The Great Callaway Preowned Deals Thread

[kosmo]

RIP!

[minhjn]

6 hours ago, third-times-a-charm said:

Sorry dudes. I started this thread 3 years ago when there was more upside than down. Seems to be reversed these days.

 

I see a few good finds here and there but tbh I dont buy nearly the amount I used to from CPO. Maybe 1 thing every few months.

 

The clearance section being gone, shafts being gone, shipping taking a week, refunds taking a month, etc...it's no longer fun.

 

RIP CPO

This really was an epic thread. What is dead may never die 

[birdie2bogey]

When cole leaves is when this will be really dead

[AU_Matt]

21 hours ago, Yankees18 said:

I ordered a club on the CPO website and a week later they refunded me saying it wasn't available

also had to go through my rep for an order placed on regular callaway because they didn't credit me the 50% trade in bonus on a trade in

 

growing pains across the board it seems

You got lucky. This happened to me in January trying to order a rogue st pro hybrid. Placed the order, waited 2 weeks of radio silence before it got cancelled claiming OOS. Confusing part was they still had the exact same spec of club showing available on the website as in stock. Seems to me that they just wanted to get the order out of the backlog without actually doing anything about it.

[krutoi]

Got the wrong club sent from CPO. Called back and they refunded. However, the rep was kind of offensive when I asked for a substitution. Always had a good experience in the past. Not this time. 

[birdie2bogey]

Callaway nust have decided that this wasnt a bug money maker for them. 

 

It was good while it lasted. 

[noblesin]

I'd bet they were losing money on CPO if anything because some of those prices/deals were crazy when It was good.. haha

[AU_Matt]

15 minutes ago, noblesin said:

I'd bet they were losing money on CPO if anything because some of those prices/deals were crazy when It was good.. haha

With how low the trade in values are compared to what the clubs turn around and sell for, I think they’re still making a fair chunk of change. More likely they’ve cut staffing and quality control to the absolute bare minimum to raise the profit margins.

[alittleoverpar]

If I remember correctly, Taylormade had a preowned site for a while.  I think they outsourced it all to GlobalGolf, but I could be wrong.  Could have possibly been due to no profit, or just the hassle of maintaining a warehouse and web presence.

[third-times-a-charm]

2 hours ago, AU_Matt said:

With how low the trade in values are compared to what the clubs turn around and sell for, I think they’re still making a fair chunk of change. More likely they’ve cut staffing and quality control to the absolute bare minimum to raise the profit margins.

 

I would buy 'like new' clubs, use them for a month and trade them back in for sometimes 10-20$ less than I paid all the while getting free shipping back and fourth. Basically renting a club to test out for a meager 10-$20/mo while being able to sky mark and chunk the ever-living-heck out of it and not being charged for condition.

 

It was wild how they turned a profit.

 

Not to mention how many mistakes they made on their end - which is their own fault - on clearance clubs and etc which involved returns and people exchanging clubs at least 2-3 times before CPO got it right. Several times I bought a putter or driver and it took 3 shipments to get the proper condition or specs. That must have been a huge loss for them if you extrapolate that to thousands of orders.

[Rbsiedsc]

Makes me wonder if Cole left and then CPO fell apart.

[Cellis]

25 minutes ago, Rbsiedsc said:

Makes me wonder if Cole left and then CPO fell apart.

He has not left. I was emailing him last week about a set of irons 😂

[bekgolf]

5 hours ago, AU_Matt said:

With how low the trade in values are compared to what the clubs turn around and sell for, I think they’re still making a fair chunk of change. More likely they’ve cut staffing and quality control to the absolute bare minimum to raise the profit margins.

 

My guess would be some bean counters who know nothing about the golf business took over.  Does anyone know if a PE was ever involved with CPO?

[stimpmeterp]

At some point the model has to be eating into themselves financially....flooding the secondary market, even if CPO or one of the larger second-hand outfits, it all goes in circles. They need man power to process these trades, resales, etc., and frankly it's too clunky to automate. 

 

[radiman]

Just now, stimpmeterp said:

At some point the model has to be eating into themselves financially....flooding the secondary market, even if CPO or one of the larger second-hand outfits, it all goes in circles. They need man power to process these trades, resales, etc., and frankly it's too clunky to automate. 

 

Exactly.  All of those trade bonuses were probably a really creative way to generate revenue and to incentivize on the fence buyers.  One division generates $600 in revenue.  But another division is now sitting on a $210 2 year old driver that they may never even break even on.  If they have an abundance of inventory and have to significantly discount to move it.  

I am no finance guy.  So, I don't know how it all shakes out.  Since Callaway is selling direct in most of these cases, they're cost is not the same as their retail partners.  So, they can lose a bit on the CPO side and still use it as a tool to help boost sales.  I am sure there is a really in depth analysis that they're doing to weigh CPO's existence and their ability to offer trade in bonuses as I do think it's saved their rear ends a few times through the years.  But, with the financial hit the corporation took in 2024 with Top Golf, it is not a shock to see them run CPO a little tighter to limit how much the bleed from it. 

[jeffrey r]

I just ordered my teenager an Edge complete set in “good” condition, which I chose over average. As some here have pointed out, they shipped everything loose in a huge box, irons unprotected, woods completely unprotected and clanking against irons, putter (nice one at that) unprotected, etc. Headcovers for the woods in the box but of course not on the heads.

