Iphone 5 on ebay with bad ESN?

I'm looking into buying an iphone on ebay, but some say that they have a bad ESN… What does that mean? I want to buy a phone from whatever carrier so i can then activate it at metro pcs… Ao if the phone has a bad ESN, can it still be unlocked by metro pcs?

It means that it has been reported stolen, if you buy it and try to activate it with that serial number, you'll get a call from your carrier and a call from the previous owner that it was stolen from

It means that the phone has been reported lost or stolen. This will deactivate the phone from their network, so whomever stole/found it can't activate it.

Contrary to Victoria's wild story, neither the carrier nor the previous owner will call you. The carriers are not in the business of retrieving/investigating lost/stolen property, and the owners will not have your contact information.