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Buying clubs off eBay?

Ajcoop20 said:
im glad that you're happy you paid full boat for your clubs, but that doesnt mean my 850s i got off the bay are fake. Im 100% certain they're not. Neither are any of the other clubs I have bought. In the grand scheme there are very few fakes getting sold out there, and if you do buy a set of bran new 1,000$ irons for 250$, the old saying a fool and his money are soon parted applies. There are tons and tons of reputable sellers that get demos, or clubs that people try and trade in, and sell them for 80% of what new off the rack clubs are going for when they are in basically 100% condition. btw ive never seen a counterfiet club with accurate serial numbers, the only C/F clubs ive seen were bridgestones and the numbers on them weren't even close to bridgestones numbering scheme. Do you have a link to a thread talking about that as im very curious to read up on it
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There is a good chance you did not buy fakes. Not saying every club on eBay is fake, but it is loaded with them. You should watch the Jimmy Roberts show on counterfeit clubs.
 
As someone with very little disposable income, every single one of my clubs has come second hand from eBay at vastly reduced prices to going elsewhere. I've never once had a problem with fake clubs, but then again I've always avoided the ones that have just been too cheap. I don't doubt for one minute that there are a large number of counterfeit clubs, but I think that as long as you're careful then you should be fine. Plus, paying with PayPal should give you protection against counterfeit goods I believe?
Not like those ridiculous websites selling clearly fake clubs from a gmail address!
 
HoosierGolfer said:
I just bought 12 new clubs three weeks ago, and I bought them cheaper at my home course, than I could have from any other place in the world. eBay is the last place I'd buy new clubs. I want my money going into the pocket of someone that is a personal friend, not some guy on eBay that could care less about me or my game.
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No offense, but that's your preference, just like you think the amount of fakes on eBay is very high. I know of many people who buy, have bought or had me buy clubs of the bay: never had any issues :)

All the OEM's set the price on current clubs, and if you can save "hundreds", I'd take a long hard look at the seller..............
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This is a solid piece of advice :)
 
Ive bought many, many clubs off of Ebay. For the most part, its been a good experience in that Ive been able to try many different kinds of clubs and been able to have a much nicer set than I could have afforded had I bought new.
Having said that, you do need to be careful and look at someone's rating and feedback before you buy. If they dont have at least 99%, Id say away. It also helps to look at just what the negative feedback is because sometimes people give sellers negative feedback for stupid reasons.
Theres lots of reputable Ebay sellers out there, so as long as youre careful, you should be fine.
 
I buy clubs all the time off eBay with no issues. The only problem I have had was with a Diamana blue board shaft. It wasn't a fake bit the adapter was installed incorrectly. Tried to get it fixed by the seller, but he was a dick. Overall though, my experiences have been fine. Just buy from a reputable seller who has PLENTY of transactions.
 
SoGaDawg said:
I buy clubs all the time off eBay with no issues. The only problem I have had was with a Diamana blue board shaft. It wasn't a fake bit the adapter was installed incorrectly. Tried to get it fixed by the seller, but he was a dick. Overall though, my experiences have been fine. Just buy from a reputable seller who has PLENTY of transactions.
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This says it all....it is your $$$
 
Yeah. Cost me 20 bucks to get it fixed at my local shop
 
Just check to see if they are an "authorized" dealer for whatever brand you are looking to buy. I buy a ton of golf equipment off their for years and never ran into 1 counterfeit. Just be smart about it. If someone is selling new Cameron putters for $100 then obviously you know something is wrong.
 
I just got a brand new Newport 2.5 for $325. It was still wrapped.
 
It never dawned on me to look here about buying clubs on ebay. I wasn't ever going to say i purchased clubs on ebay because I figured a lot of people would figure your crazy for doing so. I read all the posts and it seems I'm not alone. I purchased used from quick ship golf. they had 3200 sales over 6 months and I think they had 12 neg feedback. None were people complaining about counterfeit clubs. Maybe they don't know they have counterfeit clubs but then again thats 3200 people and almost all were happy enough not to leave a negative feed back.

I would never say counter fitting is ok. its a crime against the original manufacturer. its wrong and its theft.

But if I got stuck with counterfits theres a good chance they were made to the same specs. not all counterfeits are low grade knock offs. some are made using stolen specs and , like in the case of some fake iPhones, many of the same exact components and in a small amount of cases all the same components. I won't explain how that happens but it does.

