question for buying off ebay germany

[gwb72tii]

for those of you that have

did u confirm the seller will ship to the usa first or is it just assumed?

did u have to ask questions in german, or will the ebay system automatically translate for you?

TIA

[Stefan_m2002tii]

I think you should ask them first, also how much the shipping costs.

Not all companies will ship and not everyone have the best prices on shipping.

Sometimes they speak English, sometimes they don't, but try in English first, I you don't get a reply shop somewhere else.

[jerry]

Always ask if they ship to the USA unless it is clearly stated

in poor pig-german: zum verkaufen nach amerika?

if the answer is 'ja' or 'yes', you're good.

also important to ask if they take Paypal:

in even worse german: haben sie Paypal?

paying is a big issue if they don't accept paypal. i have in the past actually exchanged dollars to euros locally and sent the currency to germany in the mail. it's a risk for sure, but i have not had a bad experience so far. i haven't bought there for a few years now as the prices with shipping can be killer and everyone is looking for the euro-only crap bargains, anyways....

bank transfers are very costly in fees.

use babelfish to translate, as well

welcome to the 'dark side'

[inkatouring]

for those of you that have

did u confirm the seller will ship to the usa first or is it just assumed?

did u have to ask questions in german, or will the ebay system automatically translate for you?

TIA

Yes, absolutely always confirm they will ship to USA first! And find out cost, as it can be considerable, especially the duty.

No. Most Germans either can read English or translate it if they can't. I've never had a problem with it and I've bought this way (and communicated with sellers) many times.

No, see above.

[dubois]

Babelfish does an adequate job: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/

just to get you started, and it is possible that they know a bit of English. It is always good form to communicate in their language first, and not assume they automatically speak English.

[DaveB]

Google also has some great translation tools... I've bought from abroad many times, and even bought a 1952 Lambretta in rural Italy off of eBay a decade ago via babelfish. It's totally doable, and you'll find that if you at least make an effort to approach someone in their native language they'll be much more inclined to help you find solutions (to problems like: how do we get a scooter from outside of Turin to Oakland)

[john_a]

Good advice to ASK first about shipping & Paypal..

Paypal is widely used here in USA, because we don't have simple bank transfers for small transactions, and bank transfer of funds from US to ECE is stupid expensive.

In Germany, they don't need Paypal as much, because bank transfers for small transactions are very common & simple.

If possible, find a friend in Germany that can accept you Paypal & then do the bank transfer to pay the seller. That works very well, because you can tell the seller when you first contact him that you are able to get him paid with funds from within Germany (which may alleviate his concerns about getting funds from you, the foriegner.) Be sure to offer your friend a little $$ off the top for acting as the middleman, it really is no big deal to accomplish, but it would still be appropriate to pay him a little for the favor.

Another thing that helps is when you can show the seller the shipping method & costs to get the item shipped to you in the USA.

Poke around the Deutsche Post website, and get an estimate of costs to show how feasible shipping to USA might be.

http://www.dhl.de/en/paket/privatkunden/international.html

With the seller somewhat prepped with the idea he can get paid, and shipping is not too complicated, he might find it easier to agree to the transaction. Ask him for his "konto details" if you do have a guy in Germany to help transfer funds (asking for Konto details gets you the bank account info you'll need to get funds transfered within Germany.

[Scott Sislane]

1) if the seller doesn't say they ship worldwide, always ask. seems that 1/2 the time I ask, they say no. I had a woman scream at me via ebay messaging because I thought she shipped worldwide.

2) I always send the message in English, and then whatever babelfish does, I include that too.

3) very few of the sellers there use paypal, so prepare yourself to wire $ (pita) or mail a bank check...

private sellers are usually ok on postal cost (they ship DHL which is their postal system) and businesses seem to want to mark it up.

good luck-

[DUDONLY]

The last time I bought from German Ebay I went to my bank and wired the funds after the seller gave me his banking information but I had to pay the banks transfer fee of 25.00. The other problem is that the Euro just kicks the dollars butt.... so by the time you factor all that plus shipping ouch !!!!!

[Napes]

I agree with sislane (above) about the language approach. If you send your inquires in English they are more inclined to answer in English, even if their response is not completely correct grammatically. If you send your inquires in Deutsch they'll answer in the same language and web translations are sometimes a little wierd. That's just my experience. A high percentages of Germans read or speak English, or can readily find someone who does.

Bob Napier

[jdirecto]

Once you pay you have to be patient cause shipping takes a long time. My purchase from Germany took three to almost four weeks.

Joey

[BMWonly]

If anyone here needs help translating or communicating with a German Ebay seller, I can help you. I am now in CA, but originally from Germany, and still have a bank account there. Very useful since paypal is not very common in Europe.

I frequently buy from German Ebay, there is so much BMW (and Opel) stuff that we just don't have here. Sometimes it's worth the shipping cost, sometimes not.

Let me know if I can help.

Dieter

[jochem]

They often ship parts to me, i live in the Netherlands next to Germany.

Just inform before hand. Paypal is pretty much only accepted when buying from an ebay store. Private sellers prefer bank transfer which in europe is way better the US. Shipment shouldn't take more than a week in my epxerience. Might depend on the size of the package.

You can use this text for any ebay item to ask about shipment and payment:

"Hallo, werden sie diese artikel nach USA versenden? Kann ich mit paypal zahlen?"

"Hi, wil you send to USA? Can i pay with paypal?"