Saranac Hale Spencer

The News Journal

College students have another option for getting their textbooks this semester since University of Delaware senior Jim Jannuzzio has launched a new app called BookBandit.

About 2,000 people have downloaded it so far, said Jannuzzio, who got the idea for it after going through the notoriously expensive textbook buying-and-selling system on campus his freshman year.

The app, which allows students to buy and sell directly to each other or from a variety of online bookstores, went live back in January, but missed the major textbook flurry at the beginning of the spring semester. So, this fall will be its first major run.

Right now, Jannuzzio is the sole employee of BookBandit, but he'll have a handful of interns when the semester gets underway.

"I work around the clock," Jannuzzio said, explaining that he processes the orders that come through the app. Because the program allows buyers to purchase from several different merchants in one order with one checkout, he gets the order and then sends requests to each of the merchants, who then send the books directly to the buyer.

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His company makes money from the $2.99 processing fee, which drops to $2.49 for an order of more than four books and $1.99 for an order of more than five books.

Asked how much he's expecting to make in the first year, Jannuzzio said, "the sky's the limit."

The business has been keeping him so busy that he's decided to take a lighter course load this year and add a fifth year to his bachelor's degree – he's majoring in finance.

The average cost of new textbooks has gone up 44 percent over the last eight years – from $57 in the school year starting in 2007 to $82 last school year, according to the National Association of College Stores, which does an annual survey of college bookstores.

The change in the average cost of used books was less extreme – they've gone up about 20 percent in the same period of time, from $49 to $59.

Contact Saranac Hale Spencer at (302) 324-2909, sspencer@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SSpencerTNJ.