25€ fee

Hello fellow philatelists!
I sometimes order from delcampe, but I got email from admin that a new 25€ fee will be applied to orders below 150€ from non-EU countries.
As this applies to UK and I collect British colonies, this is quite hard to swallow.
Is the fee applied to all sellers or is my english reading comprehension lacking?
Philately is an expensive hobby as is!

Hello,

Your understanding is almost correct, but there is an important nuance.

The €25 flat fee does not apply to all purchases from outside the EU. It only applies when you buy from professional sellers located outside the EU.

So:
- If you buy from a private individual outside the EU no €25 fee
- If you buy from a professional seller outside the EU €25 fee applies

This is why checking the seller’s status (private vs professional) is important before purchasing.

Hope this helps clarify things a bit.

Kind regards,
Miranda

Delcampe Customer Service

I initially thought this might be a scam.

I think that although applied to businesses it will see a slump in sales the increase in costs from 5% to the flat fee is just not comparable.

Since the UK dropped out of the EU it has not been the same and this will not be a positive step for all collectors.

Is it possible to search on private only as I would not see any point searching on the professional side going forward?

Miranda,

This fee / approach seems in my opinion to be designed to negatively impact Professional Sellers like myself.
It almost seems that Delcampe no longer want non-EU sellers on the site.
Clearly buyers will look to avoid Professional Sellers as already seen in this thread (and depending on how buyers set their search this could also impact EU Professional Sellers!).

I find it difficult to believe that latest EU Directive, although clearly designed to further protect the EU from outside competition, sets the level of outrageous fee that Delcampe has now introduced on purchases specifically made from a Professional Seller. It further seems difficult to read anything into this fee anything other than Delcampe no longer wants non-EU Professional Sellers on its site? Please advise.

No doubt you will mention / highlight this 'imposition fee' when setting out the benefits of selling on Delcampe for Professional Sellers?

Perhaps you can clarify whether Buyers still have an 'opt out' so that they can continue to pay import fees and customs duties on delivery?

An extremely disgruntled UK Professional Seller.

Alan Catherall
[Hoatzinstamps]

Hello,

Thank you for your message; I understand your concern, especially regarding the increase in costs and the potential impact on collecting habits. Many collectors are indeed carefully reviewing how these changes may affect their purchases.

At this stage, I’m not able to confirm whether adding a filter based on the seller’s status would be easy to implement or how long it might take. However, I can confirm that this is a very good suggestion, and it has already been shared with the team in charge of these changes. If any update is planned, we will of course keep you informed.

In the meantime, I invite you (if you have not already done so) to display the seller’s status in your search results. To do this, simply click on “Display” at the top right of any search or category page, select “Seller status”, and click “Save settings”.

You can also determine whether a seller is professional or private by checking the status displayed on their profile or the “PRO” label next to their username.

Kind regards,
Miranda

Hello Alan,

I fully understand your concerns and the frustration you are expressing.
However, I would like to clarify an important point: this approach is not a policy introduced by Delcampe to disadvantage non‑EU professional sellers.

It is the direct consequence of European Union (EU27) regulations, which will come into force on 1 July and aim to remove the exemption from customs duties for low‑value shipments.
Although the UK currently applies its own framework, it has historically followed a similar approach. To ensure consistency and compliance, we have aligned our system accordingly.

In practice, managing two separate systems would have created significant technical and administrative complexity, making them financially unviable for Delcampe.

In this context, we had two options:
- either implement a harmonised system with an appropriate flat fee,
- or discontinue imports to the United Kingdom.

We chose to maintain this option, as we know how important it is for our collectors to continue finding and acquiring the rare item missing from their collection, even if this involves a higher cost.

Concerning a possible “opt‑out”, this is unfortunately no longer available on Delcampe. This option was removed following repeated cases of misuse, particularly when imports were not correctly declared or declared at an incorrect value.

While EU and UK regulations still provide different mechanisms in certain cases, they increasingly place responsibility on marketplaces to ensure VAT is properly collected and declared. In this context, collecting the applicable import charges at checkout is the most reliable way to ensure compliance.

As a result, buyers can no longer choose to revert to the previous system of paying duties upon delivery on our platform.

Kind regards,
Miranda

Miranda,

Thank you your fast response as usual and various clarifications.

Your answer doesn't really explain the outrageously high charge of ER 25 being implemented by Delcampe.
I cannot envisage many customers paying this on top of the platform fees, import duties, postage etc.
Net, this change severely impacts selling to EU customers henceforth.

I think this flat fee discontinues imports to the EU.

This looks like the beginning of the end.

Alan Catherall
[Hoatzinstamps]