Horse trades and ValueGuides

[treebound]

Just a Sunday morning commentary about selling used clubs and offered trades. 

I currently have a set of irons posted for sale locally. For some reason the PGA ValueGuide shows my clubs a little higher than I would have thought. I've checked at Dick's/GolfGalaxy for trade-in value and get different answers depending upon which store I go to and who I talk with. I suspect the sales people and golf department workers are quoting from either the retail column or trade-in column or wholesale column. In any case their offers don't quite get me where I need to be towards a newer set of clubs. 

 

So recently a local guy offered a Scotty Cameron putter in trade and he referred to the PGA guide to coax me into my clubs plus cash for his putter. I looked up his putter and the valueguide actually shows it slightly less than my clubs, but I suspect an anomoly on my club values. I don't know if he has the head cover for his putter, but I do know that there are too many stolen putters floating around. I'm not saying his putter is stolen, just that when it comes to high demand/priced putters I tend to add caution to my dealings. Anyway, I then looked up reviews on his putter and found one from this site from around 2011 where the general concensus seemed to be marginal or unfavorable for various reasons. 

 

In any case, I passed on the trade offer. But now I'm curious if there is a stolen putter database someplace. And if my clubs don't sell and if I can't get a workable trade-in locally, then I'll just use them this season. Just that sometimes horse-trades get some interesting offers. I recently sold an electric guitar and amp on craigslist and someone offered me a set of china dishes for it, I passed and found a cash buyer, which got me closer to funding new golf clubs. 

 

Anyway, it is Sunday morning, I'm on my first cup of coffee, the local golf show is still a few weeks away, and it snowed yesterday, and in this past week the local temps have hit a high of 71degF and are currently around 19degF. And sometimes I type too much, sorry if I rambled, back to watching a recorded School of Golf and day dreaming of when the local courses open. 

 

[iacas]

Pretty sure there's no stolen putter database. I also don't know that I'd immediately suspect that the putter is stolen. People tend to collect a lot of putters.

[treebound]

Yea, probably just someone looking to turn a putter into a set of irons. He was communicative and even though I passed on the trade, any minimal concerns I had are gone. 

 

Back to the search ....

[StefanUrkel]

I don't know how dicks is even in business. I've never seen anyone in the golf section

[treebound]

The local to me Dick's usually has a few people shopping in the golf section throughout the year and there is usually at least one person behind the counter installing new grips on something.

[1badbadger]

When I was in golf retail, I did a lot of trading.  I'm very familiar with PGA ValueGuide, although I never used it to determine the price or value of anything, although I know there are places that do.  When someone would bring clubs in to sell or trade, I used various sources.  If it was a fairly current club, I might start with the Golfsmith or Edwin Watts catalog and see how much they were selling for new.  Stuff would get closed out so fast it was hard to stay on top of sometimes.  I'd check ebay and some other sites as well as our own inventory.  Not only is it a subjective thing, it's evolving.

I would have guys walk in and plop down a set of irons on the counter and announce they wanted to trade them in, and they were just at another golf shop that said they were worth $150, "so I know what they are worth", as if to say don't lowball me.  I tried to explain to people that just because one place offers a certain amount doesn't mean that's what i will offer.  If I already have 5 sets of that model on the rack, I might not even want them.  If it's a model I don't have but know someone who is looking for a set, I might offer more.

Then there were the guys who would bring in a counterfeit set.  I'd point out the things that showed they were not authentic, and would get accused of trying to take advantage of them.  I would ask "how am I taking advantage of you if I'm not making an offer?!!!"

[treebound]

I appreciate the input and viewpoint of experience. I'm coming to view the Valueguide as a rough general guide to relative market values subject to subjective adjustment. (Or words to something like that ;) .)

 

I did just find a set of irons, while not new are newer than the set I have for sale. This gives me more flexibility with my horsetrading now. I took the newer 5 iron, the older 5 iron, and a 5 hybrid to a driving range this week and compared them hitting a small bucket of balls. I'm confident I made a good choice for me with the newer irons, surprised myself with the 5h, and will have no regrets letting the older irons get traded or sold away. 

 

If the guy's putter were 2" longer I would see if he was still interested. 

 

Anyway, just a fun thread on buying/selling/trading golf clubs and the associated dealing that go along with it all.