I read a web article with a title that says 24% of ebay club sales are counterfeit. BUT THEN In the article it says

" We did a random survey of 100 golf club listings on EBAY a couple months ago and our "Golf Club Scam Alert System" we found that there was a high-probability that 24 of those listings were FAKES!"
Direct quote and i'm not even certain its a correct sentence.

Does "Random Survey of 100 ... listings" mean they purchased 100 clubs or sets and did a through check
OR
does it mean they scrutinized 100 listings and think 24 MAY be fake. Using a term like HIGH PROBABILITY means there is some uncertainty. Its not an absolute. so was I the victim of counterfeit research masking as an absolute? Thats what I get for relying on the internet? the same article says counterfeits are showing up in reputable retail outlets and quality control is getting tougher and tougher. Heck. I remember when one of the largest apple juice companies was caught watering down their 100% apple juice with sugar water by as much as 50%. Counterfeit 100% pure apple juice even though it was from the OEM?

I don't think my mizuno's are fake and if they are I'm not going to be able to tell. I like them better every time I use them. But it is something to look out for and it is a crime without a doubt.
 
I bought a Newport 2.5 off ebay and couldn't be happier. The seller emailed me multiple times prior to the end of the auction and got the putter shipped amazingly quickly.

I know others have a likely been burned.
 
While negative feedback is certainly a red light, positive feedback is not necessarily a green light. Most golfers simply can't spot today's counterfeits. The positive feedback usually means the buyer recieved the item in a timely fashion. Today's counterfeiters are much smarter than they use to be. The days of cheap obviously inferior product have been replace by higher quality counterfeits that command near genuine prices. The old adage of "if it's too good to be true" no longer applies. Price no longer distinguishes counterfeits.
There certainly are good deals on eBay. Many authorized dealers use it and many have a second identity to sell at below the authorized price. There are, however, many counterfeits.
Personally, I buy new equipment in the misguided hope that it will improve my game. It would be sad if instead I ended up with a fake and my game missed out on an actual improvement that a genuine product might have brought me.
 
It's the same with any purchase, do your homework. I bought 2/3 of the clubs in my bag from eBay. Irons and driver both from a reputable seller (Carl's Golfand, listed as authorized on TaylorMade's webesite), and when I received them I registered them with TaylorMade and they were not counterfeits. Bought my wedges from Callaway PreOwned. I like eBay as I get eBay bucks for every purchase I make.
 
Never ever buy from Quick Ship Golf.
Not only are they infamous for selling with the use of fake buyers and some believe they use computer bots to hike up bids for themselves and their other Alabama warehouse partners (research this yourself). EBAY has had numerous complaints about this and continues to use a blind EYE in their multiple investigations into this company, due to the volume this Alabama monopoly on used and fake knock offs, does on EBAY. I believe two friends bought fake Taylormade fairway woods and irons and have heard of multiple other scams on Golf WRX. I personally have investigated to my satisfaction and belief the multiple similiar suspicious bids on clubs I was bidding on. Also, why the abbreviated bidder names on your bidding competitors?? Several unique older sets have showed back up once they were supposedly sold. If EBAY was honest and transparent why not show the other buyers whole name and why does old bid histories not come up like it once used to. Instead an attempt at old buyer histories on bids switches you to and add for a similiar item sold by these big companies.
Now we can’t even research old bids like we once could. Honor the real golf professionals and companies and honest men and women selling new and used clubs locally or the real people selling there real used stuff on other outlets. I have wasted to much time and energy with this chicanery IMHO!

Screw me once shame on you, screw me twice, no you won’t!!

Eyes wide open!
 
My driver, hybrids, wedges and putter are from ebay. I also will often buy balls and grips on ebay.

Even my bag would've been ebay but when I searched for the seller (Golfio), buying from their off-ebay store was a bit cheaper.

I know Ebay is a risk and for all things, I use it less and less in favor of Amazon. But I've been on ebay since 1999, I still have a feel for it. If just getting into it now though, too many pitfalls, I'd likely not and just stick to better known entities.
 
Plenty of good sellers on eBay, big and small. Not gonna let one bad apple ruin it for me. Best place to buy clubs if you're on a budget.

I've had my suspicions about that buyer though.
 
