I'm amazed at the lack of morals that some iPhone sellers exhibit

[zorinlynx]

This is a huge issue, and one where I think there needs to be regulation.

There needs to be a website where you can enter an IMEI and find out if it's clean or not. This site should be able to tell you if it's on a contract or not, and if so, how much time is left on the contract. The seller should be required to allow you to enter the IMEI and see its clean status before you buy. The site should be vendor and carrier agnostic; any phone, iPhone, Samsung, etc. should be searchable.

Once an IMEI is clean and there's no contract, it should NOT be possible to blacklist it. That's it; a clean IMEI is a clean IMEI. The ONLY person who should be able to get an IMEI blacklisted is the first owner of the phone, while it is under contract.

Such a site would solve the second hand phone bricking issue and restore confidence to the market.

Ill expand on the OP's rant.. The issue is the IMEI blacklist. The idea is to "brick" phones that are stolen or are not completely paid for. Great idea and i don't think anyone would disagree with the original intent. However, knowing that the IMEI blacklist exists doesnt stop the shady sellers and it hurts the legitimate sellers (I'm talking used phones, so dont get all preachy about scalping).