Why are **bad ESN** phones allowed to be sold on eBay?

[sdlovell]

These phones are, by definition, phones which have been identified by the carrier as stolen, lost, activated on another persons account, etc. I don't see how selling stolen property on eBay is a viable means of handing off these devices.

Yes, in some cases it's possible that phones can be flashed to other networks to get around the bad ESN tag and therefore still be used for their intended purpose, but it doesn't make any sense that eBay is allowing the auctions of so many devices with the bad ESN tag.

Require that the ESN status of each device be laid out and establish guidelines for selling cell phones. The carriers aren't all that helpful, but if a third party could get involved and guide or guarantee that the buyer won't be stuck with a non-working device, then we'd all be a little bit happier.

[Anonymous]

Please read the other posts

[painguin1]

The answer is simple.  People think of smartphones as still just phones.  When, in fact, they are much more. All of the functionality of the device remains aside from being able to send/receive texts or accept/make phone calls.

Having a phone tagged with a bad esn doesn't necesarilly  mean it is stolen either.  If he account holder breached their contract by not paying or cancelling early and not paying the cancellation charges the device will be tagged.with a bad esn.

Don't jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts is the moral of the story.

Thanks!

[megaded9]

It's not about the lack of common sense or not reading descriptions. You clearly are not grasping the gist of this thread. The question posed is "why does eBay support the sale of stolen goods"? More often than not, a phone has a bad ESN because it has been reported stolen. The other, albeit less-common, reason is the phone is tied to an account that was never brought current, which is still stealing just from the carrier. eBay should not allow the sale of devices with a bad ESN because that means they are acting as a fence for stolen goods.

[ebydeals6]

I couldn't agree more!  My son's phone was recently stolen too.  I found out about the bad ESN status from Verizon.  They warned me to check the ESN prior to purchasing a used phone.  You are right, eBay shouldn't allow this!  If they know the phone has a bad ESN then the know it's not with the rightful owner!  After all, the rightful owner is the only person who can lift the "stolen" status.  

It's all about the $$$ for eBay.  They make money off of the sales of these illegal phones as well.  However, it makes me not want to buy a phone from eBay so, as the word gets out, it actually hurts their profits.  

[lovbugshop]

They are not all stollen phones, some people do not pay there phone bill run it up to hundreds of dollars, then sell there phone  beware of what you are buying if in dowt do not bid, 😐         

[lovbugshop]

If in dowt do not bid, 🙂     

[gporpc]

I couldn't agree more!  My son's phone was recently stolen too.  I found out about the bad ESN status from Verizon.  They warned me to check the ESN prior to purchasing a used phone.  You are right, eBay shouldn't allow this!  If they know the phone has a bad ESN then the know it's not with the rightful owner!  After all, the rightful owner is the only person who can lift the "stolen" status.  

It's all about the $$$ for eBay.  They make money off of the sales of these illegal phones as well.  However, it makes me not want to buy a phone from eBay so, as the word gets out, it actually hurts their profits.  

RE:

They warned me    (verizon)

They tell you whatever because they want to sell you the phone....

[kzonenc]

You are wrong, not entirely but wrong. Not only stolen/lost phones are being flagged as BAD ESN/IMEI but also the ones sold by original owners that do not want to settle the bill with Verizon (600/month?>???????????????????????????) or ATT. Most of the phones flagged BAD ESN are actually sold by original owners, trying to raise money to buy their way out of the contract. Do your research. Ebay is doing the right thing letting people sell their phones. I personally sold my iphone 4s to get out of debt with Sprint (700$). Again, do your research and quit complaining. As sellers we are required to mention the device's BAD ESN, when you see something like that just don't buy it if you're scared.

[bootyindabank]

That is a horrible friend you have (hopefully had) I am so sorry she did that to you and i hope she knows karma is a bitch

[kzonenc]

I agree with you. But i am a dealer and i can check the phone by the IMEI/ESN if it is stolen or if its just unpaid balance. You can too, its a little more time consuming, butyou can call the carrier (Sprint, Verizon or ATT whatever the phone is on) and tell them that you bought a device and would like to put it on the network. Tell them the ESN/MEID and you will find out why is the device flagged. Should i mention that you MUST ask the seller to provide you with that ESN/MEID via a personal ebay message? Most sellers will let you know the device ESN/MEID/IMEI. Even if its BAD. Well...  i don't think this really applies to the topic of "why EBAY lets sellers sell devices with bad ESN" ... still, i like to think good about people out there rather than bad 🙂 hopefully they are actually trying to get out of the contract 🙂 P.S swappa.com checks device ESN/IMEI for free...

[crcvngt85]

In response to blindly purchasing. I didn't buy with reading after I purchased it i found a small sentence saying that they didn't know whether or not it was clean. As soon as I received the phone I checked the esn and it said that it was bad. This person has access to the Internet and if they've sold phones previously they know where to find out if the phone is bad or not. They were being totally irresponsible for selling a phone to someone who needs a device to work. Basically by being dishonest this person stole from me; I deserve my money back.

[anorman8945]

Bad esn does NOT always mean stolen. Selling a bad esn device is not a scam if it is listed as such. Selling a bad esn phone and not advertising it as that is a scam. You are creating confusion and panic by spreading these falsities. 

[naschliman]

Besides, if the whole bad ESN thing bugs you all that much, use Swappa or Glyde. 

[meteorhs]

WARNING!!!! I just got done talking to AT&T and you all might want to know this insane thing i just found out! You can buy a phone, call and make sure it has a clean ESN. Pay for it. Then get the phone and even successfully set it up with your account. But if at anytime, the original owner or any owner who has registered it calls it in as stolen, then the phone will be locked! If they owe money on the service or time left on their contrace, the phone will be locked! You are screwed! This means you are gambling when you buy a used cell phone. You are assuming that none of the registered owners will screw with you and lock your phone up. This is completely insane because i am a database professional with decades of experience and i know that the database can be easily setup to lock previous owners out but AT&T is too damned lazy to give their customers proper service! Not too long ago i heard on NPR that AT&T was getting fed up with financing phones and wanted to encourage their customers to buy their own phones and get the service with AT&T. They often setup their phones so they are unlocked. But they are not smart enough to protect us customers by fixing their database. I dont know if the other providers are like this too. I would check with your provider before buying a used phone!

[soliddealsonline]

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@meteorhs wrote:

WARNING!!!! I just got done talking to AT&T and you all might want to know this insane thing i just found out! You can buy a phone, call and make sure it has a clean ESN. Pay for it. Then get the phone and even successfully set it up with your account. But if at anytime, the original owner or any owner who has registered it calls it in as stolen, then the phone will be locked! If they owe money on the service or time left on their contrace, the phone will be locked! You are screwed! This means you are gambling when you buy a used cell phone.

...

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This is a problem when you buy a GSM cell phone, but with a CDMA cell phone (Verizon, Sprint, etc.), you can call the carrier and make sure that the phone is not active on any account, then you will be fine.

The GSM carriers need to take care of this issue, but I'm not sure that they have much incentive to do so.