Edward McKay Used Books & More Review

They had a good selection of merchandise and the prices weren't bad either.

This is the place to find used books, cds, dvds, and video games in Raleigh. I sold and traded in many books here, due to their painless and enjoyable book buying process. Just show up with your box of books or dvds, and the friendly staff will get you a price for your items while you can enjoy browsing. They have a great kids section, has well as a full selection of fiction and non-fiction. The DVD section is a great place to find a bargin, and the video game trade is perfect for turning in those old video games no one plays anymore. The kids enjoy going every weekend and so will you.

Love this place. Am able to sell vintage video games for decent prices when Game Stop won't take them. Friendly people and amazing selection.

I wish this place were still in Raleigh. I miss you Ed McKay!!!

Always awesome and polite staff with a great selection of books

I love this place, you can sell books you've already read and get cash or store credit. Rinse, repeat and start over! Lots and lots of selection!

Great selection of everything from used books to CDs, DVDs, board games, & more. The books, as well as the other items, are very well organized, the employees are helpful, & it's overall a pleasant place to shop. They have great sales on their already reduced prices. For example, today my husband & I got 9 books & 3 CDs for about $38. I'd visit here more frequently if it were closer to our house.

WARNING : IF YOU WANT TO SELL TEXT BOOKS DO NOT GO HERE THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF WITH A SMILE ON THEIR FACE.

I always stop when I am in the area. We trade in our old stuff for store credit, and often leave with a great find!

Very large used book store. They also have a large selection of CDs, blue-rays, and DVDs. They also have some records and video games. You aren't really going to find a bunch of ps4 and Xbox one games, but great place to look for older ones. Rarer items will be more expensive. Overall everything is a pretty good deal, but I did find a few items that seemed over priced. You can also sell your stuff for store credit or cash. You'll get more store credit than cash and make sure to be around at pickup. Otherwise, you basically lose anything they don't take.

I have sold books to a lot of other used bookstores and I decided to try Ed Mckays because I was going to be in that area. I had 8 boxes of books. I borrowed their cart and brought in 4 boxes. After stating that I wanted cash only they said they would only look through 4 boxes per their policy (Something tells me that was BS). They told me it would take 20 minutes...it seemed to have taken much longer. There was not anyone else waiting to sell books and there were 3 or 4 people checking my books, it took way too long. When they were done the cashier (Christian) rolled the cart with my unwanted books over and said she would help me take it out because I had my 2 year old in my arms. She told me I could have store credit only for the books they selected. I said that I had already agreed to cash only (it was circled on the paper). She said they could not pay me cash. I very politely said "okay then I will keep my books." She went and got them and when she handed them to me she said here you can push this cart out. I said ok, pushed it out, and then returned it to the store. The lady who took the order (middle aged with tatoos) was also very rude. I will not do business with them again and I will not refer any business to them. No one there understands customer service. It was a very negative experience.

Brought a bunch of books in to sell, one of which was a modern mexicam cookbook that was brand new. They wouldn't buy it but I was moving so I told them they could have it for their "free" shelf. A couple days later I returned to sell a few other things, and they had the same copy of the cookbook (there was not a copy there when I came there originally, so I'm almost positive it was mine) on sale for $10! I asked a staff member about it but he didn't seem to know or care. This place is a ripoff. Donate your books or have a yard sale instead. You'll get more out of either.

I will say at the start that I have had good previous experiences in this store, but today's experience was so bad that I will never visit this store again. I brought in well over a thousand dollars worth of blu-rays, some expensive cookbooks, and some sheet music collections. Many of the blu-rays were still in their original wrapping, unopened, including the complete collection of "Game of Thrones." I was asked if I would prefer cash or store credit. Since I am moving, I asked for cash. Nothing further was said. Three hours later, I finally saw my name on their board, and was told I would be offered 61 dollars in cash and a store credit for $341. I explained that I did not want a store credit, had made it clear upfront, and was not told it would not be possible. The explanation I was given was that they could not offer any cash for blu-rays at the time. I was in the store for three hours, and the employees saw me regularly when I came up to see if my name was on the board. No one said anything to me about having switched the terms I had agreed to. I took the cash and a store credit I did not want and left out of sheer frustration. Essentially I was lied to and then robbed. I will never patronize this business again.

