Microsoft Office

Hi
I want to buy or subscribe to Microsoft Office.
On Ebay people are selling activation codes for Microsoft Office 2016, for low prices.
Are these legit,or are they extremely dodgy?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Comments

  • worried_jim
    worried_jim Posts: 11,631
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    I get it for £9.95 through work, I imagine these are doing the same.
  • I get it for £9.95 through work, I imagine these are doing the same.
    As the Microsoft Home user program now only allows each licence to be used on one computer and each eligible employee can only purchase one licence, I would be very surprised if this was the case.
    I would have thought that once the licence has been used to activate Office once then any further attempts would fail.
  • forgotmyname
    forgotmyname Posts: 32,517
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    If its like activating windows then after approx 6 months the key works again without having to jump through hoops with a new key because of hardware changes.

    Although 2 computers connecting for updates will probably be an issue.
    Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...

  • Flyonthewall
    Flyonthewall Posts: 4,431
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    rdm1965 wrote: »
    Hi
    I want to buy or subscribe to Microsoft Office.
    On Ebay people are selling activation codes for Microsoft Office 2016, for low prices.
    Are these legit,or are they extremely dodgy?
    Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

    I'd say most are probably dodgy.

    Maybe an odd person has got one through work, as mentioned, doesn't want it so is selling it.

    However, most probably aren't legit especially if they're selling multiple ones. It's more likely they're generating keys to sell then buying them legit and selling on.

    I don't know if it's right about the keys working again after 6 months, but that isn't a legit way of gaining a key anyway if the other person is still using it and you will be linking yourself to them. So that should certainly be avoided.

    It's safer to buy it through Microsoft or a shop then buy a key off ebay.
  • gollum007
    gollum007 Posts: 301
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    The usual trick with these is to purchase them with stolen credit card details.

    Months down the line when the owner of the credit card used notices the fradulent transactions and charges them back, the keys are revoked without warning.

    Happens reasonably regularly with batches of PC games keys being revoked, will almost certainly be the same case with office too.
  • StumpyPumpy
    StumpyPumpy Posts: 1,458
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    I'd say most are probably dodgy.

    Maybe an odd person has got one through work, as mentioned, doesn't want it so is selling it.

    However, most probably aren't legit especially if they're selling multiple ones.
    Even if they are the odd person who got one through work and doesn't want it, it is not legitimate to sell them on as these licences are restricted only to employees and reselling is a breach of the licence agreement. Note that I'm not saying MS could instantly tell you were not an employee of a qualifying company if you used one, just that the use as such is not legitimate.

    MS do have the capability to revoke the authorisation whenever you update if they do happen to suspect shenanigans regarding your licence and all the keys are traceable back to the original source company, who should also be able to trace it back to the person it was issued too. Again, I don't know if this has ever happened in this sort of circumstance, but the audit trails do exist for this sort of thing and have definitely been used at a corporate level, so there is a risk, if small, in both buying and selling these sorts of keys.

    SP
    Come on people, it's not difficult: lose means to be unable to find, loose means not being fixed in place. So if you have a hole in your pocket you might lose your loose change.
  • Mistral001
    Mistral001 Posts: 5,346
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    I am surprised that ebay are not outlawing this as it almost certainly dodgy.

    I do not know much about these activation codes, but they might actually be selling just trial membership which is free I believe.
  • Flyonthewall
    Flyonthewall Posts: 4,431
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    Mistral001 wrote: »
    I am surprised that ebay are not outlawing this as it almost certainly dodgy.

    I do not know much about these activation codes, but they might actually be selling just trial membership which is free I believe.

    "Digitally delivered goods and items which are transferred electronically are not permitted on eBay."

    http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/buying-digital-items.html

    It's not just MS Office, it happens with other software too. They could do more to stop it, but they're making money from it so they probably won't.
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