"This apple ID has not purchased OS X Mavericks"

Reinstall OSX Snow Leopard (from the disc) update it to 10.6.8 (Software Update) then go to the Mac App Store and buy a copy of Mavericks for yourself.

Do you get past the login screen? I'm not sure, but maybe if you just go download your own copy of Mavericks this will go away. It's free, so it won't cost anything to try.

I've never heard of this one before, and I don't know how it tracks who downloaded. I'm wondering if it checks online or something. If that's the case, maybe bypassing your network would get you to boot. Do you know anyone else with a Mac that you trust enough to give your ID to? The only other thing I can think of is to but an external DVD to boot your SL disks from. They're cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/External-Stylish-SDRW-08D2S-U-BLK-AS/dp/B006HUMYCO/ref=sr_ 1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386905017&sr=8-2&keywords=external+dvd

They might. This is kind of a weird problem. For sure you could buy an external Superdrive there. You could also get one at Best Buy, or just buy a non-Apple external for half the price.

Reboot, hold down command-R until the recovery partition loads. If it does you can reinstall from there. Post back.

Nonexistent

Mavericks can only be downloaded via the App Store, which requires an Apple ID. That's how it is 'tracked'

Right. So does the downloaded copy have the ID attached, or is the computer checking with the App Store to determine if that user downloaded a copy? I was asking because if it's the latter, it would seem to be resolved by him logging in from any machine under his ID and downloading a copy.

And a question... if he reinstalls from the recovery partition, how does that resolve the issue of him not having downloaded the copy?

No ID attached, either your account downloaded it, or not.

If a reinstall from Recovery can be done the OP will be able to access the App Store and get his own copy, if a reinstall is possible.

And yes, he can purchase it on another Mac.

That's what confused me. If he just does a reinstal of Mavericks off the recovery partitionl, he still hasn't downloaded it yet. That's why I suggested he just get a friend to download a copy using his ID.

But he won't be able to use it unless Internet Recovery is available, and with an older Mac it is not.

The correct method (only correct method) is to reinstall Snow Leopard from disk and then upgrade, but with no drive the OP will have to buy one.

It's a mess, the seller should have done this prior to sale but didn't, so now it's the OP's problem.

Yeah, we're on the same page. That's why I suggested he just go buy an external drive. It's either that or go download on a different machine, create a bootable thumb drive or whatever, and install that way, but he said he doesn't have access to another Mac.

At least it's sales season.