"So for sellers to safely sell phones, the listing should include "Clean ESN" and "MEID passes FEC check from Ting, Straight talk, Swappa" . This way the buyer knows that it will activate on their network. "
With all due respect, that's a very naive if not dumb idea. I say that respectfcully. If Ebay were to require people to post their unique phone ID's on their site, it would become a honey pot for thieves and hackers.
Remember, these are criminals who don't have any regards for the law to begin with. It doesn't matter what is or isn't illegal. What matters to a thief is what they can get at of value easily, and turn it around to a buyer before someone catches them. Hacking an MEID isn't illegal until someone figures it out, and by then it's nothing but a big hassle trying to get your money back from some insurance plan. So no, this is a very bad idea, and extrmely niave on your part. Respectfully
I've sold 2 phones on ebay without a single issue. I had about 10 bidders on each phone, and only 2 out of those 20 bidders asked for the MEID. I offered to contact their potential provider directly, and I did for one of the buyers. Although, I certainly didn't have to do that. I had plenty of other interested buyers. I did it out of courtesy because it wasn't a big deal to me. That buyer lost the bid on the first phone, but won the second I had for sale.
Never leave your valuables unattended, be it a wallet sitting on a picnic bench in a park, or your digital credentials on any device. It's just not a smart move.
The laws do not matter to criminals. They will find a way to steal what they want if there is money in it, and sell it to someone before anyone notices. Both buyers and sellers would get hosed from a policy like that.
I would say probably 95% of the phone transactions on Ebay are perfectly safe. Like anything in life though, there is a risk. The higher the reward the higher the risk. The reward here is a very affordable smart phone of decent quality that a buyer can own outright without being bound to a carrier for 2 years. There's always going to be a risk somewhere though. The best you can do is rely on buyer protection, which is pretty darn good on ebay and paypal. You also have to trust the seller, so read the reviews, and look at the number of sales someone has and rating. If they've sold +100 items and are pushing a 97%+, I would say odds are very slim anything bad is going to happen with the transaction. Me personally, I've only sold about a dozen items, and purchased about 30 or so over the years. I have a 100% rating. If I were a buyer looking at my stats though, I would maintain a little caution because my selling record isn't very high. I would chat em a little to feel them out before placing a bid.
The moral of the story, use your head. Don't be naive. Don't trust anyone blindly. Make sure your purchase is protected in some manner. And never, never, never give out your MEID if you're a seller. Tell the buyer to pound sand if they insist. It's for everyones protection.
