Q: Activation Lock?

You cannot. Take it back to the store an demand a refund. You will never be able to activate the device without the previous owner's information. The device is useless to you.

Ask that man for your money back. It is a worthless brick to you.

.

You are welcome

So am I correct in assuming that apple has no contingency for people that legitimately purchase from pawnshops or ebay? As in my personal experience I have bought a couple of really nice ipad 2 from pawnshops that were wiped by the previous owner, but they failed to remove the device from their icloud account. I have verified that the ipads have not been reported stolen,lost or otherwise. This happens quite alot from what I have been told by the pawnshop owners that people will sell their device,and just never come back for them. In my case I have purchased 2 practically brand new ipad 64gb models for $25  bucks due to the fact they are pretty much beautiful paper weights without the ability to activate. I will assume I'm not the only one thinking apple does this on purpose causing people to go out and purchase a brand new item. I myself refuse to purchase anything! new from apple simply because they have the absolute worst support policy on things like this. if I am wrong in my assumptions please let me know, I would love to get these things working so my boys can use them for school.

Your anger is extremely misguided my friend. And you are wrong, way wrong. To see an Apple conspiracy here is laughable.

It's a theft protection device. If there was a workaround for it, wouldn't that be pretty ineffective?

Here's what happened.. the previous owner DID NOT DISABLE THE THEFT PROTECTION scheme built in to his/her device. That's significantly different from, "they failed to remove the device from  their iCloud account" My logical conclusion is that they were unaware they were about to give up possession of their device. (A deliberately politically correct way of saying stolen, taken, ripped off)

Seeing that there is no one central listing of devices lost or stolen, being (or not being) listed in one means nothing. Dumb argument.

You bought 2 64GB iPads for $25 and are flabbergasted they're useless? Do I have that right? Have you not read the bedtime story called "If it sounds too good to be true..."?

You are buying stuff from some pretty dumb pawnshop owners. Pawnshop owners who aren't asking the right questions when they take stuff in. Pawnshops are full of stolen stuff. Stuff they sell real cheap so that questions don't get asked and proper checks and balances don't get made.

Sorry pal... the system works. Your experience is proof of that.

I'm sorry you seem to think I was asking for a "work around" I was asking if apple themselves have a policy in place for legitimate reasons such as my case. You are implying that I myself have committed some crime. If that were the case I would have never been able to purchase from a pawn shop as they unlike your almighty apple do not have. I will explain seeing as your simple mind seems to think the worst. Pawnshops work closely with local law enforcement agencies here. if someone were to have stolen the device and reported it, then  the item would have been flagged and held for law enforcement to come pick up the item/device on a weekly basis, then they would have contacted the person that sold it to the pawn shop and they would have been arrested,and the item would have never even been sold in the 1st place. so go take your attitude somewhere else. I am simple asking for legitimate help, if you have none to offer please do not reply at all.

You want Apple to have contingency or a policy. Either of those would be a workaround.

Where did I imply you did anything wrong? Read it again my friend. You asked openly if your assumptions were wrong. You must not want an answer to that. You must want to be agreed with.

That a device is NOT reported stolen means nothing. Would you think of buying a car from guy, where the car still has a club on the steering wheel? "Oh, he just didn't take it off for me and I don't have the key"

Any reseller of electronics be it a pawn shop or whatever, knows how to check an Apple device for an activation lock. It takes less than 10 seconds. And if they turn around and knowingly sell that device with an activation lock on it to you or anyone else, that is reprehensible. Immoral. Dumb. For the person who bought the item to blame "the almighty" Apple is equally dumb.

You are right in that the items should not have been sold. Not because they may have been stolen. But because they are useless. Were you aware that they could not be activated without the original owner's Apple ID and password? Likely not, or you wouldn't be here asking for a policy on this. Those iPads are not even worth the $25 you paid. The blame for that falls squarely on the pawn shop owner. Not you. Not Apple. You are the innocent in all of this.

You use the term almighty Apple, and I have the attitude?

blame the state of california for passing a law that said manufacturers need to include an anti-theft device.  Apple provides a site for checking the status.

https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/