Apple iPhone SE 1st Gen 2016
Verizon Prepaid

Has this ever been activated on prepaid service? How long does it have to be on prepaid before it can be activated on a post-paid account?

A prepaid phone can be used with a contract. I do not believe it has ever been activated on the prepaid service, but I can not guarantee that.

I agree with you that a prepaid phone can be used on a post-paid (contract) account. However, there are certain requirements that must be satisfied before they can be used. Some say it is 6 months, others have told me 3 months. I'm assuming that the IMEI provided to Swappa passes their background check, but I'm worried about this being an expensive gamble.

I'm tagging Swappa in this comment because I want to make sure that other potential buyers don't wind up in the same boat and only people that can make use of this device buy it.

What protections are in place if someone buys an open-box prepaid iPhone SE?

We use PayPal for processing payments here on Swappa for a number of reasons related to seller protections, buyer protections, and their dispute resolution process.

https://swappa.com/faq/buy/payment_options

If you have further questions, please use our help form here https://swappa.com/help

Thank you.

Thanks Brenda. As a buyer, I believe it is important to know all of the facts ahead of time when purchasing second-hand. As this listing clearly states "prepaid" in the description and the seller offers no guarantee that it has been activated on Verizon service (prepaid or post-paid) I have to exercise caution and not purchase this device.
I'm afraid that even with dispute resolution it would ultimately fall back on the listing description which, in fact, says it is a prepaid device. I imagine the seller does not want to contend with potential returns should the device be unable to activate on a post-paid account, nor do I think PayPal would assume I did all of my due diligence. The only thing that would make me feel comfortable with said purchase is if I could verify the IMEI, which is against Swappa rules to share that information. Your IMEI check can only do so much compared to what Verizon would be able to verify instantly in their system.