eBay clowns

The great thing about eBay is that it really does allow the market to set the price for things, ie let the demand set the price. I've purchased every club except my putter off eBay, and I think it's a great way to get good equipment at a good price.

But I've noticed, there are always some clowns out there who overcharge to death for their stuff. I'm looking at MP-37's right now, and the going rate seems to be between 300-350. Fair enough. Sometimes you can get them a bit cheaper, but that's about what a new set will run you on eBay.

Then you've always got 3 or 4 listings in the group with a starting price of $475 or $550, some nonsense like that. Don't they look at the listings? When you see everything going for $300, why list your stuff at 50-75% over that? You see all these clubs go with not a single bid. It costs the seller to post them.

I just don't get it. Why do people do that?

__________________
Mike Ryan
Rhinebeck, NY

TaylorMade R5 N, 8.5*
TaylorMade V-Steel, Aldila NV 65 Stiff, 13*
TaylorMade Rescue Mid, 25*
Mizuno MP-32, 4-PW
Cleveland Tour Action 588 Wedge, 52*, 56* & 60*
Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2
Nike Tour Accuracy TW

"You can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen."
- Lee Trevino

The thing with ebay is the buyers are willing to pay well over the market value. I was selling colour paper on ebay, I would buy a pack of 10 for AU$1.00 and put it on ebay starting at AU$4.75 I would sell them around AU$9.00 I had one go right off and sell for AU$54.00.

For color paper???

I not sure the sellers are the ones that are the clowns. My guess is that they end up getting their money enough times that they turn a nifty profit. Yes, their are a lot of people who try to make money buying and selling items on ebay.

In your example I am sure that even though some clubs go for 350, that you have buyers who walk into the local golf shop and see the same irons for 750, that 550 seems like a real bargain, without spending a lot of time on the computer to find the best bargain.

Ebay just has to hurt the big golf outlets.

The problem with the average buyer buying clubs on ebay is that you don't get to try the club before you buy it. If buying new clubs, you are not getting them fit to your specs like a retail outlet will, so you have to pay to get your clubs customized. If buying used, don't know how much the club has been used, no matter the condition.

The problem with new or used is that the shaft flex can only be judged by the shaft label. I have gotten clubs that test a an XX stiff that are marked stiff. I have also gotten clubs with a stiff flex on the band and they tested a soft regular - almost a senior flex. If you test these clubs in the store, you KNOW what you are getting.

I bet the average club maker is making more money adjusting and reshafting clubs than anyone these days....

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall

I have noticed the same thing. I have been watching clubs for months now.
It doesn't make any sense. A friend of mine sells on ebay and I have asked him about the same practice, but he didn't have an answer either. I

Be very careful about buying golf clubs online. Counterfeit clubs are rampant. It is not easy to tell them apart from the real thing either. Sometimes they are exactly the same with fake serial no's etc.

I got burned on a Mizuno driver. I thought it was great until someone let me try the REAL thing. The sound, feel everything was totally different. I should have clued in right away. It was supposed to be new but came in a Taylor-Made box. I was excited to have it in my hands so at the time I overlooked the box!

Previously I bought CPR irons online and they came in the original Nike shrink-wrap and packaging. They had serial no''s on each club. Stickers etc identical to real store-bought items. This was a good experience.

I bought a used Odyssey putter that was real -- I think! That was a good deal too.

Maybe it's better to buy USED since not so much incentive for someone to sell forgeries and have to make them look used!

Save the trouble - buy component.

i recently bought a new set of clubs from an ebay golf store,
I got them for $105 plus about $25 shipping... Retail is $249 and they are new... so i got what i wanted.. The trick is to go find what you want then look for them on Ebay and get the good deal..

If i would have got them for $105 without shipping it would have been a great deal... I love the clubs though....

I also got a Nike hybrid that is in really good shape... graphite shaft too..
Retails $99 on the internet.. Got it for $61 after shipping...

__________________
Clinton Callaway
121, 116, 146 (Before GTO)
(After GTO)-123,102,126,112,110,111,117,109,(After the Boomerang) 105,97