Counterfeit Titleist AP2s

[Motley01]

I think I spotted some counterfeit Titleist AP2s on ebay.

The emblems don't match my AP2s, that I purchased from Golfsmith.

So I told the seller that these are fake. He replied and claimed he purchased them from Puetz Golf Superstore an authorized Titleist seller in Seattle, WA. He works part time there, and he purchased them with his employee discount. He insists they are real.

I reported the auction to both Titleist and ebay. But I have not heard anything back.

Here is the listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item;=251040230188&ssPageName;=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123

And here is my 8 iron, compare the two photos, the AP2 and Titleist emblems don't match. The AP2 looks too big, and the silver line across the top of the word Titleist is clearly different.

[Golfingdad]

That's fascinating.  In those two areas, the pictures on the Titleist website match yours.  However, everything else about the (possibly) fake ones seem right on, including the unique font for the club numbers on the sole.

I am very interested in what you hear back from Titleist.  If they are, in fact, fake, that's scary because of how 'real' they actually look.

[Motley01]

I just heard back from Titleist. They are currently investigating, and if they find out they are fake, they will take the appropriate action and have ebay shut the auction down.

From the counterfeit info on Titleists web site, they say that ANY minor little imperfections are probably fake. They don't manufacture their products with slight differences.

[moparman426]

Originally Posted by Motley01

He replied and claimed he purchased them from Puetz Golf Superstore an authorized Titleist seller in Seattle, WA. He works part time there, and he purchased them with his employee discount. He insists they are real.

Works in Seattle, but ships his stuff from Portland.  That is one hell of a daily commute, lol, especially for a part time job.

[Motley01]

Originally Posted by moparman426

Works in Seattle, but ships his stuff from Portland.  That is one hell of a daily commute, lol, especially for a part time job.

Yes I thought his story was very suspicous also.

This is exactly what he wrote me:

Like i said I purchased the clubs from my store with my employee discount and posted them online. I am pretty sure my boss wont be to happy about that. If my store is selling bad merchandise that is news to me. And no i am not in the buisness of lying. I am a proud Marine and have served this country since i was 18. I dont know why you are all bent out of shape. I am just trying to make a extra bit of money and if i lose my job and that takes money out of my kids mouth, i hope that weighs on your mind.

[Golfingdad]

What kind of employee discount does Puetz golf give out?  I am not an Ebay expert, but it doesn't appear as though there is any reserve or buy it now price, so theoretically, they could sell for the current high bid ($670).  They are $1,099 at Puetz, according to their website, which means that unless he gets something like a 40% discount or more, he is losing money.  I think that Marine is up to no good.

[Motley01]

I just called them, spoke to the Chief Operations Officer   - Puetz Golf Corporate. And they have never heard of him. And pointed out that he is in Portland, and they are in Seattle.

Wow some stories people come up with on the internet. WOW!

[tristanhilton85]

Those look fake to me.  I feel sorry for whoever wins those if the auction isn't shut down first.

[jrshields3]

The lettering doesn't look correct. Bad deal.

[Motley01]

Can you imagine. You win and purchase those for like $700. Then 6 months later, one of the heads brakes off because it's a piece of crap made in China.

You take it to Golfsmith, and/or send it to Titleist for repair, and they tell you "this ain't ours, it's fake". OMG I would probably go track him down in Portland and smack him in the face, and take $700 from his wallet.

[Motley01]

If they don't shut the auction down before it ends, and someone pays for them.

Maybe I should bid like $5000 on them, so nobody else gets them?

[Golfingdad]

Could you contact ebay directly, and maybe they could freeze the auction?  Or, could you also give him negative feedback to screw up his rating?

I mean, if you win the auction, aren't you on the hook for that 5k?

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by Motley01

Can you imagine. You win and purchase those for like $700. Then 6 months later, one of the heads brakes off because it's a piece of crap made in China.

Where do you think the genuine ones are made?

[Clambake]

Originally Posted by Motley01

This is exactly what he wrote me:

Like i said I purchased the clubs from my store with my employee discount and posted them online. I am pretty sure my boss wont be to happy about that. If my store is selling bad merchandise that is news to me. And no i am not in the buisness of lying. I am a proud Marine and have served this country since i was 18. I dont know why you are all bent out of shape. I am just trying to make a extra bit of money and if i lose my job and that takes money out of my kids mouth, i hope that weighs on your mind.

I can't imagine anyone who is legit would go to so much trouble to embed all of these little hard luck "facts" into their explanation.    Let's see, he's covered how he got them with:  " I got them on employee discount ".    Check.     The putting culpability on someone else:  " It's the store that is selling them, so if they're fake I don't know about it ".     Check.     The easy denial " I don't lie ".    Check.        The patriotic guilt trip " I'm a proud Marine and have served this country ".    Check.      The "it's a tough world out there and I'm just trying to get by" excuse in " I am just trying to make an extra bit of money ".      And then he doubles down on the guilt trip thing by putting it back on you with the " ..takes money out of my kids mouth "   (OK, I hope he isn't actually feeding the kid money and converts it to food first).     How dare you accuse him, you baby-starving unpatriotic heathen!

He's sure worked hard to come up with a whole line of excuses, hoping that at least one of them will appeal to you.    This isn't the response of someone who truly has legit clubs and is just selling them for a little cash.       Good catch on your part, and I hope eBay shuts it down quickly.

[Clambake]

A number of other details also don't match the photos shown on the Titleist website.    The real Titleist clubs have plain black ferrules, while the eBay listing has a silver band on the ferrule.    The little diagonal hash marks on each side of the Titleist logo also don't match.  In the real clubs, each of the hashes appears to be the same width, but in the eBay clubs the hash closest to the Titleist lettering is quite a bit wider.      The hosels also appear to be longer on the eBay club than those on the Titleist site.

Appears fake to me!

[Motley01]

Originally Posted by Shorty

Where do you think the genuine ones are made?

Ah geeezus ASSEMBLED in the USA. Nitty picker.

[Motley01]

It's really annoying not being able to contact the people bidding. I already reported the auction was fraudulent, so it's in ebay's hands now, nothing more we can do.

[Hoselrockets]

this guy is caught red handed I'm going to send him a message on Ebay asking what is up and why they look so different, just to see what story he tells me....