Golfetail on ebay legit?

[jamvr10]

I saw a set of Callaway diablo irons from Ebay seller Golfetail. Have any of you purchased from them? They selling authentic clubs? Thanks for any help, dont wanna get burned.

[Danattherock]

Ebay is a pit of vipers. My vote goes to Callaway Preowned. Got all my clubs and my wife's clubs from there. "Like new" is brand new. Everything I got is brand new in shrink wrap. Also, if you want different lie angles, lengths, grips, etc.. they will do it before they ship them to you. Awesome customer service.

Great place to score cheap clubs.


Just saw a set of Diablos, "like new" (brand new), 3-SW, steel, standard lie and length, $549.

http://www.callawaygolfpreowned.com/...efault,pd.html

[Danattherock]

Not to pry, but with your handicap, don't overlook the Callaway Big Berthas. They are very forgiving irons. I played 1994 (I think) Big Bertha golds for like 7 years. Got them used on the preowned site in "very good" or "good" condition. They looked nearly brand new. I just upgraded to my X20's earlier this year. The Big berthas are great clubs. You could get an older set of Big Berthas (many years available) for $300 or so. Don't overlook the 199X models. There is very little difference in the different year models. There is a 2008 set in "like new" condition for $500 with graphite shafts. Many options on that site. I would read up on the Big Berthas before pulling the trigger. Many higher handicap golfers would benefit from such a set.


http://www.callawaygolfpreowned.com/...efault,pd.html


You can get a set of 2004 Big Berthas in "like new" condition for just over $300. Many sets to choose from. These are great clubs man.

http://www.callawaygolfpreowned.com/...efault,pd.html


Below is the gold set I have. Like new condition which is rare for clubs this old. $340. They are 2 deg flat but could be changed before they ship.

http://www.callawaygolfpreowned.com/...efault,pd.html

[jamvr10]

thanks, but thats not my handicap. I just never submitted it. Just want to see if anyone knows if they are selling authentics...thanks

Not to pry, but with your handicap, don't overlook the Callaway Big Berthas. They are very forgiving irons. I played 1994 (I think) Big Bertha golds for like 7 years. Got them used on the preowned site in "very good" or "good" condition. They looked nearly brand new. I just upgraded to my X20's earlier this year. The Big berthas are great clubs. You could get an older set of Big Berthas (many years available) for $300 or so. Don't overlook the 199X models. There is very little difference in the different year models. There is a 2008 set in "like new" condition for $500 with graphite shafts. Many options on that site. I would read up on the Big Berthas before pulling the trigger. Many higher handicap golfers would benefit from such a set.

[Slammin' Sam]

Ebay is a pit of vipers.

That's a pretty poor generalization. I've bought several sets of clubs on Ebay and never had a problem. Additionally, there are several reputable mail order golf outlets like 3 Balls Golf and Dallas Golf that regularly sell on Ebay. Ebay does a fair job sorting out the scam artists from legitimate merchants and if you keep on eye on seller feedback ratings you'll do just fine.

[wrx_junki]

Legit seller. Bought stuff from him before. He has plenty of good ratings to prove he's the real deal.

[wrx_junki]

That's a pretty poor generalization. I've bought several sets of clubs on Ebay and never had a problem. Additionally, there are several reputable mail order golf outlets like 3 Balls Golf and Dallas Golf that regularly sell on Ebay. Ebay does a fair job sorting out the scam artists from legitimate merchants and if you keep on eye on seller feedback ratings you'll do just fine.

If you had half a brain and use your credit card through PayPal there is nothing really to worry about shopping on eBay but I guess I don't mind people being ignorant since that means more deals for me.

[Valleygolfer]

That's a pretty poor generalization. I've bought several sets of clubs on Ebay and never had a problem. Additionally, there are several reputable mail order golf outlets like 3 Balls Golf and Dallas Golf that regularly sell on Ebay. Ebay does a fair job sorting out the scam artists from legitimate merchants and if you keep on eye on seller feedback ratings you'll do just fine.

I agree, granted ebay has their share of unsavory folk but for the seasoned user it is not bad. You do have to beware of certian sellers. That guy has made 248,781 sales and a 99.7% positive feedback rating, I think you could be fairly safe dealing with him. Hell my negative feedback finder couldn't even find any negative posts.

[jsocas]

I saw a set of Callaway diablo irons from Ebay seller Golfetail. Have any of you purchased from them? They selling authentic clubs? Thanks for any help, dont wanna get burned.

