[alex jb]

Originally Posted by fenixjn

Well most sellers on ebay will reply to the simple 'Is the ESN clear for activation?' question. If they do not, then that is a big RED flag there. I have bought almost all my phones from ebay and ALWAYS check with the seller about ESN before even bidding on the item, if they reply that it is good and it fails... well I get my money back (paypal claim) and they get a really nasty review from me known as negative feedback. I don't think ebay will allow the seller to edit the page AFTER the sale was completed since they keep it as proof of sale and binding contract support document in case some claim arises.

Never thought about the proof of sale angle.
Guess they won't change the listing then.

I went to the sprint store and asked them 'hypothetically' if I were to buy a used phone and activate the good ESN on my account before the actual unit was shipped to me, was there a risk that someone else could see that ESN (like if it was listed in an e-bay auction ) and try to do something unscrupulous with it...
The guy was not 100% sure but seemed quite confident that now the ESNis activated on my account, even though I have not received or programmed the phone yet, that there is no risk other than someone straight cloning the ESN.

I find there is a great variation in Sprint store rep's knowlege though, maybe he's right, who knows.