Buyer beware on Ebay

[Windy City Golfer]

This why I generally prefer Ping (although I've strayed lately). You can check the SN's before you purchase by contacting Ping's customer service number. They can also tell you the specs the last time they touched them (which is key since Ping won't do work on a club if someone else has altered them).

If the seller won't provide the SN or you don't get a response when asking for it, then run away as fast as you can no matter how cheap the price.

Also, under no circumstances and without exception, NEVER EVER buy clubs from a seller located in Asia (especially China). Knuckle heads doing that and then dumping their mistakes back onto the market are why we are seeing an increase in this sort of thing.

[stevestrike]

  Windy City Golfer said:

This why I generally prefer Ping (although I've strayed lately). You can check the SN's before you purchase by contacting Ping's customer service number.

++great advice. Always get a serial, and avoid any seller that won't give it to you.

Even though I don't like them, PayPal gives you some protection too, so use that instead of wire transfer/money order. Also, be sure to check the feedback rating carefully of the seller you are doing business with. I will only buy from sellers with an acceptable return policy listed.

[Gapwedge]

I have purchased and sold golf items on EBay. When buying I will only buy if the seller is at or very near 100% feedback and quickly answers questions about the item. The better the description the better I feel also. I recently just bought a new G5 driver for $158.50 so good deals are out there. The seller gave the Ping SN, etc. It is very much a buyer beware deal. EBay has come a long way in preventing bad sellers, but you still have to do your homework.
A note about golf items. When a newer version hits the streets the prior version's hit EBay like crazy. The more listings the better the deals.

[powerfade]

I just went through the same ordeal on a TaylorMade SQ TP driver. To save on shipping I actually picked the club up from the sellers home.

When I had it reshafted, I was told the tip was .350 instead of .335 that all TP's use. The club was closed too, instead of open (or square). It looked more like a regular SuperQuad versus a TP.
Long story short, I got my refund ok but it still cost me money (original reshaft then a second pull).

The seller claimed he did not know it was fake. Since he let me know where he lived, I believe him (sort of).

I will not buy golf clubs in the future from EBay.

[N.V.M.]

knock offs everywhere! on our local craigslist these are rumoured to be fake. can any tell by the not-so-good pic?

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/spo/493809037.html

[907golfer12]

  N.V.M. said:

knock offs everywhere! on our local craigslist these are rumoured to be fake. can any tell by the not-so-good pic?

Just looking at those pictures and looking at the Titleist website I'm going to say they are fake, because those are much darker then the ones on the

website

[N.V.M.]

label looks all wrong. "Titleist" should be toward the sole. hmmm

[melraid]

I've got over 1500 transactions on ebay (buying and selling - ebay id name also melraid). Anyway, in general ebay is great. I've never really had one problem with any of the transactions. You check out the seller's feedback - if it's not at least 99%, then move along. However, I hadn't realized the problem with fake clubs until very recently. I've been looking at Cleveland wedges, the new model RTG 588's. They are readily available at the $50 per club range. Retail at reputable online sites, Edwin Watts, etc, is around $99-$109 per wedge. I see the same people selling these sets, one after another. You have to wonder how they can be making money selling these clubs at 1/2 retail. You really have to wonder, how can they not be fakes at that price?

[Napster003]

I just recently purchased a CG10 online.
I didn't really check my club thoroughly because it was shrink wrapped.
I just went through my bag to compare it with another one i purchased from Golfsmith and i can definitely see that it's a fake.
I also purcahsed it from a seller with 1200 some sales. (1262 to be exact)
Ebay Name: williams-get-1-free-auction
I just sent him an email asking for a refund. How did you guys resolve the situation? Did he give u a refund and the shipping?

[Windy City Golfer]

  Napster003 said:

I just recently purchased a CG10 online.

This is the problem. Even sellers with lots of positive feedback are selling fakes now. In most cases, they don't even realize they are not the genuine article because they acquired them thinking they were real.

I was just in Beijing and I ran across tons of fakes clubs in the shops there. And the funny thing is they claim they are real ("These real...hit ball real good"), but then come down in price big time during negotiations. It is almost an inside joke that everything is a cheap copy. BTW, all Brands were equally represented. Like I said, I'm sticking with Ping from now on.

[Napster003]

Why Ping???
Do they not make copies of Ping?

[green6767]

Ping products can be easily verified to be fakes or not. The serial numbers are posted on the heads. All a person has to do is call Ping's customer service and they will look up the serial number verifying if its something they made or not. Easy as pie.

[shredfit]

Yeah, and it is NOT just clubs. Last year my wife got me(from ebay) some Bobby Jones golf shorts... which on close inspection MUST be fake. Found a tag inside(not easy to see) that says made in Thailand. I have some other clothes from the Jones collection and they all say made in Italy.

The questionable shorts have the Jones collection tag that looks real... when compaired to my real Jones collection stuff.

FWIW: I wear them anyway... Didn't have the heart to tell my wife, as they were a birthday gift.

[wachesawgolfer]

There is a slew of these fake Cleveland Black Pearl CG1s on ebay. Even the private sellers are reselling the fakes, perhaps unwittingly. It is a red flag where a seller has or has sold so many ultra limited production clubs. Cleveland maybe made a 1000 sets or less of these players blades for the world, yet one or two sellers have 100s of them? Same thing with all the Callaway X Forged with the PX 5.0s. Way too many on Ebay to all be real, where the dealers cannot stock them. Buy from the golf stores or individuals with good pictures and great feedback. But your still at risk of buying a resale of a fake club.

[fusioncal]

  green6767 said:

Ping products can be easily verified to be fakes or not. The serial numbers are posted on the heads. All a person has to do is call Ping's customer service and they will look up the serial number verifying if its something they made or not. Easy as pie.

If I may add, TaylorMade, Callaway, etc have similar method of authenticity verification, which is by phone. You call them, provide the serial number, and they'll let you know whether or not if it's fake.

P.S: Have you seen the picture of G10 driver on www.saga24.com? I could barely tell they're fakes.

[shredfit]

  fusioncal said:

If I may add, TaylorMade, Callaway, etc have similar method of authenticity verification, which is by phone. You call them, provide the serial number, and they'll let you know whether or not if it's fake.

Wow! That site is full of fakes... A Callaway FT-i for $138 ??? The pic looks pretty good too... Looks like they sell fake Cleveland wedges in bulk for $35 each... No wonder they are flooding ebay with fakes...

[hukdizzle]

I just got a set of cg10 black pearls standard bounce on ebay and all seems exactly like you guys say as far as them being knock offs. The heads are wearing but they hit well so I am not that concerned. They look 100% authentic and the color matches up well but who knows. One thing I noticed on mine was that about 6" up from the hosel (sp?) True Temper has a band of black text around it that is permanently painted on. They also have the true temper sticker about 2-3" below grip.

[crazy_horst]

I've almost decided never to buy off eBay again. It's just getting more and more questionable what's real and what's not, and it's not worth saving money but not knowing...