eBay

weyland_pubs · ‎05-12-2019

I am selling a book-set about Spain's military history, a reprint from 1862. The book is in Espanol, no Ingles .

My question - In order to attract Spanish-speaking buyers do I need to offer it on another ebay site? The box you can check when you do your listing asks if you want to list it on another site. Does the Spanish speaker browsing through Ebay struggle with the English version, or does he have option to display everything in Spanish, while remaining on ebay.com ?

I am mainly interested in the US-based Spanish-speaking population, not any other countries, for one thing shipping 26 pounds international is mucho Dinero...

escuintla · ‎05-12-2019

Do it in Spanish. But copy the wording or description from the books themselves.

We tend to get attracted to our own native language.

I've tried to translate English into Spanish, and being born into the Spanish language the translation by "whoever, be this Google or else" sucks. It's like the head is down there and the stomach is where the eyes should be.

Besides that, certain wording, like pirujo, bolillo, Teleras, etc, have different connotations in countries like Mexico and Guatemala. Pirujo can be understood in Guatemala as white bread= bolillo, but in Mexico is something I can't tell you, but it is related to a sexual preference or behavior.

So, when people not native to the US look for anything in particular and their language is other than English, they will find it amazing that somebody is honoring them by speaking like them, if you know what I mean.

In my case, I have a bunch of vintage books in Finnish language. I haven't seen any market for them, but I keep them just in case. I think I had that famous Tortilla Flat.

Good luck!

And, yes! 26 pounds is a killing proposition for anybody from another country, it would be so expensive!

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If you haven't paid for your item, you're a winning bidder, not a buyer!
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escuintla · ‎05-12-2019

Do it in Spanish. But copy the wording or description from the books themselves.

We tend to get attracted to our own native language.

I've tried to translate English into Spanish, and being born into the Spanish language the translation by "whoever, be this Google or else" sucks. It's like the head is down there and the stomach is where the eyes should be.

Besides that, certain wording, like pirujo, bolillo, Teleras, etc, have different connotations in countries like Mexico and Guatemala. Pirujo can be understood in Guatemala as white bread= bolillo, but in Mexico is something I can't tell you, but it is related to a sexual preference or behavior.

So, when people not native to the US look for anything in particular and their language is other than English, they will find it amazing that somebody is honoring them by speaking like them, if you know what I mean.

In my case, I have a bunch of vintage books in Finnish language. I haven't seen any market for them, but I keep them just in case. I think I had that famous Tortilla Flat.

Good luck!

And, yes! 26 pounds is a killing proposition for anybody from another country, it would be so expensive!

_________________________________________________________
If you haven't paid for your item, you're a winning bidder, not a buyer!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

div_style · ‎05-12-2019

I would put the title of the book, in Spanish, in the listing title, and description in English unless you are confident in your ability to translate properly. Spanish speakers have access to online translators same as anyone else.

List more, sell more. Goodwill that other, uh, stuff.

Feeling sleepy? There's an app for that.

femmefan1946 · ‎05-12-2019

I post Bescherelle whenever I can get copies, and make the listing in both French and English.

The book would be useless to someone who doesn't read French at least a little (these are language textbooks) but might be purchased by parents for immersion students who would appreciate some guidance.

If the books are entirely in Spanish, I don't think I'd bother having any description in any other language. If the customer isn't reasonably fluent, he's not your customer, right?

If you offer shipping to a Spanish speaking country, the listing will appear on that site.

You can choose Europe (to pick up Spain) and Mexico specifically. For the rest you might want to use a mixture of Will Ship Worldwide, with Excluded Shipping Destinations to Block Nigeria while allowing the listing to be seen by buyers in Morocco or Cape Verde.

Do this on the Advanced Sell Your Item Form. And on a computer not a mobile. Much easier and more options.

For one thing, you can use Calculated Shipping with Choose Custom Destination and have exact shipping from your doorstep to your customer's doorstep.

