windows 8.1 cheap from eBay??

Collabora

gjchester wrote: »

All depends on the licence they originally had, and where the CD/DVD disk (and PC) came from.

OEM (often now called System builder) licences cannot be transferred from PC to PC, and die with the motherboard, with the sole exception of a exact like for like replacement in case of mobo failure.

System builder disks are often called OEM but sold to the end user building their own PC.

The other OEM type is the ones that come with big "Royalty" vendors (ie HP/Dell/IBM). These don't quite the have the same configuration as a system builder disk and so it's possible that if the Disk came from a "Royalty" OEM that the setup will look for a files in the BIOS, without them it will not self activate, meaning you will have to contact Microsoft to activate it.

In other cases it may be they cannot be activated online, only by phone, and you may be asked more questions. Will it activate, probably, and there are software solutions to get around them, but technically the licence is void as the licence was tied to the system it was first installed on.


Full retail software has no restrictions on transferring it to other computer, other than you can only install it in one place at a time.



Long term only you can decide, a OEM version bought used may work forever, or it may be invalidated by a future MS upgrade forcing you to buy it again.

when MS was selling windows 8 for only £25 and then offered it on disc for a further £7 these were OEM versions which they allowed you to move from PC to PC as long as it was only run on the one machine at the same time. I know this as when i ordered this i got the download, but never got the disc, so when i call MS about this then explained this to me, and i ended up with 3 discs rather than 1

gjchester

Collabora wrote: »

when MS was selling windows 8 for only £25 and then offered it on disc for a further £7 these were OEM versions which they allowed you to move from PC to PC as long as it was only run on the one machine at the same time. I know this as when i ordered this i got the download, but never got the disc, so when i call MS about this then explained this to me, and i ended up with 3 discs rather than 1

Actually they offered it for £25 on a DVD eventually, that's how I got mine.


I'm not sure what yours in, mines an upgrade, which means it can be used to upgrade any machine that had a valid prior Windows OS on it. Microsoft also change the rules for upgrades with Win 8 allowing you to transfer that upgrade between any machine you own, as long as you say you uninstall the prior version.


That right didn't exist in Windows 7, once an upgrade was applied it took on the licence of the older machine.


You CAN even sell on W8 system builder licence either as part of a PC or by themselves, but only the 1st owner of the licence can do that.


In the case of the OP this isn't relevant, the licence being sold (Ebay I assume) is most likely not a system builder licence but one supplied by the PC maker such as HP/Dell/Etc and an OEM licence supplied with a system (i.e. not system builder) so still lives and dies with the original machine motherboard.


As I said would Microsoft ever know, unlikely, but they have in the past (with XPSP1 I think) invalidated swathes or OEM keys, only the OP can decide if they want to take that chance,

cookie365

Collabora wrote: »

That means nothing you can also check https://whois.domaintools.com/mrhightech.com which gives same address, along wityh a name. it could be a 1 man business run from a home address, and uses mailbox for business as if it was not legit then they would hide their details in a whois search to hide where they are truly from.

you could if you are a student or have a student in your family go here

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/list/categoryID.64543200 £49.99

The site lists 655 models of TV and projector for sale. There can't be much space left under the kitchen table then

Collabora

cookie365 wrote: »

The site lists 655 models of TV and projector for sale. There can't be much space left under the kitchen table then

dropshipping. they set up a site and have an account with a dropship wholesaler, and list all the wholesalers products, so you order and pay they then pass the order to dropshipper and pays the wholesale prcie and then dropshipper sends it direct to the buyer

Collabora

gjchester wrote: »

Actually they offered it for £25 on a DVD eventually, that's how I got mine.

i did hear that. they did refund me due to issue i had and told me to keep the licence.

i was sent win 8 Pro 32-Bit via a download link full version not upgrade version.
the discs when it did arrive followed by another 2 was full versions pack of 2 the 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

the fun was when upgrading to 8.1. Talk about a long and slow process

gjchester

Collabora wrote: »

i did here that. they did refund me due to issue i had and told me to keep the licence.

i was sent win 8 Pro 32-Bit via a download link full version not upgrade version.
the discs when it did arrive followed by another 2 was full versions pack of 2 the 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

I think you answered your own question. If they sent you a full version you can move it as you see fit, different to the question of de-installing and selling copies from systems that would have had it as a OEM install.

Collabora

gjchester wrote: »

I think you answered your own question. If they sent you a full version you can move it as you see fit, different to the question of de-installing and selling copies from systems that would have had it as a OEM install.

well clear you have not read the thread, but instead just decided to reply and try and put me down.

gjchester

Collabora wrote: »

well clear you have not read the thread, but instead just decided to reply and try and put me down.

Sorry that was not my intention.

The OP mentioned about used copies of Windows sold second hand as used then uninstalled. My prior comment was that the vast majority of these will be Vendor supplied OEM copies (rather than system builder) and so unlikely to be legal.

You bought upgrade from Microsoft and were fortunate to get Full versions rather than upgrades. You can legally move them about your computers as you see fit, but that's not the same as most versions sold as used. Look on Ebay, most are sold with HP/IBM/DELL branded disks as the restore media, that's not legal in the slightest under the license terms.

I was not trying to put you down, just commenting your case is not the same as the OP's

Collabora

gjchester wrote: »

Sorry that was not my intention.

The OP mentioned about used copies of Windows sold second hand as used then uninstalled. My prior comment was that the vast majority of these will be Vendor supplied OEM copies (rather than system builder) and so unlikely to be legal.

You bought upgrade from Microsoft and were fortunate to get Full versions rather than upgrades. You can legally move them about your computers as you see fit, but that's not the same as most versions sold as used. Look on Ebay, most are sold with HP/IBM/DELL branded disks as the restore media, that's not legal in the slightest under the license terms.

I was not trying to put you down, just commenting your case is not the same as the OP's

yes they sent full versions along with a full refund of what it all cost as they failed to send me discs i paid for even after about a half dozen emails asking where they were and then i ended up with 3 lots of discs.

also i dont think you can get 8.1 on disc, you will get 8 and then through the store on PC/laptop have the option to upgrade to 8.1 which is a very slow process

Jivesinger

Collabora wrote: »

when MS was selling windows 8 for only £25 and then offered it on disc for a further £7 these were OEM versions which they allowed you to move from PC to PC as long as it was only run on the one machine at the same time.

The £25 versions were Upgrade versions, not OEM. As they were upgrades, you were allowed to uninstall from one machine and install on another - this wouldn't be allowed with OEM Windows 8.

Collabora wrote: »

also i dont think you can get 8.1 on disc, you will get 8 and then through the store on PC/laptop have the option to upgrade to 8.1 which is a very slow process

Of course you can get 8.1 on disc - see here for example:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/pdp/productID.288532600