Outrageous prices on fairway metals

[RobC]

Having missed a chance to buy used Taylor Made 200s on this forum, I thought I'd check out Chuck's for new and used fairway metals. Used Titleist 975 3 wood - $210. New Titleist 980 3-wood, $380 or so. New Mizuno 3-wood, $290. Not to pick on Chuck's as I do lots of shopping there, and am sure their prices for name brands are within $20 of anywhere else, but for the love of the golf gods that's expensive. I think I like my Ram 3 wood even more now. I think the golf market needs to take a slight downturn toward realism.

[couch26]

That's the reason I went with Bang MY for all my woods. 420$ got me D, 3w and 5w. I would of paid 500+ for the driver alone with one of the big names.

[el tigre]

I can't afford those prices either - that's why I tend to shop on Ebay. Generally pay about half of retail, and there is a great selection of used clubs.

BTW, Taylor Made has discontinued the 200 woods in favor of the new V-Steel, so CB now has the 200's on sale for $199. If that is the price range you're looking for, you might want to call/visit all the CB's to see if they have your shaft/flex.

[Ty Webb]

El Tigre,

Do you shop EBAY.CA or EBAY.COM (Canada vs. US)? If US, what are the shipping/customs costs?

Ty

[couch26]

Ty,

I bought on E-bay.om recently. The selection is much better on the ebay.com than ebay.ca. Customs are equivalent to the tax (pst+gst) plus 5$. The plus side of buying used clubs from Canadian sellers (mostly found on ebay.ca) is that there is no customs.

Shipping is usually indicated in the auction and if it is not, in my case shipping to Canada was 6$ more. Beware of the places that charge 2x shipping rates for international clients.

[dasnutz]

A way I have found to avoid customs fees is have the sender put gift on the way bill.

When I bought my Odyssey putter, the sender did this and there was absolutely no customs!

[Slammin' Stever]

dasnutz,

I hate to rain on the parade but when someone brings something across the border they are importing it. I just thought that I would inform you whether they make a purchase and declare it at face value or claim it as a gift the same duties apply to the suggested value. Anything with value over $20.00 should be declared and to conceal it's actual value is fraud. The same as is one was to buy a car for a dollar and try to only pay the equivalent tax on that amount.

Here is the quote form the customs Importer seminar ***

Importing by courier - Goods VALUED at $20.00 or less Canadian are exempt from duties when imported by courier.

Importing by mail. - Goods VAlUED at $20.00 or less Canadian are exempt from duties when imported by mail.

So to sending it across as a gift makes no difference then if they declared it as beening bought. It is up to the individual who is recieving it to declare it's true value, not the Government to monitor it.

The section under "Summary" also says to "Maintain records for 6 years after import". So, to those who think that they have got away with the "gift" declaration they may want to keep their purchase reciept for that time period or they may be paying more then they think in the end.

If you are still unsure and need more information on this go to the customs web site at

www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca

or phone and ask for yourself at

1-800-461-9999

Hope this helps!

Stever

[el tigre]

I have found that the only difference between ebay.ca vs ebay.com is in the presentation - not the selection. There is no difference between the two regarding shipping and customs.

Ebay.ca will allow you to search for items "within Canada" or for items that are "available to Canada" - i.e., the sellers have indicated that they will ship here. Ebay.ca will also show you the Cdn $ equivalents for all prices and bids.

The reason why the selection looks better on Ebay.com is that searches are not restricted to items that are "available to Canada". There's no use bidding on something if the seller doesn't want to ship outside the US - and many of them don't. If you go to Ebay.com and restrict your search to items that are "available to Canada" (I'm not even sure how to do that), you should get the same selection as on Ebay.ca.

I have ordered golf clubs, golf balls, golf shoes and golf bags without any bogus "gift" declaration and never paid duty. What you pay (gift or no gift) is brokerage fees and taxes - there is no way to "legally" avoid paying these charges.

[Big_duck]

Actually, I have bought stuff on ebay.com where the seller indicated US Only. The trick is to contact the seller before you bid and ask if they will ship to Canada. Most will, after all we in Canada are not really foreign are we .