Alea jacta est...

Hello,

As many have pointed out on the French forum, had the primary objective of the new charge been to induce a clean-up of the site, it would have been equally as effective (if not more so) to implement many of the non-financial ideas that have trotted around the site for many years now on how to achieve this, such as purging the archives. So the question is: what was the real reason?

An important reason is that Delcampe has doubled its headcount since 2010, from 10 to 20 employees. If in 2010 the cost of 10 employees amounted to 400,000 euros (source: the company's public accounts as published on the site of the Banque Nationale de Belgique), then the cost of 20 in 2012 should be 800,000 euros or more. Since the company's revenues are unlikely to have grown sufficiently to compensate for this 100% increase, its profit margin must have collapsed, contributing to a cash shortfall that is now also compromising its ability to invest in additional equipment to improve the site. Delcampe thus had to resolve a legitimate financial need, caused - let us not forget - by its efforts to respond to the demands and desires of its members...

Here, though, we all come accross a fundamental and weighty question: why impose a fixed charge on each item sold, when there were a dozen possibilities of immediately generating new revenues through more proportional or equitable charges, that could have been combined in many ways and simultaneously could have helped to clean-up the site (e.g., listing fees, higher commission rates, charges on each store based on their size, etc.). Overall, on review of the hundreds of messages over the past few days, one can only conclude that many would have been happy to help out in these ways, especially if it had been pointed out to them that the site's survival was at stake, and thus that of their own stores (for sellers) or ability to complete their collections (for buyers).

In sum, if there were 20+ other means of achieving its objectives, why did Delcampe decide to shoot directly and solely at the low value items on its site (and thus at one of its foundations), a few weeks only after having crossed and cheered 50 million in listed items? What was the necessary and sufficient reason for this? In my mind there can be two reasons only:

1. The Delcampe team has just deliberately chosen in favor of orienting the site towards high value items, since the sale of these items accounts for 80%+ of its revenues and is by far the most profitable (for the site and the sellers focusing on this market - do the maths), and time has come to exploit the site's competitive position and sophistication for stamp collectors especially. In this case, my advice to sellers of low value items would be to rethink your commercial strategy. For now, that is precisely what Sébastien is saying...

2. The Delcampe team - being composed primarily of well intentioned collectors - has just made a fundamental strategic error. In this case, my advice would be to anticipate a shift away from the fixed fee to more variables fees, and not to close up shop. When this shift happens, be magnanimous, offer your help (to clean the site and pay the fees), and please do not gloat you were right (Sébastien will need to 'save face'). This is very important...

Meanwhile, alea jacta est...

Sincerely,

BR