JPP

Wow. Both those pictures look REALLY dark compared to the Marble Grey seats I've seen but the Classic Grey looks right .... Isn't dye usually a little darker than the actual color that it ends up being once it's applied to the material it's being used on? Hey, do you have a fairly 'accurate' picture of your interior you could post?

nile13

European will correct me, but from what I've seen, wire transfers are extremely common and preferred payment method in Europe. So I'm not surprised by that request. I would be _very_ careful, though.

JPP

Yeah, but how careful can you be if Paypal is the only system connected to eBay that has any buyer protections that actually protect you? I'm under the impression that most big ticket items sold on eBay in the U.S., like cars for sale, are also sold using wire transfer .. Will eBay's buyer protections offer anything at all if the deal is done using a wire?

nile13

The problem with PayPal is that it's currently owned by eBay. Well, let me re-phrase. There are whole bunch of problems with PayPal (I've been using it extensively since 1999 or so). The issue with eBay is that they charge you twice. 9% for eBay fees (soon to include shipping costs too!) and 3-4% in PayPal fees. Which become exorbitant and ridiculous. And is the reason why eBay has stopped being an auction and a marketplace for hobbyists and grassroots buying and selling. It's simply a retail clearing house today and, unlike, say, Amazon or Sears marketplace is actually full of security holes and outright crooks.

PayPal, actually, can do whatever the hell they are pleased. They position themselves as "not a bank" and as such they do not report to, nor are scared of FDIC. And in a neat twist at thumbing their noses at anti-monopoly laws eBay pretty much requires use of PayPal. At least you can't list an item unless you agree to accept PayPal.

So there is some protection for the buyer. Some. I've found out over the years that most of that protection actually comes form your own credit card. If you use PayPal directly from your bank account or use PayPal funds, good luck dealing with PayPal to get your money back. It's a long, arduous and very unpleasant process. That, among other things, requires shipping stuff back to seller and submitting the return shipping documents before they even start to process your refund requests. Shipping back used to not be covered either. They've been promising to change that. But compare this to simply calling your credit card, describing the problem and having bad deals charged back immediately.

Is there any protection while doing a straight wire? Some. But they are absolutely minimal and I would not rely on them. And that, in a nutshell, is the problem with long distance commerce. Especially for used, large and expensive items. C'est la vie, I guess. When Gunter was born people were sending letters to Sears and Roebuck to purchase their steel silo that was than delivered by a choo-choo and payment collected on the barrel, quite literally. Ummm, not much changed. (Gunter, sorry, it's not a jibe).

jhummel68

These are the best pictures I've got. I haven't taken any after shots yet; waiting for good weather. The marble grey you see on the paper was a very close match for what was on the seats. The seats had faded slightly over the 16 years but after re-dying they look like the parts that have not seen the sun.

Macca

I would ask wire too instead of giving 280 Euro to Paypal/ebay. Infact Id offer to split the saving with the purchaser is he was prepared to pay wire. The issue with something so heavy and large is not only the cost of freight and packaging (north of $500 I woul have thought) but the likelihood of damage. If a local buyer here offered me $2500 usd pick up mine would be history. However $3500 usd via ebay is all very good but the extra money doe not make up for the risks each way IMHO of the goods being slightly damaged from transit.

M

JPP

See, I look at your door panels and there's just no comparison to me, they look much lighter than the dye sample and lighter than your seats, the way I think Marble Grey actually looks. Is it that way in person?

JPP

I know, but think about your situation and the OP's and please correct me if I'm wrong here, it's an educated guess. You both live in an area of the world where I would imagine that used 993 Sportseats don't come up for sale very often let alone, ones in decent shape in the color you want. I'm judging by the eBay pictures, but it doesn't look like these seats need restoring so, let's say shipping is $500 and the seller packs them well so no damage occurs and he splits the difference of what he's potentially saving if you do the deal outside of eBay and wire the money so, he comes down another 130€ to make it fair. At that point, if the seats are good, you're paying 3020€ or $4250 shipped. Are they worth it? We've seen deals on seats like this on RL in the past year for more ....

jhummel68

You're right, the two Marble greys do look different. I would attribute that to the lighting and the way the pictures were taken. The piece of paper was used to show the difference between Classic and Marble. The color Marble shows exactly like the interior shot. If I were to have taken the piece of paper outside the two Marble grey samples (paper and actual seats) would look the same.

I initially thought I had Classic grey when I ordered the dye. When I tested it on paper I noticed the difference (Classic vs. Marble). Later, when I received the Marble grey dye and tested it on paper it was an exact match to the seat. I don't have it, but a picture with a seat from each shade sitting side-by-side would be beneficial to this forum.

JPP

I think we'd all agree with that ..

Deriffic

Honestly I don't mind to pay by bank wire transfer & deal outside of ebay. But in such terms, I get absolutely no protection. Should it be damaged during transport or the seats are originally damaged, I will be out of the money. I would rather buy a pair and pay that price if the seller is a rennlist member.

You are right, we don't see any sport seats for sale here anywhere.

JPP

Well, I think that's good logic. IMHO, you should do what others here have done in the past and post a thread just asking if anyone has, or knows anybody who has a pair of Classic Grey hardback Sportseats that they would consider selling. I believe a deal was done fairly recently (last fall?) as a result of a post like that.

Deriffic

Hi guys, after a long process of negotiation, finding a middleman to check on the seller, payment, shipping delay, etc, the sport seats finally came today. Yes they came in two boxes and were well protected with layers & layers of bubble wrap. Prior starting anything, my mechanic asked me: since the seats came from a left hand drive car, will there be any problem to install them on a right hand drive car ? Also, I realise that they are plug & play. Is there anything I should aware during installing ? Any advice is appreciated.

911PERVY

Its good that they are from a LHD, that means the passenger seat will be in better condition for you!

JPP

^^^ Nice! Glad to hear you finally got what you wanted. I'm assuming they were, in fact, Classic Grey? Advice to you: Soak all the allen head bolts that hold in your old seats in liquid wrench before you attempt to untighten them and use a BRAND NEW or close to it, wrench. Get them installed ASAP and sit your butt down in them :-) it will thank you ...