I need to unlock the iPad I got an a storage auction

Without knowledge of the owner who put Activation Lock on the iPad it is utterly, completely useless to you. Apple will not help you. We cannot help you. Either see if the auction house will give you your money back or recycle the device responsibly. Without the previous owners help there is NO HELP for you at all, period.

You will need to contact the previous owner to have them log out of iCloud or go to iCloud.com/Find My Phone and erase the device, then remove it from their account. If you can’t do that, the device is useless.

Activation Lock - Turn off Find My iPhone 

To add to Eric Root's comments, if you are unable to contact the previous owner, and the folks that ran the auction can't help you locate them, then I would suggest that you get a refund for any money spent for this device and return it.