Book Thrifters & Collectors

Every Thrift Store Holds Someone's Grail.

Trove is the community that connects the people thrifting with the people hunting. Scan a barcode at any thrift store and you'll know — instantly — whether the book in your hand is someone's grail. Then you get to make their day.

Get Launch Notification See How It Works
iOS Android Coming soon
See how it works
Who Trove Is For

Two Kinds of Book People. One Community.

Whether you're the one walking the shelves or the one waiting for that book to surface, Trove keeps the two of you connected.

For Thrifters

You walk thrift store shelves. You leave with someone's grail.

Stop wondering whether the beat-up paperback in your hand is just a book or someone's lifelong hunt. Scan it, and Trove tells you instantly — and connects you to the person who's been looking for it.

  • Scan any barcode. See if it's somebody's grail before you put it back on the shelf.
  • Send it home. Get a thank-you over Venmo or PayPal — no fees, no flipping.
  • Report sightings even when you don't buy. Other hunters will remember it. So will the books.
For Collectors

You know the exact edition you want. Someone in the community will find it for you.

Build a list of grails down to the printing year, publisher, or imprint. When a thrifter spots one in the wild, you're the first to know.

  • Add specific editions from Open Library's 30M+ catalog — first printings, rare imprints, OOP paperbacks.
  • Tell the community what it's worth to you. The notification comes the second yours surfaces.
  • Browse the community sightings map — see what's out there before anyone drives across town.
How Trove Works

Three Steps. Endless Grails.

You hunt for them. They hunt for you. Everyone finds the books they've been chasing.

  1. Step 01 · Build Your List

    Add the editions you're hunting.

    Search by title, author, or ISBN — and add the exact edition you want. The 1965 Chilton hardcover. The UK first printing. The out-of-print Ace paperback. The moment a thrifter spots it on a shelf somewhere, you're the first to know.

  2. Step 02 · Go Hunting

    Scan a cover. See who's been looking.

    At a thrift store? Scan the cover or barcode of any book that catches your eye. Trove shows you who in the community has been searching for that exact book — sometimes for years. Now you know which finds belong on someone's shelf.

  3. Step 03 · Send It Home

    Help them get their grail.

    Message the collector directly inside Trove. Work out a fair number for the book and shipping — Venmo or PayPal handles the rest, no checkout, no fees. You just helped someone find a book they'd been chasing for years. Tomorrow, they'll do the same for you.

It's a community of book lovers helping each other find what they love. Read the full guide →

What Trove Does

Built for How Book People Actually Help Each Other

At the shelf, on the go, chasing specific editions. Three things Trove does to keep this community connected.

01

Scan once. See who's been waiting.

Point your camera at a barcode. In half a second, Trove tells you what the book is, which exact edition it is, and who in the community has been searching for it.

  • Native barcode scanner with cover-photo fallback
  • Edition-specific matching, not just title
  • See who's been hunting it — before you even leave the shelf
02

Your grail list, down to the printing.

Not every "Dune" is the same Dune. Build a list of the exact editions you want — first printing, specific publisher, year — and the moment a thrifter somewhere finds one, your phone buzzes.

  • 30M+ editions from Open Library
  • Tell the community what each grail is worth to you
  • Push notification the second yours surfaces
03

Live community sightings map.

When a thrifter spots an interesting book — even if they don't buy it — it lands on the map. Pull up your area before you drive to a store. See what's out there in real time.

  • Browse books spotted at thrift stores near you
  • Filter by genre, author, or your grail list
  • Tap a pin to message whoever reported it

Plus in-app chat, Venmo & PayPal handling, community trust ratings, BFF follows of your favorite hunters, and the entire Open Library catalog at your fingertips.

A Normal Saturday

It's 11:47 AM at Goodwill.

You pick up a battered hardcover from the $2 shelf. Cormac McCarthy. Blood Meridian. First edition Random House, 1985. The dust jacket is rough — but the book is right.

You scan the barcode. Trove shows you three people have been hunting this. One of them, in Phoenix, has had it on her grail list for two years.

You buy it for two bucks. You message her. By 12:09 PM, you've worked out shipping and a fair thanks. You drop the book in the mail. On Tuesday, somewhere in Phoenix, someone opens an envelope and finds the book she'd almost stopped looking for.

That's a normal day on Trove.

Open Library Integration

Built for the Serious Edition Hunter

There are over 30 million books in the Open Library catalog — and within a single title, dozens of distinct printings, publishers, and formats. To most people they're all just Dune. To a collector, the 1965 Chilton first printing and the 1980s mass-market paperback may as well be different books.

Trove lets you browse every known edition of any book you scan or search. Your wishlist isn't just "Dune" — it's the 1965 Chilton Books first edition hardcover, first printing. When a thrifter on the other side of the country finds one, you hear about it.

For editions that aren't in the list, the manual ISBN lookup lets you enter any 10- or 13-digit ISBN to pull up a specific printing directly. Because sometimes you know exactly what you're looking for.

Learn About Editions →
I drove past five Goodwills last weekend and came home with twelve books — every one of them already on somebody's list. Trove turned thrifting from a hobby into showing up for friends I haven't met yet.

Beta thrifter, Brooklyn

Trove Wiki

Everything You Need to Know

From your first scan to navigating the edition browser, the Trove wiki has you covered. Whether you're a casual thrift shopper or a seasoned collector, the guides below will get you finding grails faster.

Browse All Articles
Launching Summer 2026 · iOS & Android

Be the first to know.

Drop your email. We'll send you a single note the moment Trove is live in the App Store and Google Play — and a few early invites before that.

No spam. One email at launch. Unsubscribe in one click.