 

Really remarkable. Wood crowns were pretty well scratched, and I cleaned them up enough to make them ok. And my son won’t really notice. But I’ll still call CPO to try to get a refund, as I received average condition and could have just paid for that in the first place. The downfall is in full swing…  

[joshm500]

On 6/6/2025 at 7:28 AM, jeffrey r said:

I just ordered my teenager an Edge complete set in “good” condition, which I chose over average. As some here have pointed out, they shipped everything loose in a huge box, irons unprotected, woods completely unprotected and clanking against irons, putter (nice one at that) unprotected, etc. Headcovers for the woods in the box but of course not on the heads.

 

Really remarkable. Wood crowns were pretty well scratched, and I cleaned them up enough to make them ok. And my son won’t really notice. But I’ll still call CPO to try to get a refund, as I received average condition and could have just paid for that in the first place. The downfall is in full swing…  

Crazy how much they could save in refunds if they put the headcovers on the items instead of tossing them separatley on the box. 

[jeffrey r]

19 minutes ago, joshm500 said:

Crazy how much they could save in refunds if they put the headcovers on the items instead of tossing them separatley on the box. 

 

Yes, indeed. They gave me a condition downgrade refund, so that was like $40. Or they would have sent me a like new set for my lower condition price if I wanted to do a swap. Just not a great model, when they could have packed this set properly in the first place. 10 loose clubs in a huge box with irons, woods, and a putter is mind-boggling.

[BYK]

well, it's not all bad news.

I had been on a wicked string of "Like new" showing up as very good at best.  And as mentioned above, I'm sure a lot of times bc they just refuse to put headcovers on.  

Well, the last two purchases for like new seem like the old days, with literally heads in plastic.  And one of them came with the headcover on lol.  Now the other one was thrown into the box, and something actually got thru the plastic while it was banging around and left a chip in the finish.  However that was on the toe so I didn't care.

 

In any case, yes its still a mess.  But you can still get great deals (oh yah it was also a smoking deal) on CPO.  But i can see from above that most are having issues right now.

[third-times-a-charm]

CPO has 1 TOULON LE MANS TOUR in stock. Its a midnight black/double bend/34" model. No idea on any other specs.

 

Item Number is 

yhk5571918

 

$549 and he can do $20% off + free SH

 

Call Cole at 512.617.7131 to order.

Edited June 20 by third-times-a-charm

[thezinfan]

I just got an apex UW and a Paradym TD 3w a few weeks ago when they were each 30-35% off. 3w was $112 lol. Both were like new and arrived looking brand new. It was lucky though as the two club heads were smacking in to each other with zero protection. Headcovers tossed in too. Processing on the order was very quick. 

[BTE0816]

I hate to hear the changes at CPO are for the worse. I haven't bought a wedge from anywhere else in close to a decade or more.

[jl3424]

Are rewards points from CPO purchases not posting for anyone else? Haven’t received any from my last few orders 

[Swooshdaddy]

On 6/21/2025 at 7:19 AM, jl3424 said:

Are rewards points from CPO purchases not posting for anyone else? Haven’t received any from my last few orders 

I logged into my account a month after my last order, and now I'm at NEGATIVE 417 points. Called customer service and they had an "internal discussion" about people losing reward points, but no answer on how to fix it or anything. He offered me free shipping if I wanted to place an order, but couldn't help with getting my points back. 

[thezinfan]

On 6/21/2025 at 7:19 AM, jl3424 said:

Are rewards points from CPO purchases not posting for anyone else? Haven’t received any from my last few orders 

Mine are posting. Purchased something a few weeks ago. I received 2x points, but as a Gold level I thought I was supposed to get 3x for purchases. Anyone have any insight into this?

[thezinfan]

11 minutes ago, Swooshdaddy said:

I logged into my account a month after my last order, and now I'm at NEGATIVE 417 points. Called customer service and they had an "internal discussion" about people losing reward points, but no answer on how to fix it or anything. He offered me free shipping if I wanted to place an order, but couldn't help with getting my points back. 

What does it show in your rewards history?

[Swooshdaddy]

46 minutes ago, thezinfan said:

What does it show in your rewards history?

Shows my purchases, points are correct, nothing in the negative. I pointed that out to the rep and his answer was basically, it is what it is... This was a few months ago, and I haven't tried calling again as it's not worth the 2-3 hour wait. 

[thezinfan]

13 minutes ago, Swooshdaddy said:

Shows my purchases, points are correct, nothing in the negative. I pointed that out to the rep and his answer was basically, it is what it is... This was a few months ago, and I haven't tried calling again as it's not worth the 2-3 hour wait. 

It’s too bad they don’t have a customer service email address to deal with this type of stuff. 

[postfold]

On 6/3/2025 at 2:09 PM, third-times-a-charm said:

RIP CPO

 

I hadn't looked at the site in months but pulled it up today on a whim to see about getting a 9 wood for my Dad.  Holy zero inventory Batman.  Here I thought last time I checked in they were swamped and it was taking weeks to process tradeins and there was quite a bit of FW inventory.  Today?  Pathetic.

 

RIP CPO indeed.

[alittleoverpar]

13 hours ago, postfold said:

 

I hadn't looked at the site in months but pulled it up today on a whim to see about getting a 9 wood for my Dad.  Holy zero inventory Batman.  Here I thought last time I checked in they were swamped and it was taking weeks to process tradeins and there was quite a bit of FW inventory.  Today?  Pathetic.

 

RIP CPO indeed.

 

Half of the time the sited doesn't work.  If you select the "All" option under a club category and drill down using the filters you can often find inventory on items that don't show up when you just select a club type.  Ever since they restructured their website it has been flaky.  It's also not consistent between desktop and mobile.