To ebay or not to ebay?

[Clubswinger21]

Being a poor college student, i get most of my clubs from ebay.. I find the prices to generally be 50% lower than golftown or whoever your local retailer may be.. I read online reviews and trust that fellow golfers know what they're talking about if i havent tried the club.. Personally, I've never gotten fake equipment or been ripped off. Or are you the type who wants to fork out that extra $300 and get fitted?

[1puttit]

Being a poor college student, i get most of my clubs from ebay.. I find the prices to generally be 50% lower than golftown or whoever your local retailer may be.. I read online reviews and trust that fellow golfers know what they're talking about if i havent tried the club.. Personally, I've never gotten fake equipment or been ripped off. Or are you the type who wants to fork out that extra $300 and get fitted?

I think ebay is great for picking up deals on equipment but, like anything else, you need to know a little about what you're buying and exercise some common sense. I always laugh when I see some guy from China selling $500 Taylormade drivers brand new for $75 and people actually buying them!!

I'm a big believer in custom fitting and knowing your specs when you're buying equipment. I see way too many people buying stuff that they will never be able to hit because they don't know any better. Nothing like watching a guy with a 70mph swing speed trying to hit a 9* driver with an X-stiff shaft. Next thing you know, its on ebay for 50% off of retail.

[ColinMB]

Good question. I'm a regular ebayer for many things, but golf clubs scare me online.

I think it was -very- recent, but Cleveland just assisted some american law enforcement agency (FBI?) in busting a guy in California. Don't quote me on this but the loot they found had a street value of 3 million dollars... in golf clubs. There were illegal clones of Nike, Cleveland, Callaway... you name it.

The report stated that Cleveland stumbled on this guy after noticing Cleveland product being sold online at a fraction of what it's 'worth'. This guy was getting all this product shipped to him in California, from China and selling it online.

As much as this scares me, I will buy online from a reputable seller. I have seen clubs that I wanted for cheap, and when I see the guy has 10 identical sets, and a new user ID, it turns me off. 'Caveat emptor' I guess.

That being said you can't get anything for clubs that are used. As a seller, I'm thinking just over half price. I will be putting my CG4's up but to be honest, I know I'd be lucky to get over 300 bucks! The clones have saturated the market, and a lot of e-tailers are just looking to make a few quick bucks.

At the end of the day I found a middle ground. I go to Golftown, get product that is one model year old, and they just drop their pants on the product to move it.... just because it's a model year old. So I wait for this to happen, I get a legitimate product and professional fitting which is really important.

Also I really believe in hitting any club you're going to buy, and this way I don't feel guilty going into Golftown, and using their simulators and then going to ebay to buy.

Good topic though, I'm curious to see what others think.

[Tommy]

ClubSwinger, I have bought from other Canadians - in the local area, off eBay. By doing a search and limiting it to within 50 km of my postal code, I am able to find other people nearby. This way, you can arrange local pickup (most of the time), be assured you're getting legitimate products and save on shipping. You might also want to try Riverside Golf where they tend to be at least 10% less expensive than Golf Town.

Takes a little longer to find what you want, but worth the wait.

[GoingfortheGreen]

I've used it in the past, and saved major $$$. Traded in the stuff later, and got good value for it - it wasn't fake.

A buddy I play with just bought a brand new Rapture driver for $245 + shipping. I took a good look at it, and it looks like the real deal.

As with anything on ebay, buyer beware...

[Clubswinger21]

ClubSwinger, I have bought from other Canadians - in the local area, off eBay. By doing a search and limiting it to within 50 km of my postal code, I am able to find other people nearby. This way, you can arrange local pickup (most of the time), be assured you're getting legitimate products and save on shipping. You might also want to try Riverside Golf where they tend to be at least 10% less expensive than Golf Town.

Yes Riverside in Abbotsford is where i shopped before ebay.. sometimes your able to get a steal there.. i bought a set of mx-23's 4-pw used in mint condition for $350 there. Then later sold them on ebay for $480, to a guy who lived in the same city as me. So i didnt have to deal with shipping either. I sell old clubs and use the money to buy new clubs, I always buy used from a private seller rather than new from an online store or warehouse.. although people seem to all the time. I could see why some people might think there are fakes or clones floating around, because clubs are so cheap online. One has to ask, why would they be selling a brand new Ping Rapture for half of what it cost's from you local golf retailer? On ebay I've bought a 983k, a 905t, a bridgestone j33r, rac tp combo irons, and wedges. They've all performed extremely well and exactly as the specs say. I've heard of fake shafts/shaft clones being installed to save money and attract buyers but i cant tell the difference if i've got one.