Good selection and great prices. Able to get 10 kids books for $20

Great selection of used books. Everything from psychology to anime.

THIS STORE IS AWESOME, VERY ORGANIZED AND FULL OF GREAT DEALS. STAFF IS OVERALL GREAT. NO PLACE HAS PERECT STAFF. THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS NOT ROBOTS. I WISH THEY HAD MORE STORES LIKE THIS ONE. I WILL CONTINUE TO SHOP HERE.

Friendly staff and a great selection. I've never left empty handed.

A cool little nit-nak shop full of random stuff. Staff is always nice and helpful, even if they don't have what your looking for. Not the best location.

Poor customer service. I bought a book and when I got home discovered a page had been torn out. When I took it back they would not exchange it and told me they don't take returns for books. I asked if I could get any store credit for it, and they told me they don't accept books with pages missing... that one must have slipped past them. I asked if there were any options for me and the only offer they made was to buy another copy of it at full price. I am unhappy that they did not take responsibility for selling a damaged product.

On the positive side, they have a large selection and very reasonable prices. I recommend shopping here as long as you check every page of the book you buy.

A groovy, eclectic blend of books, movies and more.

As a frequent shopper at Ed Mckays since 2009, I must say their selection of used media is incredible. Now I will admit more often than not, their customer service is pretty lack luster but you can always a expect a couple bad apples in the bunch.

As a DVD collector, they always have a great selection of movies / tv shows and not only do they have some of the harder to find stuff you wouldn't see at say Walmart or FYE, their prices are generally outstanding.

Huge selection of books, games, DVDs, and CDs. Pricing can be a bit or miss depending on what you're looking at. Also have a decent collection of foreign language books.

Really cool place!! Nes, snes, n64, and so on for all the systems games. Books on everything. Vinyl, CDs, DVDs... It's definitely my favorite place to go in Raleigh.

Great service friendly people books nothing more you can ask for

I hate to say it but there prices are OUTRAGEOUS. I've seen better prices at gamestop out of all places. But you can always go to the trade it next door.

Just Okay! Books are cheap though that's all matters to me.

My partner and I first started going to "The McKay" as we called it about 7 years ago and it quickly became our favorite store. We came in nearly every weekend. The selection and staff were helpful and genuine and seemed like family. They gave decent cash and store credit (whichever you prefer) and it was lovely.

However, within the last two years Edward McKay has turned into what we could only describe as "businessy". The customer service has gone, we came upon hard times and asked them to give cash for blu-rays (when they were doing that) and they gave us 9 dollars for over 20 blu-rays and turned the rest into trade credit knowing that is not what we asked for, in addition to being told that we couldn't get the stuff back when we didn't want the, frankly, pittance "because it would take a long time". I get that it is a business, but it's just sad to feel like I'm being taken advantage of. I honestly don't know if I'll ever go back to what used to be my favorite store.

The store has a great concept and an excellent inventory. Great selection of video games, movies, DVD's, books, and CD's. The problem that I had with them was trying to sell them things. I had brought in about 100 or so items to see what they would buy them for. There were about 20 or so textbooks, 50 CD's, 10 DVD's, and about 20 xbox/computer games. The staff was hardly professional, not explaining what they were doing with our things. They said they would take the items back there, and determine what they would buy. We were instructed to stay at the store, and they would let us know when they were finished. It took over an hour to decide which of the items they wanted to buy. When they were finished, they said that they were only going to take 2 of the DVD's and take 6 of the books and pay us a little over $18 for everything. Both of the DVD's were in the plastic wrap still, and the books were in excellent condition. When we asked which of the books they were going to take, they explained that they only give totals, and do not keep track of the amount for each of the items. Shocked that they couldn't explain their business practices to us, we took everything back and left the store, disgusted. Great place to go buy things, but an AWFUL place to sell anything. Staff does not have knowledge of business practices, and is not professional at all.

Try ebay or amazon before buying or selling here. I was selling some college books. Don't buy all books either, they are really selective.

