Go prepaid.....

Almost daily I dine at Jack in the Box Once a week at the China Buffet Once a week at Hometown Buffet

A George Jones song "What my woman can't do can't be done"

"I am watching you"

Okay  so I'm trying to think like a thief now:" Hm  look at that guy's phone right there, While his back is turned, I can pick that up and sell it on Ebay for a couple hundred bucks.  Cool."

Thanks Ebay. I wonder if the person who stole my brand new Nokia 710, was emboldened by your irresponsible policy. True they could sell it somewhere else, but Ebay is complicit when it comes to sellers who's principal income comes from theft of stolen property.

"Not all bad ESN phones are stolen." True  The rest are mostly sold by individuals who broke their legal contract with the carrier and now want to make money off their failure..

There may be up to 5% of phones that should NOT have bad ESNs, but do.  That should be a legal matter between the carrier and client.

mercuryacejones wrote:

I recently had my cell phone stolen and reported the ESN as stolen. This means that anyone who tries to activate that phone on a Verizon account will not be able to. I noticed ebay currently has 2,026 cell phones for sale with bad ESN’s. This means that these phones have been either listed as stolen or lost. I don’t understand how you can allow people to profit from selling stolen phones or from phones they’ve found and decided to keep (same thing as stealing…). Is this legal? By allowing people to sell these phones ebay is creating a market for stolen and lost phones. They say they don't allow people to sell stolen property on their site, and yet cell phones don't count for some reason?

RE:

This means that these phones have been either listed as stolen or lost.

There is other reasons for a bad ESN.

All totally legit to sell them.

Almost daily I dine at Jack in the Box Once a week at the China Buffet Once a week at Hometown Buffet

A George Jones song "What my woman can't do can't be done"

"I am watching you"

jimf1234 wrote:

I recently had an Iphone stolen, and it's prolly here on eBay.  They can still get $300 for it, even if they mention bad ESN.  I ask a lot of these sellers why their phones have bad esn's.  They tell me they got promo phone, or extra phone, or it's their wifes old one.  I will bet that 80% are lost or stolen, and here eBay is, allowing those people to steal and sell, right here. It sure makes me angry.  I had to buy a new phone, and some joker sells it on ebay.  I guess those $300 sales add up to lots of fees for eBay. I can't sell bullets, certain gun parts, stuff that shocks you, but I can steal your phone and sell that. LOL

How would eBay know if a phone is stolen or not?

Almost daily I dine at Jack in the Box Once a week at the China Buffet Once a week at Hometown Buffet

A George Jones song "What my woman can't do can't be done"

"I am watching you"

It has been said before, but it is worth mentioning again:

1.  Based on my experience buying cell phones locally, most phones with a bad ESN are not stolen, but are from people who were with a carrier for a few months and switched carriers before their contract was over.

2.  If a customer breaks their contract with a cell phone carrier, they will owe the carrier an "early termination fee" (ETF).  Whether the customer pays this or not is between the carrier and the customer (and perhaps a credit bureau).

Contrary to some misconceptions, when a customer purchases a cell phone (or receives it for free) when they sign a contract, the customer owns the phone.  It is not leased or borrowed, and the customer is not required to return the phone to the carrier when they terminate the contract.

Not entirely accurate.  It entirely depends on what the contract states.

If people are switching between carriers after months of service, the cancellation fee is usually significantly less than the price of the phone.

Cancellation fees for a verizon phone, for example, drops over time of the contract. So in that case, it shouldn't have a bad esn as they could easily pay off the fee.

I don't know why anyone would want to purchase a phone from a deadbeat anyway.  Just asking for trouble.  Additionally, it hurts the sales of "real" phones of the same type, as it drags down the average sale price, in some cases, in hundreds of dollars.

round.robin wrote:

"Go prepaid....."

 

Most prepaid is not a savings over contract use unless you are a light user.  Drive out of the neighborhood, now your roaming and your balance is sinking to zero faster than Facebook stock.

RE:

Drive out of the neighborhood, now your roaming and your balance is sinking to zero faster than Facebook stock.

I have not seen a prepaid that goes into roaming....

All calls are the same cost.

Many prepaid are unlimited all, talk, text and mobile  web....

As low as $40 a month, U Prepaid (US cellular) is $40.00

Prepaids you do buy the phone.

Almost daily I dine at Jack in the Box Once a week at the China Buffet Once a week at Hometown Buffet

A George Jones song "What my woman can't do can't be done"

"I am watching you"

No I'm t-mobile customer and I have a Sprint Evo 4G that is not on contract and I'm able to use it to do anything and everything except call as long as I'm somewhere , where there is wifi...

jonciuca wrote:

So you want to take" your picture to dime I dont believe you" attitude but you are okay with BAD ESN ? Remind not to have bussiness with you and your type.

Care to translate what you said.

Almost daily I dine at Jack in the Box Once a week at the China Buffet Once a week at Hometown Buffet

A George Jones song "What my woman can't do can't be done"

"I am watching you"

If the ESN is bad due to being locked to another account, the (previous) account holder can get it off.  If you jump carriers and pay early termination, you have every right to sell your phone.  If you don't pay, the phone company can put a debt collector on you.  Either way, your phone should still be good.

I beleive most the phones on ebay were lost or stolen.  It's sad that there are so many working phones that can't be used.

It is true that a bad ESN is often triggered for a stolen phone but there are other reasons too. For instance many phone companies would lock ESNs based on an account and not release them unless the person called in to release it. But if someone died, or simple had a change of plans in life and left the phone to someone else it would sit with a bad ESN.

Other people could find a use for these phones as MP3 players or for parts to fix other phones. The protection for people is already there, a phone with a bad ESN looses a ton of its value.