We have a button we can click on after winning the auction to get the bank details if the seller made them availible. Iirc you can also change your address details there.

if the German sellers don't react, use the ebay buyer protection or so to make ebay make the seller react.
Though there is some loophole if the buyer wants to use a middleman and not have the item shipped to himself.

I've had the same problems wiith some german sellers too, mostly for jumping straight to buying or bidding a high amount after seeing the item, without seeing the accepted payment methods. One out of two will agree to receive via paypal if contacted. But still, 80% of the german sellers I've dealt with don't accept paypal by default.

The good news is that I've heard from all of the German ebay sellers! 😀 The funny news is that some of them seem to be using "google translate" to send me their responses. Check this one out -

hallo,

nobody problem she sends me nachricht whom transfer could effect.

<end of message>

🤣

That is too poor even for google translate. : ) Surprisingly one can still understand what he means.

I usually try to talk/write german to Germans unless they indicate that english is OK. It is not always easy, but I am learning in the process, and the contact is always very friendly. Fortunately German language is somewhat similar to Dutch.

What I do is write out my message in English, then copy and paste it in to Google Translate, asking it to translate my message in to German. I then copy and paste this German translation in to a second Google Translate browser page, asking it to translate the German back in to English. If this German to English translation makes sense to me, I send the German message to the seller, and feel that I've got half a chance of not sounding like a lunatic.

That is a clever way to check the translation.

Lately I also used google translate a bit for english to german, but the output is dissappointing. This translator gives me sentences that make no sence at all. High risk of sounding like a lunatic!

I just compared some online translators, from this website: Machine translators. Just did a single translation of your last post, and this is my humble rating of the resulting german text (Do note that an actual german would be more qualified to judge this).

Yahoo Babel Fish - poor
Google Translate - worst
InterTran Services - poor
Free Translation - ok

While I was on the phone to the mothership, their engineering department told me that some vital components are required to keep the engine running. Scanners indicate that these important parts are located on German ebay! However, attempts at using Google Lunatic have failed to convince the sellers to despatch their merchandise to us. So, what is needed is a willing native to redirect this stuff to us. Naturally, you will receive a cash reward for your efforts, and when we eventually invade planet Earth (having a spot of bother with our landing gear ATM), you will be spared the full wrath of our 256-bit SonicBlasters! 😳 😵 Incidentally, our previous handy contact in Germany had to be atomised due to poor performance. 😈

Don't delay, PM Retro Games today! 😀