A wide variety of books. I could spend hours there. Make sure to call in ahead of time for the books you want. They'll hold them for 24 hours if you do. I love it there. I recommended this place wholeheartedly!

I was told the rain from the storm on the way into the store had given my book water damage and they couldn't do anything with it...

I love this place! Staff is friendly and super helpful. I always seem to find exactly what I'm looking for when going here to sell or buy. I go here often.

The store's needs (and their ability to offer cash/credit for what you bring in) varies over time. But I've generally been happy with it. Great place for a browse and found many bargain gems here.

I love going here. You do have to dig through stacks and look behind rows of books sometimes to find a book you're looking for, but it's a fun way to spend an afternoon. The prices are great, and when I see something I want I never hesitate to get it or worry if it's cheaper on Amazon/eBay.

I've done trade ins a number of times. They usually take less than half of what I bring, but that's okay (I donate the other half to Goodwill for a tax write off!). Finally got rid of most of my CDs that I never listened to anymore and was thrilled to get $110 in trade credit at Edward McKay. Cha-ching!

I also love that they have a bunch of brand new Doctor Who stuff now, like the poster of the Exploding Tardis and those off brand legoish minifigs.

Great selection... prices can be a little on the high end...

Drove 40 minutes to see what they would buy 60 dvd's for. Apparently, the were only doing store credit. You should probably update just about EVERYWHERE on the Internet that says you buy dvd's. Thanks for wasting my time

Great selection of books and cds. Limited number of audio books made me sad. I checked out their video games and found the selection and pricing bad.

Customer service is only at the cash register, but they are polite and helpful there.

All in all I would say this is a fun little place to stop in and shop around.

I will be back.

Great selection of books and video games. In general, the prices are great, although some can be a bit high.

Great store with a lot of things to buy. Staff is slow, snarky, and rude. When I think of the ideal "Edward Mckay", I think of peppy down to earth people who enjoy collecting things just as much as I do. The actual staff is slow and rude. They seem very confused and can't get a grip on the "new system". I heard about Ed Mckay about a year and a half ago (2014). The service was great, but since then, the new staff sucks. They are some of the lamest, and worst people to deal with. Im really sick of them.

Great place to find or trade in different kinds of books, movies, cds, and games.

The variety of books, music, videos, and other items is awesome!

Love just roaming around in here. I can spend hours and find something new every time!

Sad to see the place go, but while it was there, it was my one stop shop for anything Retro Gaming. Great place.

This place is awesome and does exactly what it is supposed to do. You come in and bring all the books, video games, cds, and movies you don't want and trade them is for credit towards the ones you want. The place is huge, the selection is great, and the people there have always seemed fine to me. They don't accept crap that nobody wants, so don't expect to get credit for everything you bring... they can only keep so many copies of dragon lance novels. If you don't love this store, you clearly don't get what they do here. That being said I've never tried to buy textbooks here, so I can't really comment on that service.

It's kind of bad customer service that after insulting their taste when they bring a box of stuff in (seriously, item-by-item, laughing that anyone likes such-and-such band), then offering a barely fair cash trade followed by a computer crashing leading to the customer waiting and wandering the store hungry for dinner for half an hour, to then offer them *five dollars less* after the whole ordeal. I was incredulous. I like to support local businesses, and McKay's in Knoxville is great, but if you're in Raleigh, you might just have to go online for your used stuff.

Drove a long way to get there just to find out that they had restrictions on what you could use store credit on, no cash deals due to a crack in my ncdl. Best was the lack of information like that posted on website stating the above. Terrible customer service. Honestly watched five other people get angry at their extremely low offers and walk out. Also a two hour wait for purchase to tell me all above info. Felt like a trap to just settle for what they decided to lowball offer. No thank you!!! Will not recommend nor shop there.

Staff seems disengaged, they didn't give me a good deal on textbook buyback

Good selection of books. The price is great too.
Sadly they closed this location.

I love this place. Excellent selection of books with good prices, friendly staff as well.

Good selection of books and cds, but it's hard to beat the prices on amazon/half/eBay.

