The ebay of golf?

[Wakit300]

the one place you are sorely lacking is selection, which I hope will improve with time as you get more traffic.

Just looked at the site - 2 wedges for sale

 

[moosejaa]

Why recreate the wheel when there was no need. I've bought and sold a ton of equipment and never have I thought "man, if there was only a site that let me do that other than eBay or thp"

Taking the THP marketplace out of the fee discussion since it's free, ebay takes @10% of your sale.
His site takes $1 for any sale under $21 and a max of $5 for anything over.
You sell a $200 club you're saving $15 if I read and figured that correctly.

 

[HarlettoScara]

Whilst I would never knock anyone's wish to make a living, I'm struggling to see how this differs from ebay other than the lower selling fees. Going into ebay, and all you have to do it type the name of what you want in, and you're presented with thousands of different options. Whilst it isn't golf specific, most golfers who use ebay have a good idea of what they want,and searching is a matter of seconds, so I think using the 'convenience' argument isn't going to win a lot of people over however.
Having said that, the lower fees would be an incentive, however with ebay you have the potential to get your item in front of many thousands more people than this site.
Please don't take this as negative feedback, however I just think you're maybe trying to find a gap in the market where a gap doesn't actually exist..

 

[dietDrThunder]

Saw it too and the first thing I thought was, "Isn't eBay the eBay of golf?"

QFT

It will be extremely difficult to re-invent the wheel on this one. The amount of traffic that eBay gets is so immense that it's worth the fees v. a small site without the traffic. To wit, a couple of years ago, I had a Chevy Suburban I wanted to sell, and as I'd gotten a very good deal on it when I bought it, I was able to price it a bit below others on the site to facilitate a quick sale. the truck had over 200 views in under an hour, someone had done the 'buy it now' thing in about 1:45, and they paid instantly using Paypal. So, in less than 2 hours after posting my ad, I had the money in my account for the truck.

It will be extremely difficult to overcome that kind of market penetration (the 'market' here is people who shop for stuff on line).

 

[Brianbigoats]

Taking the THP marketplace out of the fee discussion since it's free, ebay takes @10% of your sale.
His site takes $1 for any sale under $21 and a max of $5 for anything over.
You sell a $200 club you're saving $15 if I read and figured that correctly.

Until there is the selection that site will not be a player compared to ebay he is going to have to recruite some of the big sellers away

 

[jlukes]

And look at the fees in terms of the real world.

Sure, you could pay less rent to open a store somewhere off the beaten path that people will only find if they drive by or hear about it from someone.

Or, you could could pay more rent to open a store in a big shopping center off a main road that hundreds of thousands of people visit every day.

Sure ebay has higher fees, but the traffic it generates warrants the higher fees.

 

[spareclubs]

You gotta start somewhere. Traffic is growing, listings are growing, just give us a chance. We have also listened to posts and we are implementing a buyer protection plan where we will review the listing and take back the item and issue credit to the buyer if it was a fraudulent listing. We cannot control traffic overnight but we can continue to grow. Keep the feedback coming. Thanks!

 

[wiflash]

You gotta start somewhere. Traffic is growing, listings are growing, just give us a chance. We have also listened to posts and we are implementing a buyer protection plan where we will review the listing and take back the item and issue credit to the buyer if it was a fraudulent listing. We cannot control traffic overnight but we can continue to grow. Keep the feedback coming. Thanks!

Having not had the opportunity to check your site out yet I feel that Ebay is great because customers are able to find deals that are lower than value because the site is so big. Your site is not yet big (given time it can be) and if you are plastering the deals on the front page I assume they are no longer going to be deals in an open auction because they are not going under the radar.

Edit: After briefly checking it out I would put just the buy it now items on the front page or rare items that people are willing to outbid others on.

 

[66Tiger]

Just snagged a TM Burner Superfast 2.0 3W that is NEW for $85 shipped. ebay cant touch that.

 

[fupresti]

Just snagged a TM Burner Superfast 2.0 3W that is NEW for $85 shipped. ebay cant touch that.

I can get one for 69.99 plus 6.00 for shipping on eBay right now with buy it now.

 

[Smallville]

The more places selling means more choices for the consumer. And that is never a bad thing. No place is going to be the cheapest all of the time.

 

[dietDrThunder]

eBay is not in the golf business. The site is brand new, based in the USA has lower fees, and is golf only.

