books · Nova Scotia

Where to sell books, records and media in Halifax

5 businesses in and around Halifax that buy used books from the public — what each takes, and whether you are offered a purchase, a consignment or a loan.

Verified 2026-09-24 from each organization's own website. We are not affiliated with anyone listed here, nobody pays to be included, and we receive nothing if you sell to them.

How to tell what you have got

Before you call anyone, two minutes with the object settles most of it. None of this needs an expert — it needs a flashlight and a look at the back.

  • LPs in almost any genre except classical, opera and overstocked easy listeningLook up the exact pressing's completed sales on Discogs, not its asking prices. Audiopile says it reads the median price rather than the highest, also looks at the "Wants" count to judge sellability, and warns that online prices do not necessarily reflect the local market. Pressing origin matters — it pays more for Japanese, UK and other imports — so read the catalogue and matrix numbers on the label and in the run-out groove, not just the artist.
  • Records you were about to throw out because they look roughPut the visibly damaged records in a separate box and take them along anyway rather than sorting them into the bin.
  • Antiquarian books, modern firsts, fine bindings and local historyLook for a dust jacket present and intact, a date on the title page matching the copyright page with no later printing line, and an author signature. With none of those it is probably an ordinary secondhand book — but anything pre-1900, finely bound, or local history should be seen by a dealer before you decide.
  • Books published in the last five years, and classics in new editionsCheck the copyright page. If the newest date is more than five years old and the book is nonfiction, Halifax is not the stop for it — and its cap is 20 items per household in any case.
  • Children's and teen books printed since 2000, in gift conditionIt specifically wants board and baby books, preschool titles, popular series, graphic novels, non-fiction on nature, animals and space, and books with diverse characters. Its refusal list is short and exact: textbooks, encyclopedias, workbooks, library books, self-published books and damaged books.
  • CDs with no scratches, with their original linersA disc in a wallet or binder that still has its liner meets Halifax's rule. Discs stripped of their artwork are the hard ones to place.
  • Cassettes, where they are collectible rather than commonAudiopile's distinction is between common commercial tapes and collectible ones; a tape recorded or dubbed at home is neither. Sealed or small-run commercial releases are the ones worth asking about.

Rarely worth anything

Not a rule, and not a reason to bin something without asking. These are the things people most often expect to be worth money and find are not.

  • General mass-market paperbacks
  • Reader's Digest Condensed Books and other book-club condensed editions
  • Encyclopedia sets
  • Ex-library books and library discards
  • Outdated textbooks and computer manuals
  • Travel guides
  • Magazines, including long runs of National Geographic
  • Classical and opera LPs
  • Easy-listening and middle-of-the-road LPs
  • VHS tapes and ordinary audio cassettes
  • Used DVDs and Blu-rays, as a sale
  • Anything mouldy, musty, water-damaged, yellowed or heavily highlighted
  • Self-published books and workbooks
  • Hardcovers and spiral-bound books, as a prison donation
Prison book programs take softcovers only, and screen the content Canada — correctional institutions, via Books to Prisoners BC (Vancouver)

Books to Prisoners BC says that most prisons in Canada do not accept hardcover books, so it prefers that you do not donate them; it adds that hardcovers weigh more and cost more to ship. Spiral-bound books are also on its not-accepted list, along with damaged books, pornography, anything explaining how to immobilize a person, Canadian true crime about people currently incarcerated, and books critical of Canadian police and prison systems. Do not mail books to a prisoner directly on the assumption they will arrive.

Read the rule →
Hardcover books must be taken apart before the parts go in the carts City of Calgary, Alberta

Calgary instructs residents to remove cardboard hard covers and spines and recycle them as separate items from the pages, and to put coverless and loose pages into the recycling. Leather, canvas and plastic book covers go in the black cart as garbage. Old and unusable paper books may go in the blue cart or a community recycling depot.

Read the rule →
Discs and tapes that cannot be reused are garbage; only the paper parts are recyclable City of Calgary, Alberta

Calgary directs old and broken discs and tapes — vinyl records, CDs, DVDs and video tapes — to the black cart as garbage, while paper covers, music liners and record sleeves go in the blue cart. Its first advice is to pass usable media on to family and friends, sell it, or donate it to a local charity.

Read the rule →
Tapes, CDs, DVDs and records that cannot be reused go in the garbage; cases and inserts go in recycling Peel Region (Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon), Ontario

Peel Region states that video and audio tapes, CDs, DVDs and records that cannot be re-used may be placed in the garbage for disposal, and that empty cassette or video boxes, printed paper sleeves and inserts go in the recycling cart or a clear or blue transparent plastic bag. Reusable items in good condition may be donated at some Community Recycling Centre locations, where staff have the right to refuse items on inspection.

Read the rule →
Cassettes, CDs and DVDs are not accepted in the Blue Bin City of Toronto, Ontario

Toronto's Blue Bin page names cassettes, CDs and DVDs under other plastics that do not belong in the bin. Books are not listed on either the accepted or the not-accepted side — they appear only in a photo caption of paper items — and the page tells residents to check the Waste Wizard tool when they are unsure, which is the only authoritative answer for books in Toronto.

