We buy books
> Buying
> Exchanges and Credit
> Charity Books and Arty Bees Community Programs
> How and when to sell
> Not Buying periods.
> ID requirements
> Other selling tips
> Arty Bees Buying Fact Sheet
We buy books.
Lots of books, in a seemingly neverending cycle.
So for those of our local customers who can stand to part with the books they already own, this is how we handle book buying and exchanging.
Buying
We look at every book on its own merits. That includes the criteria of author and title popularity, condition, edition and rarity, whether it's out of print, out of date, out of fashion, and most importantly, whether we already have eight copies of it.
Then we weigh the book, as we pay by the kilogram.
(Only kidding.)
We do have to see a book in the flesh before we will make a quote on it, and no inferred phone or email quote on books sight-unseen will be binding.
Also, unfortunately we simply cannot buy everything that is offered to us, as we would very soon not be able to get in the front door of the building, but we are usually always happy to take a look.
For a list of general topics and types of books we will probably not be interested in please look at the Arty Bees Buying Fact Sheet below.
Arty Bees requires photo ID as proof of identification when you sell books to us as well as full name and address.
Appropriate forms of ID include Drivers Licences, Passports, 20+ cards, Student ID and at a pinch Credit Cards with photos.
Exchanges and Credit
Whatever we are prepared to pay in cash for your books, we offer double that amount in exchange, as a credit for use at our shops. This may be used right away at either branch, or left on a file card in our computer as credit for later. You can also take a combination of cash and credit.
See more here about store credits and how they work.
If the books you are wanting to exchange came from one of our stores and they are still in reasonable condition, ( i.e. you didn't drop it in the bath, or let little Derek chew it) then all you have to do is leave our price on it. We offer half of our original price in exchange on our second hand titles and a third of our original price in exchange on our new titles.
For those of you who are book fiends anyway, exchanging books is a very good way of keeping your book buying at a level your bank manager would approve of. It also stops your shelves from overflowing.
If you decide to leave your credit on file, you may still change your mind and come back and get the cash equivalent at any time. The cash equivalent is half of the current credit balance on your card.
If this procedure sounds a bit complicated, please don't hesitate to ask our staff about it personally.
Charity Books and Arty Bees Community Programs
If you are more in need of space than either cash, or more books and are feeling a little philanthropic Arty Bees may have the solution for you.
As well as passing on any books that we can't use to several respected charitable organisations in the Wellington area, (see more below) sometimes we get left with books we would happily pay for but the owners in question are not interested in being paid for them.
In this situation we arrange for the exchange value of the purchase to go onto a file card for one of a number of local schools and charitable institutions to use as a credit in the shop.
See more here about store credits and how they work.
This means that the exchange value of any books brought in can be gifted to your choice of school or institution for them to use a credit.
In this day-and-age of rapidly decreasing funding for School Libraries and Arts Departments we've found that the opportunity to get some new resources without blowing their budget makes teachers and librarians very happy. Which we think is a good thing.
We have credits that are used regularly by over a half dozen local schools including our old friends at Clyde Quay, Te Aro and Mount Cook primary schools, Wellington High School, Rongotai College and many others.
Other groups that use donated credit to buy books are Refugee Services (http://www.refugeeservices.org.nz/) and the Refugee Homework Club run by the Somali Council. If you are interested in finding out more about them, you can find them at ETC, level 2, 4 Oxford St, Newtown (behind Newbolds on Adelaide Rd), on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. You can also call us on 380 2450 or email Zeenah Adam, the homework centre coordinator at zeenahadam@gmail.com for more information.
Any of these groups would appreciate a boost to their Arty Bees spending power, and if you would like to gift the proceeds from your book sale to them or another group of your choice please let us know and we can happily arrange it.
Also most of the time we are able to send any books we can't use to charity if you do not require them back. The main charities are the Downtown Ministry for their annual and stupendous book sale, Rotary, the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul, and a variety of annual local school and church fairs.
