advice for iron buying

elliottlale

elliottlale

Q-School Graduate
Joined
Mar 1, 2011
Messages
842
Visit site
what advice could people give for buying used irons from ebay?
im looking for some nice new (relative) irons, looking about the £200 mark.
any good/bad experiences and how did you know which ones to pick?
i know custom fitting will be out the window, but to be honest, i probably wouldnt get it done if buying from a shop
 
Sorry, couldn't resist - slow day at work.
There are certainly good deals to be had on fleabay. 2 tips for buying anything on there though. 1) Always check the sellers feedback in detail (don't just look at 99.4% positive) and I always check to see if they have sold golf equipment in the past, what was the feedback on that.
2) Make sure there are images of the actual item that can be enlarged and give a reasonable to good view of the item from multiple angles.
Other than that, it is a bit of a lottery on buying used (regardless of where from).
Have you not checked the for sale section here, someone was selling a nice set of Adams Idea Pro forged for well inside your budget and they looked mint.

EDIT: I have bumped a thread in for sale that has the Adams irons in.
 
Last edited:
Ideally you should know what type of irons you want to begin with. You need to research how much the irons you want have been going for so you know if your being ripped off.

Search watch then wait and pounce on the best deal for you.


Good luck.
 
I wouldn't get any clubs of flea bay but that is personal choice. I'd want to hit the set I'm buying first. If you are on a budget I can see the desire for a good bargain and I guess the only answer is to see if there is anyone you know that has a set of the ones you want, or a store, pro shop with a set in and go for there. I would strongly recommend trying before you buy though
 
I can't be doing with ebay.

Two years ago, I was chasing a set of irons advertised by Alchemy Golf, who some of us know and I trust. In the end they went for about £20 more than I thought they were really worth.

2 days later, I popped down some local ranges and soon found the same set for £180, that's way less than they went for (even with Alchemy's refurbishing).

I also bought a Ping G5 off ebay years ago for £140 and less than a week later, saw the same one for £125 in the range shop.

There are very few bargains on ebay. If I had £200, I'd visit a few ranges, hit a few and buy on that basis. Ranges and pro shops don't have a huge number of potential buyers, so they do tend to price stuff conservatively. i.m.o.
 
I have bought a fair few things of e-bay and generally haven't done badly. There are some good bargains to be had from good sellers.

So far as advice is concerned

1. Have a good idea of what you are after. Try not to buy if you haven't tried a similar club. You can sometimes find old demo irons for sale or to try at branches of AG/DG etc.
2. Try to buy from a PGA pro shop or other bona fide golf retailer as they will know what they are selling and will usually have a returns policy so you will have a bit more come back.
3. Check the shaft specs and grip condition. People not saying what flex the shafts are do my head in. If you are on a budget it makes sense to buy a set that have decent grips or else you will be in for an extra £50 for regripping.
4. Preferably only buy if there are good quality pics including the faces (chrome can look deceptively good from a distance/slightly out of focus).
5. Check completed listings and also golfbidder to see what a good price is.
6. Sod's law dictates that you will see a better condition set go for less just after your sticks have arrived.
 
if you buy off ebay check the clubs carefully when you receive them, i've been stung, bought some callaway x16's but didn't realise until a few weeks later a couple of the shafts weren't quite true, and also had a few little indentations in them
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

W
Iron Advice
Replies
4
Views
464
bobmac
bobmac
A
Recommendations for new Driver
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
RichA
R
J
Brand new golfer - buying iron advice - to buy or not to buy
Replies
12
Views
864
joepeterson
joepeterson
S
New irons - do GI, SGI make much difference
Replies
17
Views
1K
Ye Olde Boomer
Ye Olde Boomer
L
Custom Fitting Issue
Replies
5
Views
2K
Lumbojack33
L
Top