Delcampe News: Displaying platform fees on Delcampe

Los datos ya no están disponibles porque la cuenta de este usuario ha sido eliminada (Reglamento RGPD)

In my opinion, this new system will bring nothing innovative or fresh, and it will not help recover sales. The only change is that buyers will be misled before making a purchase.

With the combination of fixed fees, percentage-based charges, import fees, and shipment costs, this will only frustrate buyers even more, in my opinion.

What an absolute disaster. Whoever is implementing these changes clearly has no understanding of the direction this is heading. The cause is lost.

Good evening,
It is strange to me that several professional sellers are celebrating this announcement on the French forum. For me t is clear this "improvement" will be another factor of confusion for the buyer.
The only logical system is that the buyer clearly sees the final price that he will pay all inclusive and that the seller pays and includes the platform fees in the price offered for each item (as was before here on Delcampe and as still as on eB...).
It is not even a question of less or more expensive final value, it is a question of perception of value. Perception is everything.
I have gradually modified my prices so that the buyer sees round sales values ​​(for example item offered at €5.18 so that the buyer sees €6) and now I will have to change everything again....

Hello Stampsandpostcards,
I relate completely to your writings... Me too have changed prices of all my 9725 articles manually so the prices looked a bit orderly again to customers after DC added their fees to them in April ...
Now we have to change them all again ! It is simply a mess ...
Not really the Christmas gift I was hoping for...
Wish to add that at the beginning of April initially me too have pleaded for showing separate prices but am no longer convinced this will bring a positive outcome nor revive the sale as the commission fee stays unchanged and is still not in balance for small prices.
Nothing much will change for these sellers.
Happy Holidays to all !
K.

The French forum seems to have a few die-hard fans of the site. I’m unsure why they so strongly defend these changes, but it gives the impression that they might be part of the “insight guru” development team behind these senseless updates in 2024.

@stampsandpostcards — We completely agree with you: the only logical solution is to revert to the way commissions were handled before these changes, aligning with the standard practices of modern online marketplaces.

We have been selling online since 2004 across multiple platforms, and the direction Delcampe has taken this year is by far the worst we’ve ever seen. Delcampe has adopted a system similar to traditional auction houses, charging fees to both sellers and buyers. This fails to account for the reality that modern online marketplaces do not impose buyer commission fees. By doing so, they’ve effectively shot themselves in the foot. It is astonishing how blind they seem to be to the consequences, and I’m certain their internal sales numbers reflect the struggles sellers are currently facing.

In April, we reduced our prices by 10% in an effort to adapt, but with these recent changes and no indication of a much-needed U-turn, we plan to revert to our original pricing starting January 2025. While we will keep our Delcampe shop open as we continue to develop future projects, Delcampe will inevitably become the platform where our items are sold at the highest prices. This is simply due to the additional commission fees imposed on buyers, which we no longer absorb but were previously happy to pay to the site.

Many sellers and buyers have already left, and many more will follow. I fear that by the time Delcampe reacts, it will be too late to recover from the damage caused by these misguided decisions.

Collectors are not stupid. When they see that there are two surcharges on Delcampe (shipping costs and purchase fees), they of course know that there is only one of these surcharges on other platforms and look there. And when they also see that a card or a stamp costing 80 cents has a purchase surcharge of almost 40 cents, they also know that this is the case for all offers on Delcampe. They also have no hope that this might be different for other items here. They then stop looking here and move on to other places.

Hello all,

I wish I was wrong but I do not believe Delcampe will reverse the decisions made this year. They will insist in this path making here and there some changes, such as this one, which do nothing to help the clarity and simplicity that is required today in this kind of plataforms.

In this year that ends, I sold at Delcampe less than half the amount I sold in 2023... and 2023 was not exactly a good year due to external factors like the end of free circulation of goods to the UK, the decrease in purchasing power in Europe due to inflation and the loss of a few good customers (with the Russia war on Ukraine and the greater economic uncertainty in China).

I wish all of you Happy Holidays

Los datos ya no están disponibles porque la cuenta de este usuario ha sido eliminada (Reglamento RGPD)

Once again they wanted to do the best, but it turned out as always,
Unfortunately

This kind of price display is (at least) not permitted in Germany. Here, the price including all components (e.g. sales tax, fees, etc.) must be displayed before the purchase - i.e. before the buy button. So if the customer has to pay a total of 5.70 euros (including VAT & Fee), then the amount 5.70 euros must be clearly stated. A statement such as 5 euros + x percent or 5 euros plus x cents fee is not permitted. The customer must therefore be able to see the purchase price before the purchase without having to do any calculations. This can be read in many places. There are also quite a few judgments in which anyone who does what Delcampe has been doing since today has been punished. Every single seller can now be warned here, even if it was not themselves who changed the display. This is also understandable and correct, because customers are now being tricked into thinking that the price is much lower than the price they will have to pay later. Why doesn't Delcampe find out beforehand, instead of just doing something.

Los datos ya no están disponibles porque la cuenta de este usuario ha sido eliminada (Reglamento RGPD)

Just because others do it wrong doesn't mean it's right.

The relevant regulation can be found here: Vinculo (https) (in German)

Please note:
§ 2 number 3
§ 3
§ 6

Shipping costs can be shown separately in certain cases - as has always been the case here.
See: § 6 paragraph (2)

Los datos ya no están disponibles porque la cuenta de este usuario ha sido eliminada (Reglamento RGPD)

What's complicated about that?

Example: Seller starts with 1 euro and wants to increase the bid by 10 cents.

(Purchase fee 10% + 30 cents)

Advertisement:
current price 1.40 euros (including purchase fee)

Minimum bid: 1.51 euros (including fee)

Customer wants to bid 3 euros:
Advertisement in the confirmation window:
You bid 3 euros (including fees)

What the seller receives from this - i.e. around 2.40 euros - has no place in this ad.

And even if it were really difficult, you wouldn't be allowed to do it the way you do now. Then you would have to change something in the fee structure so that a legal ad is possible again. But Delcampe has gone astray here by introducing purchase fees (instead of seller fees).

New system is pretty confusing, as from buyer perspective I don't like it at all !!!

Los datos ya no están disponibles porque la cuenta de este usuario ha sido eliminada (Reglamento RGPD)

My concern is that this change will increase the number of customers who are not going to make a payment after they realize the total cost of purchased items. Most items that I currently sell are low value items, which means that the platform fees are ridiculously high compared with the selling price.

The change is misleading for buyers.

The fees are in small print, not large bold like the basic seller price.

The 'Buy' button is seen and can be clicked before seeing what the fees cost, because it is immediately beneath the seller price.

Also if not buying now, but just adding an item to the shopping cart to buy later,, just the basic seller price was shown in the cart, with a small note about fee, but no fee shown.

If I was buying an item, I would not be happy, I would consider I was being incentivised to buy with an artificially low basic Seller price.

Los datos ya no están disponibles porque la cuenta de este usuario ha sido eliminada (Reglamento RGPD)

On other big site fees are way more expensive (higher fees,0.30$ per item,international fees,fees on postag,fees on foreign taxes and government taxes on everything),so there is no point to list low priced items.Selling online is getting harder and harder.Less buyers.more expenses, high postage fees.In Canada next week we have 25% increase of postal rates (

Los datos ya no están disponibles porque la cuenta de este usuario ha sido eliminada (Reglamento RGPD)