EBay bidder asked for my ESN #, just replied to my e-mail asking why...

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: fivespeed5
The ESN is connected to the phone itself, not your account. If the phone you're selling isn't active then the ESN won't matter much to the person.

At any rate she shouldn't need that information to find out if she can activate the phone in her area.

First differing answer, thanks for the breakdown fivespeed. The phone *is* still active, though... it will be cancelled in one week.

 

[fs5]

Originally posted by: Dezign

It's active right now. It'll be cancelled within a week, though... I'm switching from Sprint to Cingular.

there's no reason to give her your esn. Sprint phones work across their entire network. It doesn't matter what the ESN number is.
sorry to beat a dead horse but this was the first time you mentioned it was a sprint phone.

 

[Mill]

I'm pretty sure there is nothing they can do with your ESN these days...

 

[Jzero]

Report the phone as stolen and then give her the #s 😉

If she wants to know what services it is compatible with, it's as easy as finding out what frequencies that model uses...

 

[DannyBoy]

So can we spam here saying "Theif theif theif"? 😀

 

[DAM]

Tell her that you have a nice purse and some jewelery, that will get her to buy your phone.

---

Yeah sprint phones work everywhere ther is sprint coverage, check the website for maps. sprintpcs.com


dam()

 

[The Stigenator]

first of all the ESN number is ones own.. do not give it to her.

second the ESN number has nothing to do with her activating the phone. If the phone is an ATT phone it will work with ATT on the east coast .. activation isnt based on teh ESN's location ..

Also if its a SIM card based (Cingular / tmobile) then the ESN isnt the crietiera, the SIM card does the stuff for the ESN.. ESN is useless in this case.

she is trying to get ESN's to clone phones for sure..

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: Dezign
She just wrote back:

From: "Theresa Rodriguez" <tere784@hotmail.com>
To: Dezign
Subject: Re: Question for seller -- Item #3065824137
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:52:23 -0800

I need the ESN# of the phone to find out if I will be able to activate
this phone in my area. The ESN# number can be found by removing the battery.
On the cell phone there will be about three different set of numbers just
give me all of the numbers.

Thank you.

What she said is a legit use of your phone's ESN...

For example, if you racked up your phone bill and then cancel your phone, your provider will not activate your phone's ESN until YOUR bill has been paid off... If your phone was reported stolen she also will not be able to activate it...

Therefore she needs to get your ESN ahead of time, and make sure she can activate it later on without paying any additional money/fines...

If i am buying a CDMA phone, I always ask for the ESN before I buy to make sure I can use it later...

 

[Jzero]

What she said is a legit use of your phone's ESN...

For example, if you racked up your phone bill and then cancel your phone, your provider will not activate your phone's ESN until YOUR bill has been paid off... If your phone was reported stolen she also will not be able to activate it...

Therefore she needs to get your ESN ahead of time, and make sure she can activate it later on without paying any additional money/fines...

If i am buying a CDMA phone, I always ask for the ESN before I buy to make sure I can use it later...

Sounds reasonable, but if she wants to know so she can verify that the phone isn't stolen or delinquint, why wouldn't she just ask that?

 

[Jzero]

What she said is a legit use of your phone's ESN...

For example, if you racked up your phone bill and then cancel your phone, your provider will not activate your phone's ESN until YOUR bill has been paid off... If your phone was reported stolen she also will not be able to activate it...

Therefore she needs to get your ESN ahead of time, and make sure she can activate it later on without paying any additional money/fines...

If i am buying a CDMA phone, I always ask for the ESN before I buy to make sure I can use it later...

Sounds reasonable, but if she wants to know so she can verify that the phone isn't stolen or delinquint, why wouldn't she just state that as her reason?

 

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: BCYL

Originally posted by: Dezign
She just wrote back:

From: "Theresa Rodriguez" <tere784@hotmail.com>
To: Dezign
Subject: Re: Question for seller -- Item #3065824137
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:52:23 -0800

I need the ESN# of the phone to find out if I will be able to activate
this phone in my area. The ESN# number can be found by removing the battery.
On the cell phone there will be about three different set of numbers just
give me all of the numbers.

Thank you.

What she said is a legit use of your phone's ESN...