In three clicks (shop by category/golf/see all golf) it lists over 730,000 items. If my last click is 'clubs' instead of 'see all golf' there are over 260,000 listings. I think it's safe to say that there is a significant amount of golf business on eBay.

The more places selling means more choices for the consumer. And that is never a bad thing. No place is going to be the cheapest all of the time.

This is definitely true, and I have added spareclubs' site to by golf bookmarks. I think the point people are trying to get to in this thread is that trying to argue that a new upstart used golf stuff site is better/cheaper/more effective than eBay is a bit nonsensical. But, that doesn't make it a bad idea, or to be avoided, or insignificant. I think it's great that this site exists, and I truly hope it thrives and becomes an industry leader in the used equipment market.

 

[moosejaa]

In three clicks (shop by category/golf/see all golf) it lists over 730,000 items. If my last click is 'clubs' instead of 'see all golf' there are over 260,000 listings. I think it's safe to say that there is a significant amount of golf business on eBay.



This is definitely true, and I have added spareclubs' site to by golf bookmarks. I think the point people are trying to get to in this thread is that trying to argue that a new upstart used golf stuff site is better/cheaper/more effective than eBay is a bit nonsensical. But, that doesn't make it a bad idea, or to be avoided, or insignificant. I think it's great that this site exists, and I truly hope it thrives and becomes an industry leader in the used equipment market.

Well said Dr.

 

[tahoebum]

Beware of counterfeits wether on ebay or any other site. A buddy of mine is a pro at Golf Galaxy and they had a customer bring in a Taylormade driver last week for a new grip. Some shaft paint flaked off when they were regripping it and after extremely close inspection they determined it was a fake. My friend saw it before the customer picked it up and other than the "Taylormade" stamping being slightly out of place and the shade of one of the paints being very slightly off, you couldn't tell visually that it was a fake. Everything is for sale in China, including molds/castings to make counterfeit clubs. The performance of this counterfeit driver was pretty good on the launch monitor even though the frequency of the shaft was off more than a flex. My friend said that the performance was good enough that most golfers would have no reason to suspect they had a fake. There was some debate among the shop employees on wether or not they should tell the owner. They did and he said he had purchased it on ebay.

I personally buy a dozen or more clubs each year on ebay and have only had one counterfeit(a Ping G5 driver that looked perfect but did not perform well and also had some paint issues). Not bad for the hundreds of clubs I have bought, but buyer beware.

 

[Scrap Iron]

I'll check it out from time to time but right now the selection just isn't there. Hope it works out because more options on where to buy is never a bad thing.

 

[Nixhex524]

I haven't checked it out yet, but I will. I will give ANY golf club site a shot!! The ONE thing that could maybe set you apart from eBay (besides selection) would be if you could guarantee authenticity of every item you are auctioning, otherwise, I can see why it would be tough for people to ditch eBay. Also, maybe run a few contests or giveaways to help get your name on the map. Best of luck to you, I am sure this can not be an easy market to compete in.

 

[spareclubs]

We are putting together a policy for counterfeits. While we cannot eliminate them from the market unfortunately if a user suspects an item may be counterfeit, contact us and we will investigate the item before the auction closes to determine if authentic. If we determine it is, we will guarantee the purchase. This personal touch is something that also sets us apart from eBay.

Thanks for the input.

Beware of counterfeits wether on ebay or any other site. A buddy of mine is a pro at Golf Galaxy and they had a customer bring in a Taylormade driver last week for a new grip. Some shaft paint flaked off when they were regripping it and after extremely close inspection they determined it was a fake. My friend saw it before the customer picked it up and other than the "Taylormade" stamping being slightly out of place and the shade of one of the paints being very slightly off, you couldn't tell visually that it was a fake. Everything is for sale in China, including molds/castings to make counterfeit clubs. The performance of this counterfeit driver was pretty good on the launch monitor even though the frequency of the shaft was off more than a flex. My friend said that the performance was good enough that most golfers would have no reason to suspect they had a fake. There was some debate among the shop employees on wether or not they should tell the owner. They did and he said he had purchased it on ebay.

I personally buy a dozen or more clubs each year on ebay and have only had one counterfeit(a Ping G5 driver that looked perfect but did not perform well and also had some paint issues). Not bad for the hundreds of clubs I have bought, but buyer beware.