FAKE OR NOT - Taylormade SLDR-S

[mbrodeur86]

I registered the club. I feel like it was a fake. A lot of people that saw the pics here say it wasn't. I sold it because a guy wanted it and even though I told him what I thought, he didn't care. I talked to him recently and he loves it. Maybe it wasn't. All I know is that is what a very different club for me than the actual SLDR. 

[markb]

When trying to detect fakes, you inspect UNTIL you find something wrong.   You don't judge authenticity by finding a few things that are right, you add up the things that are wrong.  Serial number checking will often not tip the tell because the fakers copy real serials.   But if you call TMag and they say your serial doesn't belong to a 12 SLDR 460, you've got a tell.   TMag won't tell you what it should belong to, only that it doesn't belong to what you've got.

 

Another tip for buying on ebay -- buy clubs that are clearly USED from folks like Globalgolf and 3balls etc.  If they are TMag and stamped ARP, even better.  No counterfeiter is going to stamp his stuff as an unsold overstock manufacturer buy backs like ARP.   Still great clubs, what do you care if they are scuffed?   They'll be scuffed the first time you take them to the range.

 

Biggest tip I can give you.   Never ever ever buy anything online from Asia.  If the seller is in China, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan or even Austalia, pass.   You can do better over here anyway.    You follow this one tip, you elimate 95% of your risk.  (Japan is a special case.)

 

Here's the dirtiest secret that the manufacturers really don't want you to know.   Often the counterfeiters are the subcontracting chinese factories themselves.   They do this in many ways.   They reverse engineer quickly and accurately.  They are not destroying their QC rejects, they are sneaking the head molds out to their cousins factories or they are simply producing extra unauthorized product in what the Italians call the "turno notturno"  -- the night shift.   

 

This is very hard to prevent and it is why many manufacturers assemble and stamp finished product in the US.   I used to work in anti-counterfeiting in the luxury leather goods business (Prada, LV, Gucci, Fendi, etc.) and we had all the same problems.   I can tell you that the profit margins are sooo great that anyone who can be bribed will be bribed, even the makers of security badges, holograms, and labels.  

 

Golf product is a little harder to fake because the finished product is a tool that has to do something, not just a purse that has to hang on the arm.    If it perfoms badly or feels funny, you can spot it right away.   But by then it is too late if you've already bought it..   You'll note that in the Jimmy Roberts episode, the Titleist "fake" performed well, but at the wrong loft spec.   This could be a ) a real club because the mannies don't actually produce their products to super tight spec levels anyway or b ) a night shift fake.

 

So if I worked in anti-counterfeiting why do buy nearly all my clubs on Ebay?   Because the risk is quite low for the kinds of things I buy.   If I buy a used ARP SLDR head, I'm not at much risk.   If I buy a whole set of used Speedblade irons for say $350, I'm not at much risk.  (Counterfeiters don't fake whole sets, they like high margin single ticket items.)   But that said, I would NEVER EVER EVER shop for a vintage Scotty Cameron on ebay without factory certifications.   I'd probably avoid buying a used Graphite Design AD-DI6 shaft on ebay unless I knew the seller.   Cameron is to golf as Louis Vuitton is to handbags.   It's bling.   High margin, all fashion, the counterfeiters dream.   If you really want the bling go get the real thing.

[RookieBlue7]

Don't buy ARP. Zero warranty.

 

From now on, if you worry about authenticity because you can't spot it ( and every fake golf club you can tell because something is incorrect on it, from badging being slightly off to the typeface being slightly wrong or the color being slightly different, etc. only way you can't tell is if they don't use actual item pictures or steal pictures and send something different). But if you worry, when buying on eBay, here's TaylorMade's authorized eBay seller list:

 

http://taylormadegolf.com/shared-customer-service/customerService-authorizedebay.html

 

I will say one that is intriguing to me is that rock bottom golf isn't on there (not saying their stuff isn't legit because it is, just intrigues me).

[markb]

Well, technically anything resold as used online and unregistered is not warrantied and you'll be relying on the kindness of the manny to service it.   Some are tougher than others.   Last club I returned to TMag was replaced no questions asked.   They sent me the replacement head, new shaft, h/c and tool without even asking for my serial number over the phone or where I bought it.   I could have failed to return the defective head in the paid return mailer they sent me and they wouldn't have cared.  

 

Now Ping is a different story.   You'd better have all your ducks in a row before you call with Ping.

[fairwaygolfusa]

It seems like you saved some money buying on EBAY but lost the peace of mind. Will you be buying more clubs from EBAY or has this situation deterred you from buying there again?