Buying Irons On Ebay

[useless149149]

The E is the equivalent of the PW, it means 'equalizer' which was Hogan's nickname for his PW.

[gulfsidebo]

Thanks for the info on the "E" on the Hogans clubs.

I took the clubs out to the range for their first swing test and i hit better than i have ever hit before...right down the middle and distances i've never encountered with irons before (for me). i was hitting my 4 iron 200 yards while using my 1 (real wood) wood at 225. I did have probs swinging the 3 iron though. i don't know why.

I'm very pleased with the clubs purchase and that the seller came through for me.

[SirMilton]

In the last 60 days I have bought the following off of eBay:
- a new TaylorMade R7 460 Superquad driver - $270,
- a new TaylorMade Tour weight kit - $70,
- a new Taylormade R7 460 Draw Driver - $160,
- a new Taylormade R7 Titanium #3 Fairway wood - $170,
- a new Taylormade R7 Titanium #5 Fairway wood - $150,
- a new Taylormade R7 Titanium #7 Fairway wood - $130, and
- a used, like new, Ping Zing Loft (L) wedge for $70. Say, a grand or so.

They all arrived in 2 to 5 business days and all were exactly as represented and authentic.

There was no "L" wedge made by the factory when I bought my Zings (too early I guess) and my local golf shop adjusted the club to match my set (black dot to white dot). I had recently ordered a new replacement "W" wedge that I had left next to some green and was able to match the serial number on my original set, but counldn't get the old white line Ping grips and it cost $130 from the factory (the same as the per club cost new 15 years ago).

In any event, lots of money saved. Plus, no sales tax paid and in my area that's 10%.

However, the main reason is that the only place that had all of the new Taylormade clubs is a local golf shop that asks full list price. $499 for the Superquad and $399 for all the others. I did see that the Sports Authority on Monday had the R7 460 Draw on sale for $299, but it didn't have any of the other TM clubs and was still offering the older R7 425 Superquad Driver.

I live in a rural area where the nearest golf shop is 50 miles and an hour drive away. It wants full list price and sales tax of 10%. The $1,000 I spent on eBay in thelast 2 months would have cost me $2,500 at that shop.

For that reason I use the internet for just about everything except vehicles and I shop hard before buying. I spend $500-$1,000 on the internet every month on something and my average savings is about 50%.

In six years I have had a couple of buying problems on eBay; one was having eBay bump my winning bid up by $20 after the auction was over (still a good price) and two was having a seller back out of a sale after the auction was over claiming he sold it locally before he could cancel the eBay listing.

Overall, if you are careful, you can save a lot of money on the internet. I always check the shipping point, the seller's rating, read actual reviews, if the seller lists a quantity, carefully look at new vs. used and look at accessories included. On golf clubs some will omit the head cover and sell it separately for example.

And sometimes I take a chance. Last year I bought some Russian jewelry at fantasic prices and all the pieces ordered arrived in 3 business days and they were much better quality than I hoped.

The rules of retailing are in order 1) CONVENIENCE, 2) SELECTION, 3) SERVICE and finally, 4) PRICE. The internet hasn't got much of #3 but its great at #1, #2 and #4.