The maximum number of free accounts have been activated on this iphone

You can remove the Apple IDs and you can erase the phone but if you have already created three iCloud accounts the phone will never be able to create any more. I've already told you the solution, which is for the new owner to sign in with an existing iCloud account. And before you sell it, erase it and don't add any accounts.

The issue here isn't whether he has an Apple ID but whether he has an iCloud account. If he has an ID but hasn't yet created an iCloud account he won't be able to do so on the phone; however it's more likely that he does have an iCloud account already - most iPhone users do - in which case he should be OK.

You can only CREATE up to 3 *new* Apple IDs on your iOS device.

You can ADD as many as you want, but may be prohibited for a certain amount of time from downloading new content after switching (90 days or so).

These measures are likely to prevent stealing content or sharing content outside of family sharing.

It sounds like you’re not adding existing Apple IDs but creating new ones. To create another new Apple ID you have to do it online, as you’ve met the maximum number on the phone.

But, my question is why in the actual heck are you using so many different Apple IDs?!

Creating an Apple ID doesn't in itself create an iCloud account. You do that by signing in at Settings>iCloud, which creates the account. If you've done that you will get the message about 'the maximum number of free iCloud accounts' and won't be able to create any more: erasing the phone won't change that.

jean-michelfromanchorage wrote:

man when u create an apple id on the apple site, automatically icloud account is created

No, it isn't. Creating an Apple ID gives you a login for iTunes, The Apple Store and so on. An iCloud account, with its email and syncing facilities, is not created until you sign in with the ID in Settings>iCloud. If that sign in, with ID which have not previously created an iCloud account, has already been done three times then that phone has reached its limit and will give the error message you appear to have received.

Apple Help page on creating an iCloud account:

https://support.apple.com/kb/ph2609?locale=en_US

You don't want to create another iCloud account, you want your purchaser to be able to do it, and I've told you four times how he can do that.

On your laptop you created Apple IDs, not iCloud Apple IDs.

Roger Wilmut already pointed that out more than once.

Please read this thread again from the very beginning.

If the answers you got are not satisfying you, please contact Apple Support:

Contact - Official Apple Support

Regards

Giulio

This happens when a) you try to log into Settings>iCloud using an Apple ID which has not yet created an iCloud account, and b) the device you are doing this on has already been used to create three iCloud accounts. That three is the limit; after that you can't create any more iCloud accounts whatever you do - it's tied to the hardware, not the account, and deleting accounts from it won't make any difference. Note that an Apple ID, though it may have been used to purchase items from iTunes and to log in here, doesn't have an associated iCloud account until you specifically create one by logging in in Settings (or System Preferences)>iCloud.

What you can do is to create a new iCloud account on another iOS device or Mac (not Windows or Android). Once you've done that you can log in to that account on the first device without problems.

If the phone has already been used to create three iCloud accounts it will never be able to create any more, no matter what you do to it. If you are going to sell it you you can sign out of the iCloud account currently on it (you must do this or the next owner will find himself locked out sooner or later), and you will need to explain to the purchaser that if he doesn't already have an iCloud account he will have to create an iCloud account on another device (iOS or Mac, not Windows or Android) and then sign into that account on the phone.