Bring us your (queer) books!

In order to lower our average price point for queer books, we have a used book buying & donation program! We’re accepting gently used books either by queer authors, or are queer in content (meaning they feature queer characters or queer themes).

If you’re interested in bringing books to us, you have two options:

  • Have us evaluate them for our book buying program, or ..

  • Donate them to us and receive 10% off book purchases within 7 days of your drop off

If you’re interested in donating books to us, please feel free to bring us any books (not just queer books!) and we’ll find good homes for them (details below!)

Here’s how it works!

  1. Schedule your drop off appointment

  2. Bring us your books and check-in at the counter!

  3. We’ll take any additional information we need for the drop off.

  4. Any books we’re unable to accept will be returned to you immediately.

  5. If you’re selling books, it will take between 15 and 45 minutes to evaluate your books.

    You’re welcome to leave after we finish checking you in, or feel free stick around while we process your drop-off.

    If you’re donating books, we just need to give them a quick once-over. (And we’ll give you a certificate for your donation to use for that discount!)

  6. We’ll email you a receipt showing how many titles we’re buying with your sale total.

  7. You’ll receive a payout via Venmo for your sale on the same day as your drop off.

Buying program Terms

We’re currently offering a buying rate at 20% of the resale value.

(ie. If we’re going to price the book for sale at $10, you will receive $2 for your book)

This will be paid to you via Venmo only, so please be ready to receive your payout. Since this is a trial run, we’re not offering store credit right now. We’re planning on offering store credit at a later date!

If you have more than 20 books for us to look at, please reach out via our contact form prior to booking an appointment!

You’ll receive a receipt showing how many books we bought from you, including the sale total. Payout will be made via Venmo after we evaluate your books.

Donate your books

For the full details, see below!

For book donations, we’re happy to take any books (not just queer books) that are in gently used condition off your hands.

As a thank you, we’re gonna give you 10% off any in-store book* purchase made within 7 days of your drop off. Just show your drop off certificate at checkout.

If we take your donated books, but don’t hang on to them for Always Here Bookstore, we’ll find good homes for them!

  • Fellow queer-owned bookshop The Romance Era in Vancouver, WA always needs romance titles.

  • We’re also partnering with Street Books – a local mobile library program serving folks who live outside – to make sure diverse books stay in the hands of people who need them.

If you have more than 20 books for us to look at, please reach out via our contact form prior to booking an appointment!

Note: We may still decline to take donated books due to the needs of our donation partners, or store capacity.

* Book purchases excludes any not-book items sold by Always Here Bookstore, and any item sold at Jelly Cup Collective (our partner in the pop-up space)

Your Drop-off Appointment

All book drop offs must be scheduled via Koalendar!

Y’all — it’s super important that you schedule ahead of time. Because of our partnership with Jelly Cup Collective, we’re not always at the store, and book drop-offs can only be done when we’re present.

Any books that we’re unable to accept will be returned to you immediately, and must go back home with you! Unfortunately, we don’t have the capacity to hold onto books we can’t use indefinitely. Thanks for your understanding.