How to turn off Auto translation in messages?

[envee548]

I recently had an interaction with a customer who was speaking to me in Spanish. The first message came through ok, but when we started talking about the item, ensuring it would work for him, the message got more random and didn't make any sense. That's when I noticed the eBay "Auto Translation" at the top. This eventually ended in a order cancellation because of a misunderstanding. 

Theres no option to turn it off that I can find, and when I click the link to the auto translation help, it just sends me to generic ebay help. 

Previously before this feature, I would translate with google, and then retranslate to ensure google got my translation accurately. 

I read online that it might be possible on the ebay app, but thats the most I could find

[ferncliff-39]

@envee548 

If the auto translation is something you're seeing in the app, you can ask the Mobile App team how to turn it off. eBay staff is there to answer questions:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/iOS-App/bd-p/iosapp

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Android-App/bd-p/androidapp

[envee548]

Thanks, Yes I did see the feature in the app settings, however I dont use the app to respond to messages, and turning it off did not affect the auto translation forced on me in the browser

[ferncliff-39]

Hmmm...I'm aware that eBay site can be translated to other languages if you log in from a foreign IP address, but not from ebay.com. 

And it's just eBay Messages in Spanish - nothing else?

You're not talking about a translator browser add-on or extension - like Google has?

Have you cleared your cache/cookies signed out, signed back in?

[envee548]

Nope, the translation was at Ebay.com, and it wasnt to the entire website. Only on messages received from a user that were in a different language.  I did not save a screenshot, but on the top of the page there was a notification from eBay about it, which said something like this. "Ebay has automatically translated this message, and will translate your message to facilitate communication with the buyer."  It's not related to anything else. I can not comment on if it's any other language other than Spanish, since this is the first time I've seen this "feature".

[ferncliff-39]

tyler@ebay   velvet@ebay 

Do you know anything about this translation feature on eBay messages, how it works and how to turn it off?

I've never heard of this before.

[velvet@ebay · Accepted solution]

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@ferncliff-39 wrote:

tyler@ebay   velvet@ebay 

Do you know anything about this translation feature on eBay messages, how it works and how to turn it off?

I've never heard of this before.

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Thanks for the tag @ferncliff-39! The translate option in the app just affects item titles, not eBay Messages. I understand that @envee548 feels the eBay machine translations aren't accurate though, and I'm sorry to hear that.

I will pass this feedback on and request for an option to turn the automated translations off. In the meantime, I can only suggest responding to the other member, letting them know the translation didn't come through and to please provide additional details.  

[envee548]

Thanks for the reply. I was able to get a screenshot of the message today. I appreciate your feedback.
The link it directed me to was https://www.ebay.com/pages/en/help/buy/language.html which did not go anywhere.

The wording makes it seem like its the buyer's decision to use auto translate, and based on his messages, it seemed like I was receiving automatically translated replies, since his replies were always in English.  But now that I write it down, it could be that this is just a singular case, and the buyer himself is replying in English. Which would mean only the subject was translated like you said.   Once again, thanks for the feedback, based on this conversation, I feel my situation is uncommon, and unless it happens more in the future, I think I will be ok. 🙂

Thanks for your help @ferncliff-39  and velvet@ebay