I am trying to update the iPhoto for my Mavericks update, but they won't let me type in my Apple ID, and has an old one from previous owners still..

The Mac wasn't [roperly prepared to pass to a new owner. Until it is there is nothing you can do.

The Mac needs to be erased and taken to the version of OS X that shipped from the factory on the Mac. If that was Snow Leopard, it should be restored with the original install DVDs. If OS X lion or later, with OS X Recovery.

I am having exactly the same problem only I have 2 accounts, one English and one Aussy. I purchased this Iphoto with my Aussy account and I am trying to update it but I am only given the option to sign in with my English account and it won't allow the update with the English account. The email address is in light gray and not avaliable for edit. there must be a way around this problem.

Why do you believe that you bought this app? iPhoto has been coming free on Macs for years. How old is the Mac? What is the year and model? What version of OS X was originally installed on this Mac when it shipped from the factory?

Oh your right I asumed I did. I remember I was actually on my english account, so in that case it won't let me update. I purchased the Mac about a year ago privately. It is 13" early 2011 the history says OSX 10.8 was the first thing installed but I think the previous owner wiped and installed this.

So this is a used Mac. Used Macs are supposed to be erased and restored to the shipping version of OS X using OS X Recovery. The original owner is also supposed to call Apple Care and have the Mac, the OS and the iLife apps disassociated from their Apple ID. After the Mac is restored to the latest version of the shipping OS, and the iLife apps have been installed, the new owner needs to setup the Mac as a new Mac. Immediately after setup, before using any of the three iLife apps, the new owner must open the Mac App Store, sign into their iTunes/Mac App Store account and on the Purchases pane accept the three iLife apps.

I suspect that because that scenario didn't occur you are encountering the current issue with the iLife apps. If they are not accepted into your account before you use them, per their Terms Of Use, they become as is apps and cannot be updated or downloaded to another Mac you may own.

This is the error message - This update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled.

I am travelling around Australia and it's not condusive to wipe the computer and start again. Firstly I have no re-boot CD as I am travelling light and secondly I have all my photo's stored in Iphoto. I thought this app would make life easier and infact it's quite the opposite with all this comotion. If I loose my entire photo collection I will be devistated.

There aren't install disks since the advent of OS X Lion 10.7. You can use OS X Recovery to either access the hidden recovery partition that should be on the HDD, or use an OS X image from Apple's Servers. An internet connection is required to use OS X Recovery.

OS X Recovery -

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Does this older version of iPhoto not work at all with Mavericks? The photo library is separate from iPhoto. It is located in username/Pictures/iPhoto Library.

No it won't work at all, I have tried to access the photo library independantly from the app, also no access! This is not good. I thought about deleting the app and re downloading it but for fear of the loss of my photo's I haven't tried. Also not too happy about recovery as I will loose stuff! I will try to save what I have on an external hard drive, fingers crossed! any alternative ideas would be welcome

Thanks.

You could bypass iPhoto and get a more expensive app; the two of which I am familiar by name are Apple's Aperture which can use the iPhoto library and Adobe's Lightroom, the archive of which you can import the iPhoto library. They are US$79 and US$149 respectively.

There is also another app that is already on your Mac which you may use to import your photos and store them on your Mac until a later time when you can get iPhoto sorted.

http://macmost.com/importing-photos-using-image-capture.html

http://web.simmons.edu/~gslislab/howto/image_capture.pdf

There is also this inexpensive alternative to iPhoto for mainly storing your photos;

http://lifehacker.com/unbound-is-a-fast-and-easy-to-use-iphoto-alternative-14711 42130

Thank you for your helpful information, I have since downloaded Aperture and am hapily using it.