For example, if you racked up your phone bill and then cancel your phone, your provider will not activate your phone's ESN until YOUR bill has been paid off... If your phone was reported stolen she also will not be able to activate it...

Therefore she needs to get your ESN ahead of time, and make sure she can activate it later on without paying any additional money/fines...

If i am buying a CDMA phone, I always ask for the ESN before I buy to make sure I can use it later...

Hmm. Is there any other info/proof I can give her to assure her she can activate it later on (without paying anything extra) instead of my ESN#?

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: Jzero

What she said is a legit use of your phone's ESN...

For example, if you racked up your phone bill and then cancel your phone, your provider will not activate your phone's ESN until YOUR bill has been paid off... If your phone was reported stolen she also will not be able to activate it...

Therefore she needs to get your ESN ahead of time, and make sure she can activate it later on without paying any additional money/fines...

If i am buying a CDMA phone, I always ask for the ESN before I buy to make sure I can use it later...

Sounds reasonable, but if she wants to know so she can verify that the phone isn't stolen or delinquint, why wouldn't she just ask that?

If I was selling a stolen phone, or trying to scam her into paying my bills, would you think I will tell her if she asked? She's obviously an experienced cell phone buyer (as Dezign stated she bids on a lot of cell phone auctions), so I think she knows what's she's doing...

 

[DAM]

My coworker lost/got her phone stolen, and she called sprint and they said that they couldn't do anything about it. No tracking or anything at all. So, I don't think Sprint does any of that.



dam()

 

[Jzero]

If I was selling a stolen phone, or trying to scam her into paying my bills, would you think I will tell her if she asked? She's obviously an experienced cell phone buyer (as Dezign stated she bids on a lot of cell phone auctions), so I think she knows what's she's doing...

See my now-edited post.

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: Dezign

Originally posted by: BCYL

Originally posted by: Dezign
She just wrote back:

From: "Theresa Rodriguez" <tere784@hotmail.com>
To: Dezign
Subject: Re: Question for seller -- Item #3065824137
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:52:23 -0800

I need the ESN# of the phone to find out if I will be able to activate
this phone in my area. The ESN# number can be found by removing the battery.
On the cell phone there will be about three different set of numbers just
give me all of the numbers.

Thank you.

What she said is a legit use of your phone's ESN...

For example, if you racked up your phone bill and then cancel your phone, your provider will not activate your phone's ESN until YOUR bill has been paid off... If your phone was reported stolen she also will not be able to activate it...

Therefore she needs to get your ESN ahead of time, and make sure she can activate it later on without paying any additional money/fines...

If i am buying a CDMA phone, I always ask for the ESN before I buy to make sure I can use it later...

Hmm. Is there any other info/proof I can give her to assure her she can activate it later on (without paying anything extra) instead of my ESN#?

Sorry, not that I know of... You can just tell her your phone is still active and you dont feel comfortable giving her your ESN... she might understand...

At one time there were tons of these scams happening in my area... people buy used CDMA phones and then finding out there's a huge bill attached to the phone, and they couldn't use the phone unless they pay it off...

That's how I always learned to always check up on the ESN before buying a used CDMA phone (w/ GSM it doesnt matter)...

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: Jzero

If I was selling a stolen phone, or trying to scam her into paying my bills, would you think I will tell her if she asked? She's obviously an experienced cell phone buyer (as Dezign stated she bids on a lot of cell phone auctions), so I think she knows what's she's doing...

See my now-edited post.

Sorry I replied before reading your edited post... My guess would be she didn't want to tip Dezign off if he's really selling a stolen phone... I know I would've done the same thing...

 

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: BCYL

Originally posted by: Jzero

If I was selling a stolen phone, or trying to scam her into paying my bills, would you think I will tell her if she asked? She's obviously an experienced cell phone buyer (as Dezign stated she bids on a lot of cell phone auctions), so I think she knows what's she's doing...

See my now-edited post.

Sorry I replied before reading your edited post... My guess would be she didn't want to tip Dezign off if he's really selling a stolen phone... I know I would've done the same thing...

Always good to be safe, on both the side of the seller and bidder. I think I'm going to e-mail her back, explain the phone is still active and I don't feel comfortable giving her my ESN number, but if there's any other info I can provide re: its validity and good standing (not stolen, no bills run up, etc.) I'd be happy to get that for her.