Books shouldn’t cost the earth - and we mean that literally!

We offer an affordable, sustainable alternative for book lovers across America. Millions of great reads, prices that won't
break the bank, and every purchase doing good for the planet.

So how do we do it?

We buy books back from customers through World of Books - Sell Your Books, and source bulk surplus stock from nonprofits and thrift organisations through World of Books Sell Your Books Pro.

We then sell these to readers through World of Books - meaning less waste, more rehomed books, and more money saved.

Our Story

Our story began in 2002, when a group of book-loving entrepreneurs stumbled upon a bag of books in a thrift store donation bin, destined for landfill. They rescued them on the spot, determined to give them a second life and World of Books was born.

Over two decades later, we've grown into one of the world's largest online used book retailers, having rehomed over 100 million books and counting.

Our American chapter began in 2022, when World of Books acquired two beloved US used book destinations - SecondSale and SellBackYourBooks.com - bringing them into the World of Books family. These platforms had already helped millions of American readers discover affordable secondhand books online, and we were proud to build on that legacy.

In 2024, we completed the full migration to WorldofBooks.com, uniting our US customers under one home. If you shopped with SecondSale or SellBackYourBooks.com before- welcome back. You're in the right place.

Today, we operate a fulfilment centre in the Chicago area, shipping used books to readers across the United States every day.



Award Winning

  • We've been a proud B Corp since 2019. This means we meet the highest environmental and social impact standards, so you know you're buying from a business that does good! Find out more about B corp Score here.

    Learn more about B Corp 

  • We're now officially carbon neutral! This means we offset all of the carbon we create. Now we're working towards being Net Zero by 2050.

    Read about our Carbon Neutrality 

  • We won not one, but two Queen's Awards for Sustainable Development and International Trade and was one of only seven companies to achieve two Queens Awards for Enterprise from a total of over 200 winners.

    Read about Our Queen's Awards 
  • World of Books Foundation Logo

    In 2022, we established the World
    of Books Foundation - our dedicated charity supporting literacy and the circular economy. Because we believe that books should be for everyone.

    Read about the World of Books Foundation 

Our Brands

See the Impact!

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, from our circular economy model to supporting authors in shaping fresh perspectives on sustainable themes.

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