[Tommy J]

Personally I think ebay is good for genuine second hand stuff.

All these Brand new clubs at a fraction of the price can't be right as '1puttit' mentioned above.

If it looks like too good to be true, it probably is.




Tommy J

[davidoh]

I am new to this forum but wanted to ask the "dumb question".

I am interested in buying clubs on ebay (Taylormade R7 Irons to be specific). The buyer looks reputable having close to 100% feedback on approx 2000 feedback, all golf club related.

Here's the dumb question: How do I know if they're fake, or, conversely, if they're genuine? I hear TM's have a serial number on the 5 iron, but wouldn't a counterfeiter just stamp any old number on that iron to make it look legit?

Any insight would be appreciated,
Dave

[arbitrage]

I would ask the seller for the serial number and call Taylormade. They will confirm it for you. I have purchased all my Taylormade clubs on E-bay using this method and saved myself a ton of money vs. buying retail.

[Guest]

have any of the clubs you checked with taylor made come back as fakes, arbitrage?

[arbitrage]

I usually go for used clubs on E-Bay. I found the fakes of the R7 460's and I didn't even bother to call because they were so obvious. It appears that they are finally being removed after many months. There are many reputable dealers on E-bay that I have bought from. Use http://www.toolhaus.org/ and enter the user id and you will see what negative/ neutral comments buyers/sellers have for the seller.

When you do your search also specify items only in the US and items listed with paypal.

[Guest]

thanks for the good advice :)

i've taken the plunge and bought a new mizuno 20deg CLK and a set of used (but almost new) mizuno mx-23 irons over ebay. both sellers were based in the US, offered paypal and had 20,000+ feedback with 99%+. seemed a safe option to me, and ticks all the boxes that you mentioned. now i need to look out for a new mizuno F-50 3 wood :)

[asianpsuation]

i've bought several clubs from ebay, and i've been happy w/ all of them. I bought an r7425tp w/a diamana shaft a while back basically new for $180!! and it came as shown in great condition. I have heard of people getting ripped of from chinese sellers, but i love ebay personally.

[davidoh]

I would ask the seller for the serial number and call Taylormade. They will confirm it for you. I have purchased all my Taylormade clubs on E-bay using this method and saved myself a ton of money vs. buying retail.

Thanks for the advice,

Dave BTW, any particular ebay seller you trust/like?

[arbitrage]

A few US vendors by fakes in bulk from China and sell for a low profit margin. If you see new clubs for 40% or above off of the retail I would be very careful.

[asianpsuation]

i got my r7 w/ the mitsubishi rayon from a seller named "championstour07" i think his feedback rating was 100%, but im not sure what/if he is selling anything at this time. Good luck w/ ebay

[ebin]

Disclosure : I'm an eBay employee.

I've bought golf clubs on eBay 3 times now with no problems and with GREAT prices. I got a set of Nickent 3dx clubs for $300CDN less than what it costs at Golftown. I've snagged a Vokey 60.04 for $75CDN and a 54.14 for $85CDN - that's half retail. All of them were brand new (the wedges weren't labelled as new but turned out to be).

I figure if any of these clubs don't work out I'd sell them on Craigslist for about what I paid so buying on eBay for so much less lets me try stuff for free so to speak.

As for who to buy from - check their feedback, ask questions about shipping, club condition etc and use Paypal. It's nothing I wouldn't do when trying to decide who to buy from in the retail world.

In the meantime I'm on the hunt for a draw biased FT-3 to replace my BB 454.

[Guest]

New to the forum and enjoy reading some of the threads on equipment and what works for you. As for buying off of ebay, I certainly do. I have bought one set (Wilson fat shafts), my current 3 wood and various other clubs. I generally go with the bigger companies like Rockbottom who have a litter higher prices than some on ebay but never a complaint or fear of buying fakes.

My most recent purchase for my 3 wood and a 5 wood for a friend, came from a smaller company with only around 150 ratings. I admit I was a little worried about what I was getting but all turned out well after checking in with my Riverside guy. Probably will stick with the bigger companies in the future.

As for my current set of irons, it had me a little worried when I checked my 5 iron, which I believe I read in a thread, and it had no serial #, but after checking my irons found the number on my 7 iron. And this set was bought from my local Riverside store.

Just my 2cents

Chris