Exclusive: Thriftbooks launches book buyback program to acquire sought-after titles

Online bookseller Thriftbooks Global has added a new stream of goods – its own customers – to the waste from libraries, charities and donation centers that make up the majority of its merchandise. The company has launched a BuyBack program that lets customers sell books directly to Thriftbooks and receive either cash or credit in return.

The program should Thriftbooks make it easy books in high demand that are needed in its inventoryprovided they are still in relatively good condition. Customers who have previously purchased books from Thriftbooks can log into their account and view their “SellBack Shelf,” which shows how much Thriftbooks is offering (based on popularity and demand) to buy back previously purchased books. Users can also enter the ISBN numbers of books they did not purchase from Thriftbooks to find out how much Thriftbooks would pay for them.

“BuyBack was the last piece of the puzzle we needed to help our customers fully participate in the circular economy,” said Ken Goldstein, chairman and CEO of ThriftBooks Global. “Delivering an exceptional customer experience requires a surprisingly complex set of algorithms, and we’ve spent years studying the competitive landscape. We worked through the details during an extended beta period and now believe our platform can respond to all the knowledge we’ve gained from our customers. We believe ThriftBooks BuyBack will become the industry standard for resale, and we look forward to continuing to improve this experience with ongoing customer feedback.”

Anyone can now sell books to Thriftbooks, regardless of whether they have previously purchased books on the website or not. However, they must have a free Thriftbooks account first. Sellers receive a prepaid shipping label to send the books to ThriftBooks. Once the books are received and confirmed, the customer receives their payment, which they can either cash out or convert into credit for future purchases.

Since its introduction on Amazon in 2003, ThriftBooks.com has developed into one of the world’s largest independent online used book retailers and more than 250 million books about 160+ Countries.