Identifying counterfeit Callaway clubs from eBay

[Zeph]

Hello from Norway!

Anyways, as topic says, this is about counterfeit Callaway clubs. A friend if mine bought them from eBay, and when reading about many other counterfeit clubs bought on eBay I decided to look around for some help.

Here's the set he bought:
Callaway X-18 3-PW, SW
Callaway X460 driver
Callaway X Series fairway woods, 3 and 5
Odyssey White Hot Putter
Low value bag, not Callaway
Price: US $1,019

Here is a link to the item on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=170214288360

I have checked the clubs and found the following:

8-iron: Did not find the serial number, searched the shaft and club head thoroughly. I read somewhere that this S/N was a sticker which could be taken off on the hosel, is this correct?
4-iron: Had a 4"x1" sticker with white background color and the text "CALLAWAY REGISTERED" in red text. It had also a transparent, smaller sticker with the text "ASSEMBLED IN CHINA" in black text.
#3 Wood: Did not find a serial number. Where is this supposed to be?
Driver: Had the following serial number: 610071XXXX (I X-ed out the last 4 digits).

The set was sent from Austin Texas to Norway.

This is what I have found so far, if you could help me out a bit that would be great. If there are other signs I could look for, details or colors on the shaft, logo, head cover etc. I could check it out.

I've sent an e-mail to Callaway with this information, but they haven't gotten back to me. I've called a couple of retail sellers in Norway, but they couldn't help me out without seeing the clubs, and since I live out on the country it's a bit of a drive to find a seller.

In advance, thanks for any help. :)

[FlopShotArtist]

What makes you think they are counterfeit? They seem pretty legit to me.

[Zeph]

Well, the missing S/N on #3 wood and the sticker primarily. Also, I read that Callaway clubs were made in California.

I know they make very good counterfeits and it would be nice to find out early on.

I'm always sceptical to items bought from eBay, don't you agree that it's comforting to know whether your $1000 clubs are real or not?

[Spectrums]

Definately real.

[FlopShotArtist]

Seeing how the guy has 2469 feedback with 99%+ positive ... it's legit.

Either way, you'll be able to tell the first time you hit it.

[Zeph]

The positive feedback is in favour of real clubs, but it is a used set, they could've been sloppy checking them.

I'm at 26 hcp and he's green card, I can't differ a real from a fake club. Maybe I could if I had the two at the same time, but without I can't.

Don't mistake me, I want them to be real, nothing would be better, but it would have been nice to get a confirmation. Hopefully I'll get a response from Callaway about the driver S/N soon. Maybe taking them to a retail seller would be the easiest.

Thanks for all your thoughts so far, if you're positive, then so am I. ;)

[Soup Fan]

Seems as though it would be an awfully expensive undertaking to counterfeit golf clubs to me...unless some out of work golf club maker has a golf club making machine in his garage that he stole after getting laid off.

[Amoretti]

Seems as though it would be an awfully expensive undertaking to counterfeit golf clubs to me...unless some out of work golf club maker has a golf club making machine in his garage that he stole after getting laid off.

Yeah, I agree.

[RX Phoenix]

Seems as though it would be an awfully expensive undertaking to counterfeit golf clubs to me...unless some out of work golf club maker has a golf club making machine in his garage that he stole after getting laid off.

Just about everything these days is being counterfeited especially golf clubs, ebay is a major worry. Just because someone has positive feedback doesn't mean much. Recently ebay changed their policy and now sellers can't leave negative feedback for buyers, so buyers will now more likely report being ripped off, which is something that takes place frequently on ebay, I've suffered numerous times from very bad transactions. It's a gamble at best. Callaway service will respond and let you know.

[joshtpa]

Go overseas to Asia some time. Callaway, Nike, Ping, and Taylormade are the big ones. THey have full stores with nothing but counterfeit clubs. Look identical too. But once cut open, they are not even close. Real Sports on HBO did a story about this 2 years ago. Bryant Gumbel bought a couple of counterfeit sets and had them checked out. They look great cosmetically, but in the end, were not even close.

[Soup Fan]

That is crazy. Thanks for the info, though.

[KIDDEREK]

I would never buy anything from eBay that is known to be counterfeited. Instead, buy a gift card (golfsmith/tgw/golf galaxy). Then go buy the real thing from the store/online.