Book Trade In

We accept books for trade in on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11AM to 4:30PM.
No appointment required.


At Iron Dog Books a substantial portion of our stock comes from customers
who bring us their books in exchange for store credit. We love it when people bring us books they can no longer use, and we do our best to ensure our customers can take away new books to read!

Our credit never expires and works just like cash for any item in store. 

How to trade in books:

  1. Our trade-in hours are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 11AM to 4:30PM, no appointment necessary. Please feel free to drop in with the books you can no longer use!

  2. We assess the books, which usually takes about 15 minutes, longer for large amounts (2+ boxes)

  3. We offer you store credit for the books we are taking, and give you back the books we are not taking

  4. You use your store credit on any item in-store!

Important facts to know about our book buying:

  • We do not pay cash for books, only store credit

  • We do not take everything, although we do our best to take as much as we can.

  • We do not pick up books from people's houses, but we are happy to refer you to other bookshops that might

  • We only assess books in person. We unfortunately cannot assess books over the phone or email, as factors such as condition or quantity of a particular title already in stock are variable.

  • We do not have any particular preference for genre, however we do not accept: periodicals, ex-library books, advanced reader copies, and (most) textbooks.

Book Donation

We are very pleased to offer an option for book donation. Books can be donated to the store and assessed for store credit which is then donated to local organizations. The organizations we have recently donated store credit to are: Red Fox Healthy Living Society, Kiwassa Neighbourhood House, Books to Prisoners and Union Gospel Mission School.

How to donate books;

You bring us no more than ONE box or bag of books you are willing to part with and we accept all of them, as is!

Important facts to know about book donation;

  • We assess the books for store credit.

  • The store credit goes on account for donation to local organizations. Our priorities are to work with non-profit groups who support families.

  • If you are an East Van non-profit organization or an Indigenous school, library, centre or program that is interested in receiving a donation of store credit to buy books, please send us an email at irondog@irondogbooks.com. We are always looking for more organizations to partner with, and we would love to hear about your organization, the communities you connect with and the ways that books are useful for you.