I bought an iPhone 5 with an activation lock?

A few days ago I had bought an iPhone 5 (or 5s, I don't know the difference) off of eBay. It came a couple days later completely reset with the standard 'Hello' and a white backdrop to greet me. However, I came across an Activation Lock screen that I can't bypass because apparently it was once connected to someone's iCloud/Find my iPhone account. I've tried contacting the seller to no avail, and tried bypassing it changing the DNS on my Wi-Fi like different sources have suggested. I'd rather not find out I wasted my money for nothing, if there's anything I can do, please tell me. I'm desperate to get this in working order.

Take it to an Apple store they can fix it for free.

If you can't contact the seller (no surprise there considering he's scamming you), then all you can do is to contact eBay or your payment provider to possibly reverse the charge. There's no way to bypass an activation lock.

This happened to me once. You need to ask the original owner to remove your phone from their account. That happened to me, lucky me it was my brother who I had the same account as me.

"I'd rather not find out I wasted my money for nothing… " Well you just wasted your money for nothing. You bought an iCloud locked phone which most likely means that it was stolen… The fact that the seller isn't responding is a red flag.

Call Apple and they will walk you through it

If you bought as a working phone" And not AS IS or untested etc. Then do a return on Ebay. Explain that you have tried to reach out etc. And I would suggest buying a iPhone 6 the 5 is still working but not long before the IOS will be to old. If you end up needing one check this place called Best deal in town cheap phones with a warranty http://vegashdtv.com

  • Will flashing my iphone get rid of the activation lock? I bought a iphone 4s from someone and they forgot to sighn the iphone off of there icloud account. So i'm wondering if i have it flashed ( say by Metro PCS os something ) will the iphone be like new again?
  • Who can tell me how to get past that activation lock on iPhone 5s? I have proof of purchase to an iPhone 5s I purchased from eBay. Apple informed me that they or my phone provider could bypass the activation lock and that is why I purchased the phone for a better price than buying brand new. Then neither the Apple store nor AT&T could help me with my problem. The seller hasn't been much of a help and will not give me the information I need to get past the activation lock, is there another way?
  • My iPhone 3GS is stuck on the Activation Lock Mode. How do I fix it? My iPhone I bought a few months ago was jailbroken/unlocked but when I wanted to restore the iPhone and remove the jailbreak and such, it got stuck on the Activation Screen. Can anyone help me fix this? I honestly have no clue on what to do. It is not in service or anything, it is just stuck. Answers needed As soon as possible, thank you.
  • Is there any possible way to get past the activation lock on an iPhone 5? I bought an iPhone from my friends friend. Well he failed to tell me that I needed his username or password to actually use the phone, and I have no contact with this person. Is there any way to get past this or am I out of 80$?