Japangolfclubs.com is this website safe to buy from?

Luke1992 · July 8, 2020

Been searching for a set of irons and stumbled across www.japangolfclubs.com

it seems a little outdated so wasn’t sure if it was safe to buy from? Is anyone able to help?

Luke1992 · July 8, 2020

I can’t seem to find any reviews on it

yonghov · June 17, 2022

BUMP. Curious about this as well

jholz · June 17, 2022

Everyone obviously missed this one first time around. I've never come across the site before, myself. It is interesting.

But, products look pretty legit (as legit as one can tell from a photo on the internet, of course) and the prices seem in line with what I would expect.

I'd be curious to know where their stock is coming from and where they are located.

If it is a scam, it's pretty well done and targeting a weird niche in the market. That's about what I can say.

mogc60 · June 17, 2022

Looks pretty legit to me…looks like 2nd swing golf or the like, just a Japan product store

bobfoster · June 18, 2022

Since I'm still amped on too much coffee from work (and only on my first delicious beverage of the evening), thought I'd see if I could poke into this a bit just for sh*ts and giggles.

So first, It is not a company, it is a Japanese guy with fairly good English. [In one of the meta tags in the source code of the website - that doesn't show on the public page - the site description reads "Japanese used golf clubs. I sell Japan model Honma Maruman S-YARD Katana Crazy Bridgestone Dunlop Kasco driver irons set fairway wood utility putter wedge." ... note the "I" sell.] Further, the only currency available on the site is USD (he's not even trying to sell in Japan).

The guy's name is Yoshinobu Kawagoe, and the address that the domain name is registered to is 26-1 Sakuragaoka-cho Cerulean Tower 11F. This is an office building in Shibuya - a ward in Tokyo that is a sort of commercial hub (have had me a few drinks there). It is a "virtual" office, sort of like WeWork in the US (if you know what that is). Lot of small business start-ups use them. You rent "an office", get a business address, a secretary that answers (and transfers) phone calls, and if you need office space for a meeting, you can rent rooms by the hour. Gives you all the outward appearances of the office of a stable company (even if you never actually go there). In truth, I, sitting the the US northeast, could get an office address in the building, buy a website with that as the registered address, and look like I was running a company there (would actually take somewhat less than a week, and maybe ¥65,000 - $500USD - or so).

It is unlikely he has a warehouse. He's just basically shopping around the internet. and putting stuff on his site. For instance, took an example from his site ... first set of Homna irons: GOLF CLUBS HONMA IRONS SET BERES IS-03 2-star 9pc R-Flex, $2,491.99. (https://japangolfclubs.com/collections/irons-set-honma/products/golf-clubs-honma-irons-set-beres-is-03-2-star-9pc-r-flex)

Searched. Ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/265543622732?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1guCNgXIYSEGskGoZ_ISwQg87&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=265543622732&targetid=1587262742097&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=9003687&poi=&campaignid=15275224983&mkgroupid=131097072938&rlsatarget=pla-1587262742097&abcId=9300697&merchantid=101708491&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzLCVBhD3ARIsAPKYTcSaTRHMIsjUDuTekublb-P5PyyHT3HNp6MP9CmAunPZnfRMFr0fVHEaAmcGEALw_wcB.

A few dollars less. But basically the same.

And this is just something the guy sort of does as a whim. Is not his main business. Website traffic averages around 250 hits a day (not sales, hits). Given average ecommerce stats, the guy probably sells a handful of clubs a month, if that. (Click throughs from Google are a fraction of hits, and sales are an even smaller fraction of click throughs. The numbers? Close to 70% of internet shopping carts don't click the final "Buy" button. Dats da real stats.)

So, to sum up, I'd give it maybe a two out of five on the trust scale. It isn't a corporation, it is a guy, with a false front business. Whether you get what you order or not is a crap shoot. (And good luck pursuing him in Japanese courts if you don't).

To be very balanced about this, I do not believe this is a scam site. Has none of the characteristics that fit the profile. My first thought when I was digging was hhmmm ... a specific niche market, targeting (basically) Americans and Europeans with means (who else has a taste for Japanese clubs?) Good way to get CC information to sell on the dark web. But too much information was available. Would take me far more than an hour to get the name and business address of someone running a sophisticated scam operation.