Read the rule →

5 places in Halifax that take books

Agricola Street Books

Quote first Bring it to them
Buysused books
The dealStore credit, not money. Their own wording: "Turn Your Books Into Store Credit! When you bring us books during scheduled buyback weekends, you're keeping stories in circulation and getting credit to discover what's next," and "We buy books for store credit every other month." Intake runs on scheduled weekends roughly every second month, not continuously.
Where2684 Agricola Street, Halifax, NS B3K 4C9
You are paid in store credit, not cash. If you are clearing a house for money rather than for more books, this is the wrong door. Check the shop's calendar for the next buyback weekend before loading the car, because intake is not continuous.
Visit their site →(902) 453-7993

Finer Things Antiques & Curios

Buys outright May collect — ask
Buysmilitary and nautical antiques, Indigenous art, Nova Scotia artists' paintings, antique furniture, pre-1850s and Danish Modern, vintage advertising signs, folk art, sterling silver and jewellery, transportation memorabilia, pre-1975 toys and pre-1970 comic books, pottery and glassware, scientific instruments, sporting goods, firearms, seasonal décor
The dealThey buy for their own account rather than taking a cut of a later sale: "We will purchase antiques and collectibles outright and are willing to pay with whatever method is your preference." You do not have to haul anything in first — email a handful of photographs to their address or text the shop number. For estate lots and larger collections they do house calls throughout Nova Scotia.
Where6438 Quinpool Road, Halifax, NS B3L 1A8
This is a dealer buying to resell, and no prices are published, so the figure you are offered is the dealer's own valuation.
Visit their site →(902) 456-1412

Halifax Buy and Sell (Hydrostone)

Buys or lends Not stated — ask
Buysgold, silver, jewellery, laptops, high-end gaming computers, home electronics, televisions, musical instruments, power tools, video game consoles and games
The dealThis is the only shop in this list whose own site confirms it does both. It describes itself as "Specializing in small collateral loans (pawns) and buying and selling new and gently used merchandise." Those are two different transactions. Selling outright ends your claim on the item: the money is yours and the item is theirs. A pawn is a loan secured on the item: you get cash now, the shop holds the item as collateral, and you repay to get it back. If the loan is not redeemed within the agreed period the item is forfeited and sold. The site publishes no loan period, no fee and no rate, so the cost of borrowing is not knowable from the website.
Where3081 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS B3K 3E4
Confirm at the counter which of the two transactions you are being offered. No loan period, fee or rate is published anywhere on the site, so ask for the full terms in writing before pledging anything.
Visit their site →(902) 701-4449

Most Wanted (Dartmouth)

Buys outright Not stated — ask
Buysgold, silver, coins, jewellery, tools, phones, musical instruments, electronics, video games
The dealTrades under a pawn name but the site describes outright purchase only: "We buy gold, silver, coins and jewellery, tested and weighed in front of you" and "We buy tools, phones, instruments and more, cash on the spot." Their About page mentions pawn only in the past tense, describing the first store opening on 12 May 2009 in Charlottetown "as a small but full-featured pawnshop." Checked across the site, no pawn loan, collateral loan, lending or redemption terms are published anywhere. So what is advertised here is a sale: final, and the money is yours.
Where1245 Cole Harbour Road, Dartmouth, NS B2V 1N1
Trades as a pawn shop, but what it advertises is an outright purchase. Ask which one you are being offered.
The name says pawn; the advertised transaction is purchase. Ask which one you are being offered before handing anything over, because a sale cannot be undone and a pawn loan has to be repaid to get the item back.
Visit their site →(902) 446-7296

Taz Records

Quote first Bring it to them
Buysvinyl records, CDs, Blu-rays, DVDs, some books, music memorabilia
Won't takemore selective about easy listening, classical, big band and swing
The dealThey buy directly from the public: "We purchase records, CDs, blurays, DVDs, and even some books and memorabilia." Genre matters — "We purchase all genres of music but are more selective about easy listening, classical, big band and swing than we are rock, metal, punk, blues, jazz, and hip-hop." Nothing is quoted sight unseen: "We do not do appraisals and we will not commit to a price without first seeing the items." The range they give is wide: "Assuming condition checks out we might pay a couple dollars or a couple hundred depending on the item." The page does not state whether payment is cash or store credit.
WhereHalifax store phone (902) 422-5976 and Dartmouth counter inside Morley's Coffee (902) 407-3899, both taken from their own location pages. Their site also lists Bedford, plus Backstreet stores in Saint John and Fredericton. Street addresses are not published on the pages I could read — call the store to confirm where to bring things.
No phone or photo appraisals, so a large collection means hauling it in to find out what it is worth. Ask whether you are being paid cash or store credit before they start sorting, because the site does not say.
Visit their site →(902) 422-5976
We could not verify this city’s municipal rules for second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers from an official source, so we state none. Check with the City or the province before relying on anything you read about them elsewhere.

Not sure what you have got?

Photograph it and we will tell you what it is and what it is worth — including when the honest answer is that it is worth nothing.

See what it's worth Donate it instead → Everything in Halifax →

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