How many of your are Ebay buyers?

[TCCcaddie]

eBay is the best place on Earth if you know how to use it. Ill sometimes buy an older 3 wood fr like 5 dollars and tradeit in at Golfers Warehouse for store credit, and most of the time i get more credit than i payed for the club. I bought a brand new Scotty Cameron Newport 2.5 for 80$! I din't like it so I tradedit in for 150$ credit. I got my brand new 775CB's for $300, bent 2 degrees upright and 1in longer. Ebay is amazing for clubs.

[smurphy70]

Ebay all the way! I have over 250 transactions, both buying and selling, and have yet to have a bad experience, worst I've come across is a couple of slow shippers (and that only by 3 - 5 days). Probably half my transactions are for golf stuff, I've bought stuff, tried it, and resold it on Ebay and made money. I think Ebay is still very safe, just make sure to go with someone with good feedback, good ads are important, too, if you're taking pics with a digital camera, there's no reason you can't put up a good pic of your merchandise. I usually try to communicate with the seller before bidding, also, if they take 2 - 3 days to respond to a question about the item they are trying to sell, how responsive are they going to be once they have your money?

[wolverine318]

I'm more cautious now than in the past few years. Like others I will look for older equipment and then trade it into the Golf Galaxy of the world for store cred usually at a higher price.

Like smurphy said, I dont buy if the pics are bad or they respond slowly. There is no reason to take a crappy pic of your product, its digital, you can get a good pic and put it up.

[Gapwedge]

You didn't have a choice for All of the Above. I tend to buy retail to support the local guys, but I often browse Ebay for crazy deals.

Speaking of crazy deals. I just bid and won a new (wrap still on the head) Ping G5 9* driver Aldila NV65 for $158.50. Seller said he had to describe it as used to sell it, but the club had never been hit.

[Guest]

Have purchased all my equipment on EBAy, including Mizuno MP60's with Project X shafts, Bettinardi Putter, Guage wedges. The best part of EBAY is you can sell all the equipment you have purchased and not used in 6 months.

[hawkeye]

I choose "retail" though i have bought online before.

Bought my driver on eBay, was a gamble - but club was EUR 400 in my pro shop, i got it for EUR 147 on eBay. Last month i bought the same club for a friend on eBay - EUR 115 (it's EUR275 on sale in retail now)

Unless you are buying something that suits your spec - i'd stick to retail or custom fitting/pro shop. Wouldn't buy irons as they're important to get right and wouldn't trust eBay in that sense!

Don't need any more clubs - if i change anything in future i'll be going through my pro.

[koadog71]

I have had great success with Ebay. It is absolutely crucial to check out the seller before you make a bid. Ask questions, know what you are looking at (spot fakes) and be patient. I bought my TM R7 425 with a Fujikura Tour Blue shaft for $200.00 and a full set of New TP R7's for $360.00.

[Hacksaw]

My purchases have been a mix of regular and online retail.

Honestly, eBay doesn't come to mind even though friends have had success (one even purchasing an Audi TT years ago in Chicago and driving it back to Canada.)

If I'm looking for a single club in the future, a putter or 3-wood, for example, I'd consider eBay. Most of the prices at U.S. online stores are great, relative to Canadian stores, so that's my first place to shop.

[Bluenoser67]

I got screwed the first time I tried to buy on ebay and I'll never try again. Bought a driver that turned out to have a crack in the head that made it worthless. Shipping took over two weeks the driver the came was the wrong size and when I told him it was cracked he blamed me and didnt do a thing for me. I looked at going through paypal to get my money back but it looked like about three months of fighting and the cost to ship would me I would end up with less than half the money I started off with and nothing (not even a half decent shaft). So I chalked it up to a expensive lesson. Turned out the seller was a 19 year old kid who had a good rating but sold mostly tshirts and hats. BUYER BEWARE. When its good on ebay its very good when its bad take it from me it's bad.

[wolverine318]

Well I wont buy from someone unless they have a history of selling golf clubs with good feedback. I was just looking at some clubs the other day, I forget what they were, but they were at a stupid low price, I went to check out feedback and this was the guys first sale, a few buys but no sales whatsoever. So I didn't buy them.

I actually just baught a different club today, guy had over 200 positive feedback selling almost all golf equipment. I look through the old auctions at the descriptions etc and felt safe. 100+ sales of golf stuff all positive gives me that good vibe that I need that the dude isnt putting out fakes or bad equipment and is honest about it.

I dont know, I think if you know what you are doing you can find some great deals. But please dont buy once and get screwed because you didnt do the research and then say ebay is crap. Just like any other retailers there are good and bad ones out there.

[neudi]

I buy on Ebay but I don't buy golf equipment on it

[Elvisliveson]

I have bought (and sold) clubs on EBAY many a time and have never had a problem. You just have to use good judgement. If the deal is too good to be true, it probably is. Plus, checking the sellers feedback history goes a long way too.

[TommyD69]

I have always bought most of my golf stuff from eBay. There was a time when I could not stay away from my local 2nd Swing store. Since the 2nd Swing store closed, I have been really stuck looking for all my deals on eBay. I have never had a bad experience on eBay, just have to be smart about it, and ALWAYS do your due diligence...

[Jeepthrills]

I'm another all 3 guy. My driver came from ebay, my irons andbag are from a local Golfsmith store. My 3 wood and hybrid are from other local stores and my Vokey and Scotty came from a client that I traded personal training sessions. I have bought a decent amount of stuff online other than ebay as well. Much of it has come from golfsmith.com or other sites.

I tend to stick with Golfsmith because I can have it delivered or pick it up at the store. I also have a Golfsmith card that allows me to pay up to 12 months interest free. Why use my money when I can use theirs at no extra cost?

[powertrip240]

I've found some smoking deals on Ebay. I just got a Cleveland Launcher 460Ti, brand new (2006 model) with headcover for $57 delivered.

[Arathel-bwcc]

Mostly Golf Galaxy, Golf Smith, or my neighborhood pro shop.

[meenman]

i stick with retail only because the dicks sporting goods in town has that local golf shop feel when i go - i am the impatient type so a little extra cash to have something in my hands right away is always good

[buggyman]

I am getting to the point to where I ONLY buy or shop on ebay. Being a better player and LEFT handed it really sucks to go to retail shops and have a tiny section in the corner for me. I have got so fed up with driving to Edwin Watts (2 stores within 20 miles) and Golfsmith that I shop on ebay, buy the club try it out and turn around and sell it on ebay if I don't like it. At most I lose $10-20 and hit the club for a few days. As far as I am concerned it is the best way for a lefty. LISTEN UP RETAIL there is more lefties out there then you want to carry clubs for.... I am getting to hate the retail stores. STOP LEFTY DISCRIMINATION!!!