Still, on the whole, I would not shop on that site. It isn't like you will get some amazing price break, or find clubs you can't find elsewhere from known actual corporations. Difference being if something goes wrong, you know what recourse you have with an eBay. You have no idea what recourse you have with a dude named Yoshinobu wandering around Tokyo somewhere.

This might be fully legit, and you might get decent used clubs at a decent price. But IMO, the risk/reward isn't there.

My vote, 👎

Edited June 18, 2022 by bobfoster

yonghov · June 28, 2022

On 6/17/2022 at 10:45 PM, bobfoster said:

Since I'm still amped on too much coffee from work (and only on my first delicious beverage of the evening), thought I'd see if I could poke into this a bit just for sh*ts and giggles.

So first, It is not a company, it is a Japanese guy with fairly good English. [In one of the meta tags in the source code of the website - that doesn't show on the public page - the site description reads "Japanese used golf clubs. I sell Japan model Honma Maruman S-YARD Katana Crazy Bridgestone Dunlop Kasco driver irons set fairway wood utility putter wedge." ... note the "I" sell.] Further, the only currency available on the site is USD (he's not even trying to sell in Japan).

The guy's name is Yoshinobu Kawagoe, and the address that the domain name is registered to is 26-1 Sakuragaoka-cho Cerulean Tower 11F. This is an office building in Shibuya - a ward in Tokyo that is a sort of commercial hub (have had me a few drinks there). It is a "virtual" office, sort of like WeWork in the US (if you know what that is). Lot of small business start-ups use them. You rent "an office", get a business address, a secretary that answers (and transfers) phone calls, and if you need office space for a meeting, you can rent rooms by the hour. Gives you all the outward appearances of the office of a stable company (even if you never actually go there). In truth, I, sitting the the US northeast, could get an office address in the building, buy a website with that as the registered address, and look like I was running a company there (would actually take somewhat less than a week, and maybe ¥65,000 - $500USD - or so).

It is unlikely he has a warehouse. He's just basically shopping around the internet. and putting stuff on his site. For instance, took an example from his site ... first set of Homna irons: GOLF CLUBS HONMA IRONS SET BERES IS-03 2-star 9pc R-Flex, $2,491.99. (https://japangolfclubs.com/collections/irons-set-honma/products/golf-clubs-honma-irons-set-beres-is-03-2-star-9pc-r-flex)

Searched. Ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/265543622732?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1guCNgXIYSEGskGoZ_ISwQg87&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=265543622732&targetid=1587262742097&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=9003687&poi=&campaignid=15275224983&mkgroupid=131097072938&rlsatarget=pla-1587262742097&abcId=9300697&merchantid=101708491&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzLCVBhD3ARIsAPKYTcSaTRHMIsjUDuTekublb-P5PyyHT3HNp6MP9CmAunPZnfRMFr0fVHEaAmcGEALw_wcB.

A few dollars less. But basically the same.

And this is just something the guy sort of does as a whim. Is not his main business. Website traffic averages around 250 hits a day (not sales, hits). Given average ecommerce stats, the guy probably sells a handful of clubs a month, if that. (Click throughs from Google are a fraction of hits, and sales are an even smaller fraction of click throughs. The numbers? Close to 70% of internet shopping carts don't click the final "Buy" button. Dats da real stats.)

So, to sum up, I'd give it maybe a two out of five on the trust scale. It isn't a corporation, it is a guy, with a false front business. Whether you get what you order or not is a crap shoot. (And good luck pursuing him in Japanese courts if you don't).

To be very balanced about this, I do not believe this is a scam site. Has none of the characteristics that fit the profile. My first thought when I was digging was hhmmm ... a specific niche market, targeting (basically) Americans and Europeans with means (who else has a taste for Japanese clubs?) Good way to get CC information to sell on the dark web. But too much information was available. Would take me far more than an hour to get the name and business address of someone running a sophisticated scam operation.

Still, on the whole, I would not shop on that site. It isn't like you will get some amazing price break, or find clubs you can't find elsewhere from known actual corporations. Difference being if something goes wrong, you know what recourse you have with an eBay. You have no idea what recourse you have with a dude named Yoshinobu wandering around Tokyo somewhere.

This might be fully legit, and you might get decent used clubs at a decent price. But IMO, the risk/reward isn't there.

My vote, 👎

Wow thanks for looking into it, dude. Clubs I wanted were cheap so I took a chance and ordered (before I saw your response). Will definitely let you guys know how it works out. If he never responds or ships, I can always dispute it with my credit card company, no?