The secondhand trade on this page is spread across suburbs rather than lined up on one street, so plan by district. Fyshwick, the light-industrial suburb south-east of the lake, holds two of the anchors: Canty's Bookshop on Wollongong Street and Lifeline's Book Lovers Lane inside the Fyshwick Markets are about 2 km apart. The inner north has Book Lore at the Lyneham shops, Belconnen has Asia Bookroom next to the Jamison Centre, whose car park fills with Rotary's trash and treasure stalls on Sunday mornings, and the op shops worth a look cluster in Woden and Charnwood. This page also runs over the border into Queanbeyan, which the Australian Bureau of Statistics folds into the same urban area as the capital; anything outside the city names its suburb or town in its first line, and every price quoted is in Australian dollars.
Selling here starts with a message or a call ahead, not a walk-in. Of the twelve stops below, two will pay you for books: Book Lore invites a call or emailed pictures ahead of any delivery, and Canty's takes sellers by booking. The rest live on donations, and they are choosy about them, from Lifeline's box-weight cap to the Woden Seniors list of refused formats. The charity calendar matters more than any shop clock: Lifeline Canberra runs its bookfair three times a year, split between Exhibition Park and a winter venue, and the Woden Seniors fair adds an autumn weekend in Phillip.
Used bookstoresCanty's Bookshop
Units 4–6, Fyshwick Plaza, 59-61 Wollongong St, Fyshwick ACT 2609
In Fyshwick, 6.6 km out of Civic to the south-east, three units of Fyshwick Plaza hold a self-described secondhand and remainder bookshop with 1.2 km of shelving, a figure its Facebook page puts at 1.23 km. The published week is seven days of the same hours, with closures on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day and parking right at the door. Sellers must phone long beforehand to book a day and a time for bringing books in, and the shop says its Facebook page runs more current than its website. The ACT Government's Our Canberra bookworm's guide of July 2026 lists Canty's among the South Canberra bookshops.
Hours: Daily 10:30am–5pmWebsite Used bookstoresBook Lore
94 Wattle St, Lyneham ACT 2602
At the Lyneham shops in the inner north, 3.3 km from the city, a secondhand bookshop that says it has been buying and selling quality used books there for more than 40 years. Its buying page takes lots from a handful to several thousand books, suggests emailing photos or ringing the shop to start, says pictures of the spines are enough, and offers on-site appraisals of large collections and estates by arrangement. It turns away school and university textbooks, computing manuals, young adult fiction, children's books, encyclopedias and Reader's Digest condensed books, while chess, birds, Australian history and politics, Indigenous anthropology and linguistics, and Folio Society editions are on its wanted list. HerCanberra's holiday-gift column of 17 December 2025 closed with Book Lore among the local bookshops it recommended.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–4:30pm, Sun 10am–3pmWebsite Antiquarian and secondhand bookshopAsia Bookroom
Unit 2, 1-3 Lawry Pl, Macquarie ACT 2614
In Macquarie, a short walk from the Jamison Centre in Belconnen and 6 km west-north-west of the city, a specialist in books on Asia that dates itself to Barbara Burdon selling antique prints and maps from her Canberra home in the late 1960s, trading as The Old Bookroom from 1982. The catalogue is divided into antiquarian, secondhand and new books plus ephemera, prints and maps, and a mail-order business runs from the same premises, which the shop says are nine times the size of the original. Barbara's daughter Sally Burdon, who runs the business, has served as president of ANZAAB and of ILAB, its international umbrella, and ANZAAB's bookshop directory, as it stood in September 2026, carried a single entry under the ACT: this one. Mondays are by appointment, and the shop warns that it sometimes shuts while the team is away at a book fair, so ring 02 6251 5191 before making a special trip.
Hours: Tue–Fri 10am–5:30pm, Sat 11am–3pm; closed Sun–MonWebsite Lifeline bookshopBook Lovers Lane
Niche Markets, Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets, 36 Mildura St, Fyshwick ACT 2609
Fyshwick again, in the Niche Markets hall of the Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets, where Lifeline Canberra opened a permanent bookshop in July 2020 while COVID-19 had stopped its bookfairs, as Region Canberra recorded. Lifeline says its books, DVDs, CDs and puzzles are restocked daily, and Our Canberra's April 2026 op-shop guide adds that the stock comes from the bookfairs and includes comics. Trading runs Thursday through Sunday, and donations are taken in those hours at a drop-off reached from Nyrang Street, limited to what you can carry in boxes under 10 kg, with bigger loads sent to the Lifeline warehouse in Mitchell. The proceeds fund the local 13 11 14 crisis line, and Lifeline puts the books it rehomes through this shop and the fairs at more than a million a year.