I love Ed Mackey's! Great selection that rotates based on what comes into the store. Great graphic novel section and a vinyl collection to die for! Bring your own stuff in for trade and stretch your dollar further

Diverse selection of used books, all in great condition and well organized for easy browsing and purchase; clean bathrooms and store, friendly staff; good parking

I had only bought from Edward McKays a couple times. I know you used to be able to sell books of all kinds for cash not just trade in. I wanted to get rid of books but didn't want credit since I don t shop there very often. But apparently don't give cash for fiction books anymore just give credit. Just ridiculous. Won't be going there period anymore.

This place is a treasure trove of randomness. I'm a gamer and a comic enthusiast, and they've got a great RPG section, a great video game section, and a great comic selection. Stop in. You'll never know what you'll find!

Awful! Bad costumer service and did not give cash for books, just store credit.

Like to shop for used records here. They have a great selection. They also purchase used items as store credit.

A used book store that sells books, regardless of thier quality, at mrsp or higher is a waste of time and money.

Used book buyback is extremely disappointing. They will buyback very few of your books if any. Be careful before you waste your time.

Cool things. Lots of treasures. Nice people. Good service.

Tons of everything including some rare and collectible video games.

Not sure where all the negative reviews are coming from. This place is awesome. Couldn't even tell you how many items I've bought here, especially music. I've been a customer of this place for years, and have patronized the Winston-Salem, Raleigh, and Fayetteville locations and only encountered one rude cashier. I can only imagine that customers who are disappointed or let down by a place like this don't completely get what it's all about. This isn't Barnes & Noble. There is not an expensive inventory system to list every item in stock. Trading in your stack of used books, CDs, etc. can take more than 20 minutes because dozens of other people are doing the same thing you are. It's a laid-back place and you kind of have to adjust to the way things are done there. It's the complete opposite of a major chain, and in a good way, if you ask me. This is basically a consignment shop for music, books, movies, video games, and electronics. I think the phrase "One man's trash is another man's treasure" applies to this store rather well. Not trying to be a jerk regarding other user comments, just disagreeing as a long-time customer. If I think a place sux, I quit going there. You know, like a particular store named Best B--!

Great place with plenty of selections! I usually sell my textbooks back here!

Love this place! I can always find treasures there that I cant find at any other stores and the staff are always so nice and helpful.

As a teacher I have gone to Edward McKay several times to buy books. I was very surprised by the service I received when I tried to sell some of my books I was no longer using. I really didn't want store credit, but was willing to take it. The employee said they very rarely give cash for any of the books they buy. I was willing to get credit, but when all was said and done they gave me $8 store credit and took may 6 out of 30 books. I understand this, but it was the attitude that came along with it that was not friendly. I watched some of the employees make fun of the books I was trying to sell. It was like they were on a power trip of what they would take. They were "snarky" to say the least. I was not impressed with my service which is too bad because I usually recommend them to new teachers.

Horrible return policy as in no return policy. Many other used book store give you 3 to 7 days. Not McKay's! If you do decide to go be leery of what you purchase.

Was in Ed McKay's on Capital Boulevard today, while shopping we received an emergency alert on our phones saying "Tornado Warning in your area: Take Immediate Shelter", so were stunned when an employee announced they were closing the store immediately and evacuting the store because of severe weather conditions! So around 20 customers (some without cars in the already flooded parking lot) were forced outdoors, a few had nowhere to go except under the awning in front of the store. The wind was blowing strong, the lights were blinking in the store, and it was pouring rain, but they just wanted us out of their store! I have never been in any business and been literally forced out into a tornado.

Has a decent selection of old school video games and it sucks that they went out of business, blame it on Game Stop.

I love going to Ed McKay. They have an awesome selection of books, music and movies! The staff is always friendly, tries to help me find something if I'm having difficulty. Just a great store. Their Greensboro store is amazing too; I went there a lot while attending UNCG.

Love this book store. Great price on books but some of the other stuff is priced a but high.

Used books! Sell your own and then buy someone else's, just like the original in Greensboro.

Really sad to see the Raleigh location go. Great store full of tons of awesome second hand books, music, movies and games, lots of vintage video games and consoles that are hard to find!

Amazing selection, great prices. Absolutely one of my favorite places to go.