Can I unlock an IPhone 5 or 5c by myself without sending it somewhere or paying money?

I want to buy an IPhone 5 or 5c or 5s and I see several phones on ebay that are icloud locked. I was wondering if there's a way for me to unlock the phone myself. If there's, please describe it in much detail.

Best to buy an iPhone "unblocked" from Apple. It will work worldwide.

"ICloud locked" is properly called "Activation Lock".

It's a security feature which makes lost and stolen iPhones useless to anyone other than the owner who must enter their own Apple username and password, and then the phone passcode, to make the phone usable.

There's no way to get past it unless you take the iPhone to an Apple Store and provide irrefutable proof that you own the iPhone and provide solid proof of your identity and address.

So the iPhones you're seeing advertised as "iCloud locked" are stolen phones.

Activation Lock is totally different to a network lock which ties the phone to a particular service provider.