If you are involved in a non-profit organisation or charitable group and would like to receive books for a fundraising event the quickest way to organise this is to email Pippa at 
N.B. If the books are in very bad condition, dirty, damp, infested or of an adult nature obviously we will not want them and they will be inappropriate to send to charity.
How and when to sell
How to get the books into us. See Our Locations and MapIf you are driving, our central Manners Street shop has 2 hour parking spots immediately outside the front doors and our trusty Wellington City Council parking wardens generally stop people from parking there all day and hogging spaces.
There are also a number of Loading Zone spots directly outside as well, and although you are supposed to have a loading zone ticket for your car to park there, if you are literally, unpacking your boot and giving us your name you should be OK. We do not recommend you take your eyes off the vehicle though because the aforementioned trusty parking wardens will give you a large unpleasant fine. You have been warned.
If you have a fear of Wellington's complicated parking system we would suggest coming in before 10:30 am in the morning as it generally pretty clear at that time of day. And it's good for us too...
If you are catching the bus we are within 100 meters of the major bus routes heading north & south.
We are at the Te Aro / Courtenay Place end of Manners Street just opposite the old James Smith corner which houses the southbound route on its Cuba Street edge. The northbound buses pass through Dixon St and stop opposite the back of our building.
The best times to bring in books to sell is between 9am and 4pm Monday through Friday. This is when Matthew and Jessica, our shop managers, are on duty, and they do the bulk of the buying.
This means that they can generally (if they are not at lunch, or completely swamped) try to look at the books for you on the spot, or at least asap, leaving you a little time to take a wander, browsing around our shelves, or escape for a quick cup of coffee.
Obviously we cannot always guarantee that we can look at things straight away though, so if this is necessary please ring ahead and make sure that it is possible.
We recommend you ring ahead and confirm that we are buying.
If you cannot get in during 9am and 4pm Monday through Friday, you can bring in books to sell at any point during our Opening Hours, although the guys prefer that you don't leave it till the last 15 minutes as they tend to miss their buses home.
While they cannot look at the books for you on the spot, they can take your details and put the books aside so that Matthew and Jessica can look at them the next day, or on Monday morning if you've come in over the weekend.
We also buy sheet music although generally Robynne does the purchasing of this, which may mean that it will have to be left. We are very fussy about the sheet music as we have a large existing stockpile, but on the plus side we are able to send any we cannot use — even very battered copies — to the New Zealand Sheet Music Archive.
Most of the time we are able to send any books we can't use to charity if you do not require them back. The main charities are the Downtown Ministry, Rotary, the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul, and a variety of annual local school and church fairs.
If the books are in very bad condition, dirty, damp, infested or of an adult nature obviously we will not want them and they will be inappropriate to send to charity. Preferably we would rather these were not brought in at all, but if they are you must remove the books from the premises immediately after assessment if you are present, or within 48 hours of notification.
Alternatively some of our customers prefer to have their passed books back, but as space is always at a premium, we require that the books are picked up within a maximum of 7 days after assessment or immediately if you are still on the premises.
If you are not able to bring in the books at all, Pippa and Robynne are sometimes available to come and look at the books at your house. This can be especially helpful when it is a large estate house lot.
Please note though that we only make house calls during normal work hours.
Also we do require some notice to organise a housecall, so please do not leave it until the day before you sell your house or fly to Abu Dhabi before you call us.
If this sounds like something that would be helpful the quickest way to organise this is to email Pippa at
Not Buying periods
Twice a year we stop buying all but the very small daily "over the counter" exchanges.
This happens firstly at Christmas, generally about two weeks before the Big Silly Day, until at least the second week in January.
The second Not Buying period is during our annual Stocktake in the month of March, and it extends from early to mid March until at least the first week in April.
N.B. Very small daily "over the counter" exchanges means the little tiny exchanges that come in over the desk when customers are swapping books. Three whopping great boxes does not constitute a "little exchange." So in the interests of not expending energy that could otherwise be spent on much more interesting things, like mollycoddling the cat, please ring ahead and confirm that we are buying.
