and on time. This review in regards to Order Confirmation number# 11493617

Well known indie bookchain Well known indie bookchain, now located in the Pacific Northwest. I've never had any difficulties ordering items from the web from them. They were early pioneers of e-commerce, before the 'big gorrila'. Their strength is new and used books, especially academic and scientific publications. This family owned company is a well known collector of used books in North America.