Fake golf clubs

[HighTopFade]

I think I possess a fake Titleist 980F 19* with a stock Speeder. My first clue was no serial numbers on the Hosel. Comparing it to my real 980F 15*, I noticed that the fonts on the 19* are significantly larger; even on the grip. Also, the clubface on the 19* looks very deep in comparison to the 15*. However, the shaft looks exactly the same. Performancewise, it performs well. But it has no sound. In a nutshell, if this is a fake Titleist 980F, it is a very impressive fake. It was purchased from an established eBay seller with very very high feedback. I emailed them about my club and they basicially said, they don't sell fake clubs and Callaways are the most likely fakes. I am hoping they are right and that someone along the assembly line forgot to stamp serial numbers.

My point to this thread is to identify fake golf clubs and to use this thread as reference so none of us get burnt. I'll post pics when I get the chance.

[demon]

Truely a horrible problem, nothing worse than buying fake products. This is why I only buy the expensive stuff from either golf galaxy or golfsmith.

[wirehair]

I mess around with Camerons a bit and fakes are a serious problem with them. No. 1 rule is if the deal is too good to be true, it's probably fake.

There's two types of bad e-bay auctions either the club exists & is fake, or the club doesn't exist.

On E-Bay, watch for these red flags:
1. Zero or very low feedback seller, selling a high dollar item.
2. Seller want's you to contact him outside of e-bay's messaging system.
3. Seller doesn't take PayPal, or will end early/cut price if you pay with cashiers check or MO.
4. Account has decent feedback, but either hasn't sold anything in a while, or has sold plates & beanie babies now all of a sudden he's selling a tour putter. (A hijacked account.)
5. Anyone who is going to make you a deal because you're such a nice guy.
6. Watch for someone else's pictures, if a question arises get a picture with a spoon, or a piece of paper that has the guy's user name on it.
7. Anything for sale in China!
8. If in doubt, always pay by credit card, don't count on PayPal's "protection".

Remember, you wouldn't sell a $1000 club for a $100, why would the other guy. Cons & frauds always rely on their sucker to be greedy.