Pretty sure the irons I bought on ebay are fake

[GreenReader]

Been buying used clubs online for like 15 years and never got burned until now. Picked up a set of P790s off eBay back in March, listed as "used, 8/10, only played one season" for $640 shipped. Seller had good feedback, photos looked clean, nothing screaming scam.

First month I thought they felt a little clicky but wrote it off as the hollow body thing everyone talks about with P790s. Then my buddy hits my 7 iron at the range and goes "why does this feel dead?" Swapped it with his 7 iron and yeah, there's a real difference.

So I start looking closer. The font on the "P790" badge on the 7 is slightly thinner than the others. Grips are supposedly Golf Pride Tour Velvet but the logo spacing is off on two of them. Took the whole set to my local shop, guy throws them on the swingweight scale, they come out D5 across the board when stock is D2. Lofts were also a mess, the 8 iron was nearly 2 degrees strong.

Here's the thing that gets me. The serial number on the hosel actually checked out when I called TM. So either someone cloned a legit serial or these are real heads that got rebuilt with junk shafts and weights. Either way I overpaid for something that isn't what was advertised.

Filed a claim with eBay, seller went quiet, we'll see how it goes. Now I'm second guessing every used club in my bag lol. Anyone else deal with this? And is there a reliable way to spot fakes in photos before you buy, or is it basically a gamble once you're outside a shop you trust?

[Mulligan_Mike]

Man that serial number thing would mess with my head. I always thought that was the one check you could actually trust. So basically the serial gets you real heads but the shafts and weighting can still be garbage? That's brutal.

I'm pretty new to buying used (only like a year in) so I've been leaning hard on photos and feedback scores. Sounds like that's not enough. Did the seller have a ton of feedback or just decent? Curious if the account looked aged or fresh.

Also D5 across the board when stock is D2 is a huge tell, I wouldn't have known to even check that. Gonna start asking my shop to weigh anything I buy online now.

There's a whole equipment section here where people break down this stuff, might be worth posting the pics:

https://usagolfers.com/forums/clubs-equipment.3/