ID requirements
Arty Bees requires photo ID as proof of identification when you sell books to us as well as full name and address.
Suitable forms of ID include a passport, a credit card with a photo, student ID, a driver's licence, or an 18+ Card. See our Privacy Policy
Other selling tips
We prefer books to be delivered in boxes primarily, although grocery / plastic bags are also good especially if you only have a few books. (We recycle all our cardboard boxes and plastic weekly, yay!)
Enormous boxes that will kill us if we try to move them, are not so good, and rubbish sacks will totally destroy your books, which is very depressing and not a good thing!
We prefer that you do not bring books to the shop in sports bags, plastic storage containers and suitcases or anything that you will want returned later if we are unable to assess the books for you immediately.
Unfortunately many such items are not picked up for weeks causing us stress and bother with our limited storage space. Additionally we are not able to get rid of old suitcases, and other strange items that can be converted into book carrying devices, so chances are if you don't want it back, we don't want it either. We are a bookshop, not a white-elephant stall.
On this note, people have been known to bring in with their books many things that we are not interested in, like spiders and other livestock, used hankies, travel brochures, inter-office parliamentary memos, soggy books, family picture albums complete with family photos, chewed dog toys, 18 years of accumulated children's drawings and other gems, linen and old kitchen gadgets. To name just a few that have actually happened.
While we are happy to have a good natured chuckle at the mullet you had in 1984, (or in the case of the spider to the right, a hearty laugh at Jessica as it fell into her lap) this is at best extra work in trying to return this stuff to you, and at worst a health violation or a few years off the end of our lives. Please be considerate.
Please, please please DO NOT rip out pages with your name on them! You can completely destroy the structural binding of the book. Part of the charm of second hand books is the pre-loved thing. Ancient old inscriptions are a part of the books history and are not to be ashamed of. (Not that we are encouraging you to scribble in books though!)
If you would really like to have your name removed please tell us, as we have some handy little tips for removing marks that will not destroy the book and, ergo, the price we are willing to pay for it!
And lastly if you are the sort of reader who likes to remove the dust wrapper while reading, you should attempt to find and replace them before you bring the books in to sell to us. The lack of a dust wrapper can halve the book's value, or mean that we are not interested in it at all.
Arty Bees Buying Fact Sheet
The following items are things we probably won't want or will be really fussy about — please call to check before you bring them all the way into town if you are in any doubt.
Most (if not all) magazines, including National Geographics most of the time.
95% of business, accounting, management and law textbooks.
Computer books that are more than three or four years old as these become paper recycling very quickly.
Readers Digest Condensed Books! (Ed. note: I jst cnt gt enuf of ths rdrs dgst cndnsd bks)
Microwave cookbooks, and we are very picky about cookbooks and gardening books in general.
Wine yearbooks.
Many Australian books as they really don’t sell.
Most Encyclopedias - Definitely ring first about these.
Travel guides more than two or three years old unless they're about really bizarre places, or they're the kind that don’t date. ie. Blue Guides, DKs & Eyewitness Guides & Mobil’s NZ North & South Islands.
We do not buy Bed & Breakfast Guides, Jason's NZ Guides, restaurant guides, and travel guides in foreign languages.
A lot of hardback fiction — this does not sell as well as the paperbacks, and takes up twice the space so we have to be very fussy about this. Predominantly, it depends on who the author is and whether we already have a copy of it. Please call first and talk to one of our buyers.
And most importantly damaged books — torn, moldy, dirty, and in several different pieces, including chewed baby board books, and most ex-Library books especially when they are fiction.
PS: If you are selling ex-Library books that have not been withdrawn, we will confiscate them and pass your ID and contact details on to the Library when we return the books. See our Privacy Policy
> Buying
> Exchanges and Credit
> Charity Books and Arty Bees Community Programs
> How and when to sell
> Not Buying periods.
> ID requirements
> Other selling tips
> Arty Bees Buying Fact Sheet