Aye, but there's also mention of activating a phone you buy through Moto Maker, hence my confusion:
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I purchased from a third party (i.e. Moto Maker, a friend, eBay)
New member
Your phone will automatically begin activation when you turn it on.
You'll need access to a WiFi network to complete the activation process.
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Apparently this only applies to one phone (which I wasn't interested in, so I didn't click the moto maker link). Having clicked it now it's a little less confusing, but it looks like just a logo under their 3 phones here:
https://republicwireless.com/phones/So I saw the logo and figured I'd just buy it from moto maker and get more memory, and then it was also cheaper on moto maker. I missed the one FAQ at the bottom of a different page I never saw where you can sort of infer you can't do what I tried to do. It's easy to clear up in their notes in a dozen different places, and I'm asking them to do that now through my ticket.
Motorola is letting me return the phone though so it looks like no loss to me. Sucks for Motorola though, and I feel like a dumbass.