I bough my set of new nike cci forged 2 years ago, excellent clubs at a really good price ($300), no problems at all. very reliable.

[Danattherock]

That's a pretty poor generalization. I've bought several sets of clubs on Ebay and never had a problem. Additionally, there are several reputable mail order golf outlets like 3 Balls Golf and Dallas Golf that regularly sell on Ebay. Ebay does a fair job sorting out the scam artists from legitimate merchants and if you keep on eye on seller feedback ratings you'll do just fine.

My experience is exactly the opposite. Got scammed out of $1700 when I bought a Zeiss spotting scope. Thousands of positive previous customers, looked 100% legit. I had shopped there for years and knew what to look for. It was a completely fraudulent account. 100% BS. Ebay did nothing. They admitted there was a scam. Told me I was one of 55 people that were victim to it. They would not do anything. In the end my bank did the right thing. You can believe what you want, but much of the golf gear sold on Ebay is counterfeit. Read up on fake clubs sometime. Sure there are some legit sellers. But there are just as many scam artists selling crap from over seas. There was an article in a current golf magazine about this. Saw it just the other week. Many of the clubs you think are real are fake. Very hard to tell the difference. Page 70 in the Nov issue of Golf Digest has the article and pics of fake clubs. Another article specific to Ebay... http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours...229counterfeit And here are some folks that got burned on Ebay.... http://search.reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-...lubs_W0QQuqtZg Callaway Golf's authorized retailers are not permitted to sell new Callaway golf clubs on ebay.com From... http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-avoid...00000001903094 "We did a random survey of 100 golf club listings on EBAY a couple months ago and our “Golf Club Scam Alert System” we devised found that there was a high-probability that 24 of those listings were FAKES!" From... http://www.•••••••••.com/fake-counterfeit-golf-clubs/ not sure why the link won't work. The blanked spots should say my golf spy (without spaces) Some good info on this site about how to spot a fake as well. Good luck.

[jamvr10]

Thanks for the reply! My fear is they do the old switcharoo in giving a legit 8iron and the rest of the set is a fake. But a 99.7 rating has to mean something. All their bad reviews were about shipping or customer service, not that they were selling fakes. I would imagine that us golfers would know they sold us a hunk of metal that look like an authentic, and they would have bad reviews for selling fakes. All i see are people pissed about shipping, and even those people are few are far between. Guess a new set of Diablo edge are on the way. Made my purchase.

[Danattherock]

"Callaway X-20s from golfetail.com are COUNTERFEIT
To my great surprise, even after the serial number on the #8 iron worked when registered online, I stopped by my local Nevada Bob's (authorized Callaway retailer) and they thought the clubs were real, however the store manager was suspicious about the grips.

The store manager went ahead and called Callaway directly and checked the codes on the decals on each shaft. Turns out they're all fake numbers that don't exist in the Callaway system. Genuine fakes.

What's amazing is that two different store employees were tricked and thought the set was legit, and were truly impressed with how they were put together. So back to golfetail.com these go.

CALL CALLAWAY CUSTOMER SERVICE (1-800-588-9836) DIRECTLY AND CHECK THE NUMBERS ON THE SHAFT DECALS, NOT THE SERIAL NUMBER ON THE #8 IRON. If the serial number on the #8 iron ends in -115720, I'll bet you have the same serial number as me and it's simply a copied number stamped on all of their clubs. The serial number is valid, but that doesn't ensure that the clubs are real.

Even I thought this deal was too good to be true (ironic, given my sig), but don't say I didn't warn you all either on my third page post given their web site was really fishy. Glad I used a virtual CC#. Hope all of you other folks did as well.

BEWARE OF GOLFETAIL.COM!!!"


Post #81 ....

http://archive.slickdeals.net/showth...1512099&page;=6



Later on the guy at Golfetail replies...


"Everybody callllllllm down.... This is Mike Orton - Operations Manager @ Golfetail. One of our customers let me know about this blog (thx Andy!) and, more importantly, about your collective concern about the fact that these irons were not being recognized as authentic by Callaway. The ironic thing is that it is Callaway's fault that they are not recognizable in their system. We pick up EVERY SINGLE PIECE of Callaway product from the Callaway headquarters here in Carlsbad, CA. (around the corner from San Marcos, CA - our fulfillment center location). When we pick-up the merchandise it is brought down from the rafters on a pallet, each set is individually scanned to activate the serial number, and we have their people shrink-wrap it, throw it on my truck w/ a forklift, and I drive it over here. This happens about 2-3 times a week. The problem with this order was that Callaway forgot a key step in the process - they forgot to scan the iron sets when they were taken down so we now have a (partial) pallet of irons here that do not have working/active serial numbers. We are currently working with the director of Customer Service @ Callaway to see how to best handle the sets that have already shipped out. Please email me at mike@golfetail.com tomorrow AM - I was guaranteed that we would have a point of contact there that you all could call to register the sets. **MUY IMPORTANTE** Make sure that you have the serial number available so they can manually activate the set.