If you are in the UK look into the Global Shipping Program which is a Seller Protection program. The customer pays all customs and sales taxes in advance, the cost of shipping for you is only to the UK -GSP plant and everything else is handled by GSP.

femmefan1946 · ‎05-12-2019

Oh, you're in the USA.

That's okay the GSP is also available to you. You only have to ship to Erlanger KY. They take care of the rest.

If GSP won't ship there, don't ship there yourself.

weyland_pubs · ‎05-13-2019

@femmefan1946 wrote:

If the books are entirely in Spanish, I don't think I'd bother having any description in any other language. If the customer isn't reasonably fluent, he's not your customer, right?

I don't know about that... I mean, as a rare book collector, if I had a chance to get an original copy of a Charles Perrault or a Baudelaire, in French, I would not mind that it was in French, even though my French is limited to "merci beaucoup" and "ferme" (the gas station on the French-German border was "closed"). I would be more interested in the bragging rights in owning such a rare piece. 🙂

weyland_pubs · ‎05-13-2019

@escuintla wrote:
Do it in Spanish. But copy the wording or description from the books themselves.

We tend to get attracted to our own native language.

I've tried to translate English into Spanish, and being born into the Spanish language the translation by "whoever, be this Google or else" sucks. It's like the head is down there and the stomach is where the eyes should be.
Besides that, certain wording, like pirujo, bolillo, Teleras, etc, have different connotations in countries like Mexico and Guatemala. Pirujo can be understood in Guatemala as white bread= bolillo, but in Mexico is something I can't tell you, but it is related to a sexual preference or behavior.

So, when people not native to the US look for anything in particular and their language is other than English, they will find it amazing that somebody is honoring them by speaking like them, if you know what I mean.

In my case, I have a bunch of vintage books in Finnish language. I haven't seen any market for them, but I keep them just in case.

I try to keep my translations down to a few words, I know the pitfalls... My friend in Russia, her English is very basic, writes in Russian then "helps" me by running it through the Google translator. The result is a series of sometimes bizarre sentences.

For my vintage Russian books, in Russian. The market for them in the US, given that 1-2 million Russian-Americans make 5x as much money as their cousins in Russia, is probably as lucrative as the much more populous market in Russia. The market for Finnish-Americans is tiny...

I come across old Bibles in Norwegian, German and other Nordic languages here at estate sales in rural Kansas. Especially German, I wonder how much of the big German market I am missing by not posting on Ebay.de or if that is necessary, do people browsing on ebay.de see everything on ebay.com, too?

weyland_pubs · ‎05-13-2019

@weyland_pubs wrote:
I come across old Bibles in Norwegian, German and other Nordic languages here at estate sales in rural Kansas. Especially German, I wonder how much of the big German market I am missing by not posting on Ebay.de or if that is necessary, do people browsing on ebay.de see everything on ebay.com, too?

Hmmm, interesting. Searching, on ebay.de, for "Jerusalem On The Day of the Crucifixion" I find my listing as "Jerusalem am Tag der Kreuzigung" and when I click on it, it redirects me to ebay.com and my original title and listing in English.

So the browser in Berlin gets translated-by-ebay listing titles, but, like you recommended before, they don't get into any more of the translation task than just the title.

femmefan1946 · ‎05-13-2019

If you set your shipping to accept German destinations, your listings will show on the German site.

In Search the price on eBay.de will show in euros.

If the customer goes to the actual listing, the price will show in euros and dollars (or whatever the orginal currency was).

The location of the item remains the same.

If you are shipping overseas, list on a desktop or laptop using the Advanced Shipping Form , which gives you many more options.

And look into the GSP, which is a useful Seller Protection.

weyland_pubs · ‎05-15-2019

If you are shipping overseas, list on a desktop or laptop using the Advanced Shipping Form , which gives you many more options.

Where is it? I see the international shipping options, of course, but no "advanced" button, unless you are referring to the those international shipping options shown on the listing...