Going Once...

As happens to every golfer eventually, I have reached the point where I have decided all my problems on the course would be solved if I just got new clubs. On the surface the idea has merit - I've been using my brother's irons for the last couple of years and not only are they 20 years old they were made for someone who is 8 inches taller than me. And while I don't believe it when golf equipment companies tell you that you should buy brand-new clubs every couple of years and those clubs have to be specially made for you, I obviously know golf technology has made great strides since my brother's clubs were new. Plus, I have gradually been replacing my hybrids and fairway woods with newer clubs and those go so much farther than my old clubs it is enough to sway me into thinking new irons would make a dramatic difference. So, in the last couple of weeks I have started (very tentatively) shopping for clubs on the internet. The problem is that I am kind of picky about which set I want, how I want them configured and how much I am willing to pay for them (hint: I would like to pay less). I'm realistic about the likelihood of getting exactly what I want, but that doesn't mean I will be quick to compromise on the main characteristics. Because the set I want is a couple years older I can't go through traditional golf equipment sites, so if I want them I am going to be forced to go back to the website where you can find almost anything for the right price - eBay.

I used to peruse eBay all the time back when I was buying a lot of sports memorabilia, such as signed photos and jerseys. However, I was always slightly uneasy about buying signed items off the site because even if they come with a certificate of authenticity which is supposed to validate that the item is real, there is no guarantee that certificate is authentic. For all I know the two items are being signed by the same person using the same pen. Honestly, it could all just be a big scam run people in foreign countries and the mass email I would get every few months telling me which people were selling bogus autographs seemed to confirm that suspicion. (Sadly, all the Ron Mercer autographs I won back in 1999 are real but just as worthless as if they were fake.) But the real reason I drifted away from the auction scene was the suspicion that the people who were doing the selling were creating fake accounts to bid up on their own items. Far too often a random person would either place a large bid, but give you plenty of time to top them, or 'win' the auction only to have the item (including the exact same pictures that appeared in the original ad) pop back up on the site within a few weeks. Since all you want in that situation is a fair deal and I didn't feel like I was getting one I retired from the auction scene. The good news is that now the eBay people claim the site has cracked down on people creating fake accounts to bid up the value of their own items. I remain skeptical, but since I really don't have any other options for finding what I want I will just have to take their word for it.

The first thing I noticed after years away is that in the time I have been gone eBay added a "Buy It Now" button, which is way to bypass the auction if you are willing to pay the seller's asking price. If you want to risk getting a better deal and place a bid you are more than welcome to do so, but once a bid is placed the "Buy It Now" option goes away. I guess this is good for the sellers and the buyers because it allows people to cut through the waiting game, but I felt like this option removes a little bit of the urgency and puts a cap on the auction. I mean, why would you ever bid more than the person who is selling whatever item you are interested in was willing to take? Obviously the seller is asking that specific price because they figured out a number which would still allow them to make some money on the transaction and not only is that most likely more than they paid for it it is more than they would ask for if you were standing in front of them, haggling over it. For example, I was looking at a set of clubs and while I didn't want to buy them because they included clubs I didn't want I was curious to know how much they ended up going for. The "Buy It Now" option was asking $320. Therefore, if I had been interested in the clubs at an auction that is absolutely as high as I would have been willing to go because they were probably worth about $280 and I figure the time I would save by not having to sweat it out would be worth about $40. I guess the good news for that seller is that there is a sucker born every minute because once the auction was over I went back and discovered they had sold for almost $400.

Currently there are about 20 auction shows on television where people get to bid on everything from cars to storage units so I know all it takes is two people to let their emotions get the better of them, start a bidding war and the price can skyrocket well passed what an item is worth. Still, at least in those situations people are bidding on potential. There could be anything in those lockers and that car could be worth a fortune if it is fixed correctly. With golf clubs not only is there a standard value to how much a set of clubs is worth, you can find it on any number if websites, but knowledge is only power when people decide to use it. On top of that one thing eBay hasn't been able to fix is the number of people trying to sell knock-offs item for the price of the real thing. The replica golf club market is nearly as profitable as the fake handbag one and unfortunately these guys are so good at making knock-offs the only real way to tell the difference between a real club and a forgery is to take them to the driving range. (Although from the report I saw about the difference in performance between real vs fake I don't think it would make much a difference with my swing.) Still, it is enough to make you queasy about the entire idea and is a good reminder there is never a reason to spend more on anything on the internet than you absolutely have to. Of course, if we all followed that rule eBay probably wouldn't exist in the first place.