Thank you for your time, patience, and understanding with this matter. You can reach me at the toll-free number below between 9AM-5PM *PACIFIC* if you would like to discuss the matter further.

Thanks again,

Mike Orton
~Operations Mgr~
GOLFETAIL
Ph: 877.570.GOLF (4653)"




Just thought I would post this so you may better know what to look for. Sounds like calling Callaway and registering the clubs would be a good move.

[Danattherock]

Just a heads up for other Callaway users out there. My wife bought me a set of callaway X-20s with graphite shafts last year.

From... http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...-Callaway-X-20 Another satisfied Ebayer. Just posting this here for insight and things to look for. Reading up on the folks you bought the clubs from, they look pretty legit.

[motteler621]

My experience is exactly the opposite. Got scammed out of $1700 when I bought a Zeiss spotting scope. Thousands of positive previous customers, looked 100% legit. I had shopped there for years and knew what to look for. It was a completely fraudulent account. 100% BS. Ebay did nothing. They admitted there was a scam. Told me I was one of 55 people that were victim to it. They would not do anything. In the end my bank did the right thing. You can believe what you want, but much of the golf gear sold on Ebay is counterfeit. Read up on fake clubs sometime. Sure there are some legit sellers. But there are just as many scam artists selling crap from over seas. There was an article in a current golf magazine about this. Saw it just the other week. Many of the clubs you think are real are fake. Very hard to tell the difference.

that sucks you got ripped off. In my experience Ive never had a bad occurence on ebay. Although one time I bought some led interior car lights off of a seller and he shorted me one light. wouldnt respond to my emails or messages. I had to file a paypal report and I ended up getting refunded part of the money.

Did you pay with paypal when you got ripped off? The only thing that makes ebay pretty much completely safe is paypal. All you have to do is file a paypal claim

[Danattherock]

It was about 5 years ago and I don't recall the finer points. I did use Paypay, but the wheels were turning slowly on the refund it seems. Ebay pretty much told me I was shet out of luck. My bank reimbursed me the money to my surprise. Wasn't their fault, but they gave me the money back. Since then I don't buy any electronics, optical equipment, camera gear, etc.. on Ebay. And all the recent info on fake clubs will keep me from buying golf equipment on Ebay. Just too many fakes out there. The article in Golf Digest this month (page 70) was flat out disturbing. Billions of dollars worth of fake clubs in folks bags and they don't even know it. Sad.



-Dan

[shades9323]

It was about 5 years ago and I don't recall the finer points. I did use Paypay, but the wheels were turning slowly on the refund it seems. Ebay pretty much told me I was shet out of luck. My bank reimbursed me the money to my surprise. Wasn't their fault, but they gave me the money back. Since then I don't buy any electronics, optical equipment, camera gear, etc.. on Ebay. And all the recent info on fake clubs will keep me from buying golf equipment on Ebay. Just too many fakes out there. The article in Golf Digest this month (page 70) was flat out disturbing. Billions of dollars worth of fake clubs in folks bags and they don't even know it. Sad.

Always always always pay with a CC through Paypal. If paypal is slow/does nothing, you can file a charge back with your cc company. Sellers with a lot of sales and feedback like golfetail are NOT selling fakes. They wouldn't still be in business if they were. Quit with the ebay is evil rhetoric. If you are smart about your purchases, you won't have problems.

[Danattherock]

To call it "rhetoric" is to be blind. There are countless examples of fake clubs on Ebay. Just because you don't like the facts, don't make them any less true. Seems I said above that Golfetail looked legit. But for every one that is legit, someone is selling folks like you fake clubs.

[motteler621]

To call it "rhetoric" is to be blind. There are countless examples of fake clubs on Ebay. Just because you don't like the facts, don't make them any less true. Seems I said above that Golfetail looked legit. But for every one that is legit, someone is selling folks like you fake clubs.

yea there are tons of fake clubs out there on ebay but with a little dicernment you should be fine. Fakes arent good enough to go unnoticed and if they were, Id be fine with a club of that quality. You really have to have the club checked out in some cases but Im pretty sure your going to know if you have a fake in yoru hands