The problem
Germany is one of the biggest buyer countries on eBay, and your items are already visible there — sort of. eBay automatically translates English listings into German on its German site, and the machine still garbles them. Titles come out as word-salad no German buyer would ever type. Descriptions read like subtitles from 1995. And you cannot fix it: the automatic translation happens on eBay's side, and there is no button in Seller Hub that says “edit the German”.
So the German buyer who would have found your part, your collectible, your tool — searches in their words, and never sees you. The listing ranks in Akron and is invisible in Aachen.
Why we know the words move money
This is not a hunch — eBay's own history measured it. When eBay upgraded the machine translation of listing titles alone, exports rose about 10.9% — that number comes from a study of eBay's own sales data (Brynjolfsson, Hui & Liu, NBER working paper, 2018). Just the titles. And that was an algorithmic upgrade no seller touched — not a native writer doing real keyword research, which is what we do.
The flip side is on eBay's own community boards today: sellers complaining that the automatic translation is “a mistake”, that it mangles part numbers and brand names, that buyers message them in German about listings they cannot even read themselves. The words are free; the quality is the gap — and quality is exactly what automatic translation does not deliver.
What we do
The localization pack. We rewrite your listings into German a native buyer cannot tell from a local shop's: the title built the way German search actually works (the German product noun leads, the part number stays verbatim, the words buyers really type — verified against German shops and eBay.de, not guessed by a machine), and a description in the structure German buyers expect: condition, what it fits, what's in the box, shipping time, returns. We deliver everything as a filled-in import file for eBay's bulk tools.
You never hand over your store. No password, no API access, nothing to authorize. You get the file, you review it, you upload it and press the buttons yourself. Your account stays entirely yours.
The managed tier (optional). For sellers who want the whole German half run for them: we also answer every German buyer message — questions, best offers, returns, “not as described” cases — in native German, around the clock, first reply typically within 15 minutes. A German buyer who asks a question at 3am their time gets an answer at 3:05. That tier runs under your written rules (offer bands, refund limits) and only through eBay's own seller interfaces — you can read every message, and you can stop any day.
What the work looks like
Real before/after from our own catalog (we build and test this pipeline on a real 80,000-listing auto-parts catalog before selling it to anyone). One row, an engine part for a Mercedes:
Before — the English listing
STANDARD IGN Intake Manifold Actuator for 2011-2013 Mercedes-Benz
E350 - IMA110
After — our German title
Stellmotor Ansaugkrümmer Mercedes E350 2011–2013 Standard IMA110
Why the difference matters: a German mechanic searches “Stellmotor” — that is the workshop word for this part. The automatic translation of “intake manifold actuator” produces something like “Einlasskrümmer-Betätiger”, a string of syllables no German has ever typed. Same part, same price — one is findable, one is invisible.
Every listing also gets the small things that signal a native seller: “24 Zoll” instead of “24 Inch”, proper umlauts, the honest condition word (“generalüberholt”, not the shifty-sounding shorthand), a note when German road rules (StVZO) apply to a part. These details are the difference between “translated” and “written for me” — and buyers feel it before they can name it.
What it costs
Localization pack: flat CAD 6–12 per listing, by batch size (bigger batches cheaper), minimum job CAD 300. One price, in writing, before any work starts — never hourly, never a surprise. Ranges, not quotes: your exact price is fixed in the written offer after we've seen the listings.
Managed tier: flat CAD 150–400 per month plus a few percent of the German sales it manages. The flat part is capped, so a slow month can't surprise you; the percent part means we only do well when your German sales do. Exact numbers in writing before the first day, and you can stop any month.
Either way, the first 5 listings are free — you see exactly what you'd be buying before anyone sends an invoice.
How it runs
- You email us your store's link (or attach the CSV export of the listings you care about). No access, no passwords, nothing to sign.
- We pick 5 listings with the clearest German demand and send back their German versions — title, description, and a short note on the keyword decisions. Free, yours to keep either way.
- If you want the batch done, you get a written fixed price, then the finished import file with a change log listing every decision. You review it, upload it, and press the buttons yourself.
- Managed tier, if you choose it later: a one-page agreement of your standing rules (offer bands, refund limits), and from then on German messages get answered in minutes, day and night — with a plain monthly report of what was asked, answered, sold, and returned.
Who it's for
eBay sellers whose goods already ship to the EU but whose listings only exist in English: auto parts (the clearest case — German buyers search German nouns and verbatim part numbers), tools, brand-name goods, collectibles. If you've ever seen a German buyer's message sit unanswered because nobody on your side could read it, this is that problem solved at both ends.
Get your free 5-listing sample
Email stores@orbitalfour.com with your store's link. Five of your listings come back in German — free, no obligation, and nothing to sign up for.