While you might think that such scams would be rare. With the astronomical prices that Hang can reach within the secondhand market, due to their rarity, and the huge demand for those that are made available, it was only ever a matter of time before those looking to purchase a used Hang, or Handpan, became the targets of unscrupulous types, looking to cash in on the almost insatiable desire of some, to buy the very first ‘instrument’ they come across listed for sale online, without first doing their homework.
Craigslist (and similar classifieds sites).
Last week (at time of wriitng) I was surprised to find that there were six PANArt Hang, and a Halo, listed for sale on the UK Craigslist alone. Which seemed quite a lot considering the rarity of these instruments. Additionally, you can only list an item on Craigslist for a period of thirty days, before it gets removed. So six people in the UK alone were selling their Hanghang via Craigslist within the last month? It didn’t seem likely. And it isn’t.
Craigslist is scammer central. And with people having willingly payed over ten thousand dollars on ebay for a used PANArt Hang, it’s not surprising that the scammers have caught onto this, and are giving it their best shot. I contacted all six Hang ‘sellers’ on Craigslist, and the lister of the Halo, and out of all seven, only one was willing to meet, and make the transaction in person (and even this one later turned out to be a fraud). The others, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, all wanted the money wired to them, before ‘shipping’ their Hang ‘securely’ onto me.
There is no protection when trading via Craigslist. And Craigslist themselves warn that “99% of scam attempts via Craigslist can be avoided by only dealing locally with those you can meet in person”. Heed this advice, or risk getting burnt.
ebay
Barely a week goes by without a Hang scam attempt or two appearing on ebay. And if you’ve been watching the ebay Hang market for as long as we have, you’ll have recognised the same old pictures, descriptions, etc. showing up time, and time again, in a bid by the scammers to rob folks like you of your hard earned cash.
But if you haven’t been watching the ebay Hang market as long as we have, and have decided that now’s the time to make your bid on a Hang listed for auction online, you may want to take a minute out and keep reading first, to avoid at best, having to deal with the people at Paypal in a bid to get your money back from a ‘bad’ listing, or at worst, losing your money altogether.
* Short Listings. Hang/HandPan listed with short auction durations, usually of only a single day, are almost always attempts by scammers to get in, and out again, before being noticed by, or reported to, ebay. If you see a Hang for sale, but aren’t sure of when it was listed, you can find out by clicking on the link next to ‘bid history’ that lists the number of bids. Which will take you to a screen that amongst other things, lists the auctions duration. If it was only for a single day, buyer beware!
* "e-mail me outside of ebay before bidding". Nine times out of ten when an ebay listing for a Hang requires you to e-mail the seller outside of the ebay platform, it’s an attempt by the scammer to draw you outside of the protection that buying via ebay offers. The seller will almost always offer to sell it to you at a fixed price, using some unsecured payment platform (while most likely offering to sell it to several others at the same time too) via a private sale. And should you take them up on this ‘generous’ offer, you’ll most likely never see your Hang, or your money, ever again.
Classic eBay scam (has appeared hundreds of times):
Craigslist (and similar classifieds sites).
Last week (at time of wriitng) I was surprised to find that there were six PANArt Hang, and a Halo, listed for sale on the UK Craigslist alone. Which seemed quite a lot considering the rarity of these instruments. Additionally, you can only list an item on Craigslist for a period of thirty days, before it gets removed. So six people in the UK alone were selling their Hanghang via Craigslist within the last month? It didn’t seem likely. And it isn’t.
Craigslist is scammer central. And with people having willingly payed over ten thousand dollars on ebay for a used PANArt Hang, it’s not surprising that the scammers have caught onto this, and are giving it their best shot. I contacted all six Hang ‘sellers’ on Craigslist, and the lister of the Halo, and out of all seven, only one was willing to meet, and make the transaction in person (and even this one later turned out to be a fraud). The others, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, all wanted the money wired to them, before ‘shipping’ their Hang ‘securely’ onto me.
There is no protection when trading via Craigslist. And Craigslist themselves warn that “99% of scam attempts via Craigslist can be avoided by only dealing locally with those you can meet in person”. Heed this advice, or risk getting burnt.
ebay
Barely a week goes by without a Hang scam attempt or two appearing on ebay. And if you’ve been watching the ebay Hang market for as long as we have, you’ll have recognised the same old pictures, descriptions, etc. showing up time, and time again, in a bid by the scammers to rob folks like you of your hard earned cash.
But if you haven’t been watching the ebay Hang market as long as we have, and have decided that now’s the time to make your bid on a Hang listed for auction online, you may want to take a minute out and keep reading first, to avoid at best, having to deal with the people at Paypal in a bid to get your money back from a ‘bad’ listing, or at worst, losing your money altogether.
* "e-mail me outside of ebay before bidding". Nine times out of ten when an ebay listing for a Hang requires you to e-mail the seller outside of the ebay platform, it’s an attempt by the scammer to draw you outside of the protection that buying via ebay offers. The seller will almost always offer to sell it to you at a fixed price, using some unsecured payment platform (while most likely offering to sell it to several others at the same time too) via a private sale. And should you take them up on this ‘generous’ offer, you’ll most likely never see your Hang, or your money, ever again.
Classic eBay scam (has appeared hundreds of times):
You can find more tips and advice on avoiding getting scammed when looking to buy a Hang, or a HandPan: HERE.
