Do you agree with Powell's Books's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 48 customers have already said.
Powell's Books is an online company. Based on 46 reviews on TrustPlane, it has an average rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars. Last reviewed February 5, 2026.
Sent over 30 books they rejected all but 3 the three they kept was in the worse condition paid less then 70 cents each and refuses to send the rest back.Should have gotten paid 32.50 I'm a single mom I should have just put them in my ecom site but needed fast money for my car payment now have no books and no payment all my books in good condition with jackets and most are 1st edition
POWELL'S IS GREAT! I bought a paperback "THE OREGON TRAIL DIARY OF ESTHER BELLE HANNA 1852" by Johnny Vincento and really loved the quality. The shipping was fast. The cover had great graphics of an old oil painting from 1849 of the actual FORT LARAMIE, the Diary was authentic and had a nice gloss sheen.
The Powell's website states that they will buy your books..."Thank you for your interest in selling your books to Powell's! You can sell your used books online or in our stores at the used book buying counters." But below it states they will give you credit for your books..."Payout method: Store credit only (No cash or PayPal)." Buying means paying money for books, not giving credit for me to use that amount to put toward a book I want to buy from Powell's. Basically you are donating your books and getting a gift card to buy more books at Powell's.
I bought a book our last day in Portland and discovered when on our way home to Alberta that it was misbound. It took Powell's a few days to answer my email, but the employee who did sent another, slightly cheaper, copy to my stateside address at no charge and with no delay. I am grateful.
I've dealt with Powell's for years and even had the pleasure of visiting the store in Portland some years ago.Their prices are fair and their descriptions are reliable.
Powell's just simply ripped me off as a booksellerI am a bookseller. Powell's just simply ripped me off on my last buyback orders. After receiving my books they kept my packages at the facility for more than 2 weeks. After that, I received much less than estimated. According to them, some of my books have disappeared from the package miraculously..... Very bad communication. They do not respond to emails at all.
I have just finished This Rescue Thing, a new book by Penny Allen. I love this book. It is a a female bro-adventure involving unfamiliar countries and interesting characters. Penny Allen has roots in Portland and has written an engaging book.
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.
Their on line shopping cart is not accepting Paypal, after I meticulously filled in every box of info, I clicked paypal button and blank page appears stateing "missing token" nothing else..dead..stuck So I set up an account, put in all my address info in have everything in my shopping cart (1 new and 4 used books) select paypal then press continue and nothing happens except continue button turns grey.. no useful help options or FAQS about this either, extremely lame!Using a Dell PC, Windows 10 and current Firefox -no problems with any other on line vendors accepting Paypal
This was my first time ordering from this company and it will be my last. Sent me email saying my books had shipped on the 27 of November it's been three weeks and still no books. I want be ordering from this company ever again I've been tracking my books and the books are still sitting in same spot and haven't moved I don't know if I'm ever going to receive the books that I order.
Was very disappointed. I ordered a book that was time sensitive and paid for next-day delivery. Two days later, I received an email saying my order was canceled due to no inventory. While I could have procured the book elsewhere in time, it is now too late.
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.
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.
I’m saddened that this formerly indie bookstore has franchised, and it is nothing like it used to be 20 years ago. There selections are mostly new books, few vintage on their shelves. Further DON’T EVER TAKE YOUR USED BOOKS TO SELL THERE! You’ll get a better deal by putting them on eBay. They no longer redeem your old books for cash or credit, they only give in-store credit now, and the amount they offer on credit for your old books is insulting. I used to love shopping at Powells City of Books, but I won’t give them my business any longer. There are better indie bookstores out there that have quality books, quality service, and truly care about the customer.
The website would not accept my email, password or giftcard number.All in all, a totally bad experience i do not want to have again.I will never use Powell's City of Books again. Take my gift card and do whatever it is you do with them to make them unusable. All my friends will hear about this horrible service.
My books that they purchased from me, were delivered last week and I still have yet to receive payment, an email or any kind of communication. Would not recommend sending them books to be bought. And I know for certain it was signed for by a guy named Scott on the 18th of March.
Personally I sent books to them for weeks and did not received an email or status confirmed that they received it. So I email them and get my payment immediately. Overall on OK trading experience.
I always enjoy going to Powell's to buy books. They are always so helpful.
0 stars this company should be shut down , I sold a lot of books and they steal and don`t pay all the lie saying justifications for the books they decide to don't pay and they pay cheaper than the other book companies, i sold thousand of books and i got paid very poorly Not helpful and very bad customer service to dont mention their crap website , Shame on you Ashely saying literally "on=ce we evaluate your books we cant go back to pay you the new book that we didn`t pay because we decided to do so '' I mean really !???
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!
According to TrustPlane, Powell's Books has a 2.8/5 rating based on 46 verified reviews as of April 2026. Source: trustplane.app/company/www-powells-com
