Anyone bought from ebay.de
 

so, yeah . whats your experience trying to buy something from Germany on the old sleazebay? I am looking for webasto parts, to be specific. seems there aren't many used parts round here.

thanks,mo

I've bought a number of things there. Mostly parts for MB vans. I used Babblefish to do the translation. Mostly it's very hard to understand. Ended up with a bunch of feedback in German but it worked out well for me. Also bought a GPS there because I wanted one with a European basemap.

I've done over a dozen German eBay transactions, no problems, even with seller that state they don't ship outside of Germany. I'm glad more of them are accepting Paypal, since the wire transfer fees charged by banks were pretty steep.

that's my next ?. from what i can tell, most transactions are by bank wire. how's that work? must cost a bit.

Bank transfer fees vary by bank and what kind of customer you are at your bank. There used to be fixed fee services online, but they seem to come and go and can make the average person a bit nervous.

I've found that the best approach is to 1) explain to the seller that your German is not so good via translation software; 2) confirm that they are willing to dispatch to the US; 3) check if they do have Paypal or perhaps willing to join it; 4) if not, and if the item is relatively inexpensive, I have sent US currency (under $50) when I get the okay from the seller; 5) bank wire transfer as a last resort.

I belong to a Credit Union and I think the wire transfer fees were not that expensive (it may even have been free) but it was a pain in the neck since I had to go to the bank, find a routing number etc.
I ended up going to the local currency exchange, buying a bunch of Euros and sending cash in an envelope. It doesn't sound too safe but I didn't have any problems. It seemed the best solution for lower priced items.
I bought my motorhome off the internet outside of London and did a wire transfer on that.

sweet. i have a smaller locally owned bank, that i have been with for7 yrs, autoloans paid off, etc. of course, i am a little fish, but get way better service than those crappy chain banks-ie wells fargo.

I've bid on a few items but I have not won anything from there yet.

Fun, easy, safe....one buyer's experience..
 

I've probably bought from ebay.de a couple of dozen times, mostly small things like Tshirts, models,car literature and stamps for my collection....

I've begun by checking the feedback, then sending them a ebay "question to seller" (verkaufer)
to the effect of, "Hallo, nicht sprechen sie Deutsch, I saw your item on ebay and would enjoy bidding on it. Do you accept bids from USA? If so, do you have an idea how much it would cost to ship from Germany to USA, both by land and by air (luftpost)? How much is insurance? My question about the item is....etc.
May I pay by US cash dollars (sent to you at my own risk?) or by Paypal, or would you prefer bank transfer?

I see the price is in Euros, is the conversion rate to US dollars, per www.xe.com acceptable to you?

Vielen Danke, und Gruss auf Kalifornien, Jim"

This kind of thing breaks the ice and shows you are sincere, and gets the ground rules established, (every now and then they only sell or ship to Germany or Europe, and the auction shows it or they will tell you) so usually it works VERY well, even if the seller is a busy store.

Most Germans take English in school as a 2nd or 3rd language and will respond to your questions, or have someone in their family or business who can help, and then you are are on your way....

I have had 100% success. and the German sellers pack with Teutonic thoroughness, (VERY carefully) and ship promply, and some of them when they have time, are very friendly, one of them also sent, without my asking and at no charge, a souvenir coffee cup and postcards of his hometown in the parcel, another one, Sven from Berlin, actually got a few MB Warning triangles "Warndreieck" & their mounting clips from a local junkyard right before he came to the USA on vacation and mailed them to me from Miss. when he got there, and I was able to send them on to MBCA internet members who wanted them.....After the German dust was cleaned off them it worked out as a bargain deal for everyone involved, and I felt it was quite kind of him to do something like that. I am glad to say he got good karma back, as he found a pale yellow '62 220SE cabrio with a dead engine in Texas, bought it for a good price and shipped it home to Germany to be fixed up for his father

Others like Volvomax in Wuppertal, were happy to even give information and suggestions for possible travel to Germany. I was able also to direct a benzworld memer in Croatia to a www.ebay.de site that had moldings for his Mercedes, and he reported that he got them for an excellent price and was very happy.

In sum, I have found the German sellers on www.ebay.de to be a great bunch of people to buy from, and have been doing it from time to time since 1999, and only rarely, has the language been a barrier, and usually it can be overcome.

I haven't found any crooks (or if there are any,they haven't found me, so far) there.

The shipping costs of heavy things like transmissions and such might make some deals not worth it, but basically, in my experienced, there should be no problems.

I always am sure to be prompt about leaving the feedback, and usually, to help them, in their business, leave it in English, ie, "Excellent for USA bidders" or some such type of remark, that would add encouragement to the International aspect.

Good luck, it should work out well for you, it certainly has for me.

sweet write-up, Jim. thanks.