Just be careful buying and inspect and compare closely once received. Do not EVER send money friends and family unless you already have the clubs in hand. PayPal has your back as a buyer and if you get counterfeit crap, it'll be a bit of a hassle but you'll be zero out of pocket. Seller has to pay the fees anyways so zero reason in a normal transaction to not use goods and services if you're a buyer. There are exceptions, such as the seller trusting the buyer and sending the club first for inspection. Ran into this recently myself with someone that I trusted on here as a buyer. I sent the club and told him to pay me once he was satisfied. He was nice enough to not use Goods and services but I'd have been ok if he had.

I've had dozens of transactions on eBay as a buyer with at least half of them from a private seller. I've yet to have a problem. I'm sure I will at some point but I do my diligence looking at feedback and comparing pics before shipment and then closely comparing the clubs in hand once they arrive to legit pics. Sometimes fakes are hard to spot but if you do all you can prior to the transaction it limits your potential liability.

If you're not comfortable with that, buy clubs (and pay the premium for doing so) through only authorized resellers. Even if I ended up in a bad transaction I'd probably still buy the way I do. I typically spend only right around PGA trade in value on almost any club I buy. Never more than that plus the 25% trade in bonus that's often offered. The only exceptions are Adams and Nike clubs which have almost zero trade in value but are still great clubs.
 
Couple weeks ago I bought a used Cobra tour trusty off e-bay for $28 to my door. Legit or counterfeit, it was worth my small investment.
 
I bought my set of Mizuno irons on eBay. I was a little skeptical but I emailed the seller and got the serial number of the set I was purchasing. Once I had this I called mizuno and they told me everything one could imagine about that set and it all checked out. Just be careful. If it’s too good to be true it probably is.


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I buy many times from ebay and I never have experiences with counterfit products so far .... ( touch wood ) , they have laser printed serial number on the hosel.

But I will always be careful before click buying from ebay.... eyes open ----> too good to be true , usually means too good to be true.
 
I have purchased many clubs (almost my entire bag currently) off of eBay. I saved over $1000 by doing so, and they aren't counterfeit clubs either. They were all brand new in plastic, and registered with the manufacturer without issues. I saved $600 on my iron set alone.
 
I bought both sets of irons I own from eBay. The first was a set of Titleist 990s. The seller had a good reputation and I won the auction. They arrived, and have been great. The second set are my current in the bag clubs, Reid Lockhart Blades, bought from the company itself which was clearing them out via eBay. I think eBay can be useful if you are at all careful. I saved a lot of money buying that way.
 
HoosierGolfer said:
I would not buy any clubs off of eBay unless they are old. The bay is flooded with counterfeits.
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I bought a brand new set of Callaway Apex Irons last season from a seller that guaranteed authenticity. The seller has over 99% positive feedback. There Are some reputable sellers out there. Just do your homework.
 
I bought a Ping SF Tech 3 Wood off Ebay to match the one I got on super clearance at a local golf shop. It was a couple years old, lightly used and I paid around $100 for it. I suppose I wouldn't really know if it was a fake, but it feels, looks, and performs exactly like the matching 5 wood, even the headcover is identical. If they did fake it, they should work for ping!

Whiskey
 
BigDaddyPing said:
Never ever buy from Quick Ship Golf.
Not only are they infamous for selling with the use of fake buyers and some believe they use computer bots to hike up bids for themselves and their other Alabama warehouse partners (research this yourself). EBAY has had numerous complaints about this and continues to use a blind EYE in their multiple investigations into this company, due to the volume this Alabama monopoly on used and fake knock offs, does on EBAY. I believe two friends bought fake Taylormade fairway woods and irons and have heard of multiple other scams on Golf WRX. I personally have investigated to my satisfaction and belief the multiple similiar suspicious bids on clubs I was bidding on. Also, why the abbreviated bidder names on your bidding competitors?? Several unique older sets have showed back up once they were supposedly sold. If EBAY was honest and transparent why not show the other buyers whole name and why does old bid histories not come up like it once used to. Instead an attempt at old buyer histories on bids switches you to and add for a similiar item sold by these big companies.
Now we can’t even research old bids like we once could. Honor the real golf professionals and companies and honest men and women selling new and used clubs locally or the real people selling there real used stuff on other outlets. I have wasted to much time and energy with this chicanery IMHO!

Screw me once shame on you, screw me twice, no you won’t!!

Eyes wide open!
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I’ve been tracking and bidding on many clubs lately and it appears to be the case. I’ve lost countless auctions at the last second or at similar intervals all the bidders all have similar naming conventions as well. So annoying, just set a reserve price or price appropriately.
 
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