The descriptions we use to describe books are as follows:

As New: a book without any faults or defects. Could happily pass as a brand new copy.

Near Fine: a book approaching As New. Likely to look unread. 

Very Good: a book showing some very minor signs of wear, and so may look to have been previously read. Might have one small defect such as a previous owner's name inside, a price sticker on the rear, or a minor chip in dust jacket. Multiple issues will result in a downgrade to Good.

Good: the average used book. Previously read several times. Might have a very worn cover, browning of the text or small rips in the dust jacket. It must be complete however, so no missing pages or dust jacket.

Fair: a very worn book, but still has a complete text. It may however be missing endpapers, covers, and so on. This is still a completely readable book however.

When a book is Fair or Good, we will endeavour to describe any specific defects we have identified - including owner's names, bookplates, soiling, marks, foxing, creases, tears, tape and so on.

Ex-library - we will make it clear if a book is Ex-Library, which means it will have all the usual library defects (stamps, glued in card jackets, labels, taped on covers and so on).

Remainder - we will mention if a book is a publisher's remainder, with the typical black line drawn across the edge of the text block.

Front-facing endpaper - the first page of a book inside the cover. This page is typically blank. Often people will write their name on this page at the top, or a gift message - which is why you will see ‘owner’s name on ffep’ in some of our book descriptions.

Dust Jacket - the outer paper wrapping on a hardback book. If we mention a book is ’No dj’ this means it should have a dust jacket but it is missing. We describe the condition of a dust jacket separately from the book itself. We will identify if a dust jacket has been price clipped or taped to the book.

Foxing is an age-related process of deterioration that causes spots and browning on old books. The causes of foxing are not well understood, but high humidity may contribute to to foxing.

Age tanning, or browning, occurs over time on the pages of books. This process can show up on just the edges of pages, when this occurs it is sometimes referred to as "edge tanning." This kind of deterioration is commonly seen in books printed before the advent of acid-free paper in the 1980s.

We buy books from the public and also take donations. We travel regularly around the Wellington/Manawatu region, and will go further afield to collect larger quantities in our big van. We also like to go to book fairs and other charity events and buy books that catch our eye.

It depends - we have sometimes used stock images for very common books but are in the process of photographing our entire inventory. This will take awhile to finish! If we have 10 copies of the Da Vinci code all in Very Good condition, we will just photograph one and use that to represent all 10 in stock. However if the next copy of worn and only in Fair condition, we will photograph that separately and create a new listing for it.

We had a lot of trouble sourcing the right sort of bubble mailer to send our books out in, and eventually found a supplier of high quality mailers in China to import them from. We figured other sellers of small items in New Zealand might like to also use them.

Unfortunately our books are all stored in a large warehouse in boxes so they are not easily browsable. The SKU number for a book tells us where to find it in the warehouse, but there is absolutely no order to where things are stored! We do allow pickups so if you find what you like online you can order it and drop in to pick up p, saving on shipping.

Book Express accepts the following payment methods for online purchases:

• All major credit cards, as shown at checkout: Visa, Mastercard and American Express.

• Apple Pay, Google Pay, Union Pay, Shop Pay & Afterpay.

• PayPal: if you do not have an account yet, you can create one while shopping with us.

Just click on the product of your choice, click the BUY IT NOW button if you only want one item, or the ADD TO CART button if you want to keep browsing.

You can view your cart at anytime by clicking on the top right hand corner basket/cart icon. You can now leave special instructions or change the quantity you need while in the cart.

Next tick the 'agree to terms of service' box and click CHECKOUT to start the process of payment selection.

Once you have clicked CHECKOUT you will be taken to the payment page to fill out your delivery address & enter your credit card/ or payment details.

Choose your Payment Option from: Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard and American Express.) We also offer Google Pay, Apple pay, Union Pay, Paypal, Shop Pay & Afterpay.

You will be notified via email with an attached pdf receipt once you click PAY NOW and process your order.

We are based in Wellington, New Zealand.

We sure do, usually within 2 hours or making your order. You can pick up from Book Express Warehouse:

Monday - Friday: 9am - 5pm

62 Kaiwharawhara Road, Kaiwharawhara, Wellington, 6035, NZ

Please make sure you have received a confirmation that your order is ready, please don't just show up. Please also bring your order confirmation email.

We do!

International orders normally arrive within 2-4 weeks of shipping. Please note that these orders need to pass through the customs office in your country before it will be released for final delivery, which can occasionally cause additional delays. Once an order leaves our warehouse, carrier shipping delays may occur due to factors outside our control. We, unfortunately, can’t control how quickly an order arrives once it has left our warehouse. Contacting the carrier is the best way to get more insight into your package’s location and estimated delivery date.

We currently ship to Australia and a range of international locations including: Belgium, Canada, China, Switzerland, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, United States, Hong Kong SAR, Thailand,  Philippines, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden & Singapore. If your country is not listed, we may not be able to ship to you, or may only offer a quoting shipping option, please contact us if you are unsure.

Global Standard 1 Book Rate: $37 + $10 for every extra book up to 20kg

Australia Standard 1 Book Rate: $14 + $4 for every extra book

Any parcels with a combined weight of over 20kg will not process automatically on the website and you will need to contact us for a quote.

To date it was a first edition first printing copy of JRR Tolkien’s The Two Towers. It was in very poor condition but still was worth over NZ$1000.

I love seeing anything written by Stephen King - they just do not stay in our inventory for very long before someone spots it and buys it. And Alison Holst’s book on muffins will not stay in inventory very long either - too cheap at $7 maybe?

Please contact us, we'd love to help you out.