Cheapest Way to get MS Office?

wongataa

J_B said:

dogmaryxx said:

I've bought two keys for a 'lifetime 365 five user subscription' on Ebay

          Not possible--- no such version exists.

If you say so ....

The thing is Office 365 is a subscription service.  It is impossible to have a lifetime subscription from any source.  Office 2019/2016/insert other year here is a standalone product and you can buy it outright.  Those adverts in the screenshot are misleading because they have Office 365 and 2016/2019 in the description.  What you actually get will be the standalone year version not 365.

Sicard

I got so peed off trying to fix my Office 2016 I clean uninstalled it and went for the free Office 365. The only minor problem is it saves it to OneDrive after any amendments and although you can download it to desktop you them have to use something like Libre Office to make it into a proper file.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=office+for+free

poppy10_2

JGB1955 said:

I have always gone for a slightly older version - e.g. Microsoft Office 2016 rather than 2019,  currently available for £17.84 from Microsoft Office 2016 Professional Plus (mssoftware.co.uk).  No problems whatsoever.

That store sells dodgy grey market OEM keys. You may as well buy the latest version key on ali or ebay for £3, it's the same thing

SusieTiple

poppy10_2 said:

JGB1955 said:

I have always gone for a slightly older version - e.g. Microsoft Office 2016 rather than 2019,  currently available for £17.84 from ****  No problems whatsoever.

That store sells dodgy grey market OEM keys. You may as well buy the latest version key on ali or ebay for £3, it's the same thing

I'm not sure how you can get dodgy grey market keys. When they are installed they call back to Microsofts servers to check if genuine. I was informed they are reclaimed keys.

[Deleted User]

If I buy a MS product and get an official key, paying say £116 r whatever it is for standalone Office, then see an ad for £5 for the key for the same product, something should be twigging peoples spidy senses rather than purse senses.

What is the provenance of a key someone purchases? Is it a result of theft? Or Foreign key, educational skimming or enterprise? Or genuinely legal in which case why call it "grey", there should be a provenance trail to be sure. No trail, sounds shonky to me.

anotheruser

Most don't care if it's illegal or not... if the price is hot, they'll have it.

Why you uninstalled Office from the HUP I don't know.
Once it's on, it's on.  It isn't suddenly going to stop working.

Langtang

half_empty said:

What is the provenance of a key someone purchases? Is it a result of theft? Or Foreign key, educational skimming or enterprise? Or genuinely legal in which case why call it "grey", there should be a provenance trail to be sure. No trail, sounds shonky to me.

Black market is generally illegal, whereas grey can mean many things that are not necessarily illegal. 

neilmcl

anotheruser said:

Most don't care if it's illegal or not... if the price is hot, they'll have it.

Why you uninstalled Office from the HUP I don't know.
Once it's on, it's on.  It isn't suddenly going to stop working.

To be fair to the OP, they haven't actually said they have uninstalled it yet.

But to take your point, my laptop has a copy of Office 2013 via HUP from a company I stropped working for back in 2016 and it continues to work perfectly well. I also got a copy of Office 2016 nearer the time I left but unfortunately the confirmation email from MS didn't include the product key so I can no longer get a hold of that copy.

Jenni_D

Was your O2016 not linked to a Microsoft account? Or did you not install/activate it prior to leaving that company?

[Deleted User]

Langtang said:

half_empty said:

What is the provenance of a key someone purchases? Is it a result of theft? Or Foreign key, educational skimming or enterprise? Or genuinely legal in which case why call it "grey", there should be a provenance trail to be sure. No trail, sounds shonky to me.

Black market is generally illegal, whereas grey can mean many things that are not necessarily illegal. 

Yeah, but is there a label on the key saying this is from an educational package and breaks MS T+C but we probably won't chase you through the courts vs this comes from a black market via credit card fraud source?

In which case, no provenance, how do you know? Using grey sets a way to absolve people of doing the right thing unless there is a trail for the purchase but hey ho. 

My HUP ran past my time at the company but I pretty much stopped using it (started with Apples free spreadsheet). All deleted now.