Hours: Thu–Sun 9am–4pm; closed Mon–WedWebsite Book fairsLifeline Canberra Bookfair
Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), Cnr Northbourne Ave & Flemington Rd, Mitchell ACT 2911
In Lyneham, on the Exhibition Park showground off Flemington Road about 6 km out from Civic to the north-north-east (Lifeline's address is a Mitchell one), Lifeline's next fair on its own calendar runs from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 February 2027, with a family session on the Saturday morning and a further EPIC fair set for 3 to 5 September 2027. Canberra Daily wrote on 4 September 2026 that the fair is held three times a year and that a $26 armful of books pays for one crisis call, and the 2026 round went EPIC in February, the National Convention Centre in June and EPIC again over the 4–6 September weekend. Entry is a gold coin, EFTPOS works though Lifeline prefers cash, and alongside general fiction and non-fiction it lists rare books and collectables, textbooks, foreign-language titles, sheet music, maps and records. Donations can be handed in at the entrance during the fair, and EPIC has a drive-through drop-off at the Mallee Pavilion for larger loads.
Hours: Fri 5 February 2027 9am–6pm; Sat 6 February 2027 9am–5pm; Sun 7 February 2027 9am–4pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Canberra?
Start with the charity end. Goodies Junction keeps its two tip shops at pocket-change prices and cuts them further in weekly colour sales, and the Queanbeyan Lions were clearing ex-library stock for half a dollar a book in late September 2026. Book Lovers Lane in Fyshwick restocks from Lifeline's fair stock, ReRuns in Charnwood keeps books at coin prices on weekdays, and the Woden Seniors fair in April 2027 is the one to diarise if you want volume. Among the shops, Canty's in Fyshwick describes its own prices as toothsome.
Where do I sell used books in Canberra?
Two shops on this page buy. Book Lore in Lyneham will start a quote from emailed photographs and goes out to value estates, while Canty's in Fyshwick deals with sellers by appointment. Before you contact either, point your phone at the shelf you are clearing and shoot a single picture: BiblioScan recognises the spines in that picture and gives each book an estimated resale value, so you can split the pile between copies worth an eBay.com.au, Gumtree or Marketplace listing of your own and copies for the shop counter or the Lifeline drop-off.
When is the big book sale in Canberra?
Lifeline Canberra calls its Bookfairs the largest gathering of book lovers in Canberra, and it lists Exhibition Park weekends in early February and early September 2027, after a 2026 run that took in EPIC in February and September and a June stop at the National Convention Centre. Woden Seniors holds its own fair in Phillip from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 April 2027, and the 2026 fair it ran in late March carried stock in the tens of thousands, by Region Canberra's count.
Which op shops have books in Canberra?
The ones with evidence behind them are Lifeline's own Book Lovers Lane in Fyshwick, Barney's Boutique and ReRuns in Charnwood, Goodies Junction at Mitchell and Mugga Lane, and the Red Cross shop in Woden. For a Sunday alternative, the Rotary market at Jamison has book stalls among its dozens of pitches. Across the border, the Lions Community Bookshop in Queanbeyan Park is a charity bookshop outright, with the Salvos as a second Queanbeyan option. Vinnies branches are described only collectively, so check one before you go.
Which day is best for book hunting in Canberra?
Saturday is the day to pick: every shop on this page except ReRuns trades that day, including Asia Bookroom and the Lions shop, which both close on Sunday, and Barney's, which shuts by lunchtime. Sunday loses those three but gains the Rotary market in the Jamison car park, while Canty's, Book Lore, Book Lovers Lane, Goodies Junction and the Red Cross shop all stay open. ReRuns is a weekday stop, Monday to Friday. Avoid Monday to Wednesday if Book Lovers Lane is on your list, because it opens Thursday to Sunday only.