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=== Comments by Verizon Wireless Support ===When a Verizon customer has an unpaid balance, but the outstanding balance has not existed long enough for the account to go into collection status, the ESN number will not be, as of yet, flagged as "BAD." The ESN will be in a status where it is still not usable by anyone other than the original owner. If you purchase a used Verizon phone that comes from an account holder with an unpaid balance that is relevantly recent you will still not be able to activate the phone on your account even though the ESN is not yet officially bad.In one example where Verizon customer support was contacted about a Casio phone purchased from eBay, an account representative with Verizon explained that the phone did not yet have a bad ESN, but the previous owner had a balance due over $1000. The account had not yet went into collections. Once the account was turned over to collections, the phone ESN would be flagged as bad. However, the distinction is an academic one since either way the new owner of the phone will be unable to activate the phone unless he or she is willing to pay the outstanding balance owed by the previous owner. The phone in the example was verified as not having been stolen because a stolen phone would immediately have the ESN flagged bad and there would have been notes indicating to the Verizon representative that it was a stolen phone. By calling Verizon support you can have the ESN checked to see if it is CLEAR, tied to another customers account, or flagged BAD.* CLEAR - no longer tied to another account, no unpaid balance and ready to activate by the new owner* NOT BAD, TIED TO ACCOUNT - still actively tied to another customer's account because there is an unpaid balance due, yet the account is not in collection status.* BAD - The phone has been reported stolen or the previous owner had an unpaid balance that has been overdue for long enough the account as been turned over to collections.