Is there a way to check a M$ Office licence key is legit?

[evilsatan]

I needed to get a licence for an office product, the licences are very expensive so I thought I would try my luck on ebay. There were 2 sellers from Lithuania selling keys for £40-50 which seemed too good to be true so I avoided them, but a few other accounts appeared to have legitimate items for sale and they were priced at a more believable cost.

I did end up winning one on a bid but they just emailed me the key, when I requested they send me the COA they emailed me a scanned picture that was obviously photoshopped so I am in the process of getting a refund.

I bought one for £150 from another seller who have a flooring business and they used their business ebay account, I assumed it was software they no longer needed or something like that. They emailed me the key and posted me a genuine Microsoft install disc but it has 'Backup Disc' printed on it. I have emailed them to request the COA but is there a way I can check the key? It looks like it might be a volume licence key which I am pretty sure would not be legitimate for use in my case.

I know ebay is a risk, there was a big saving to be had and I was going to check it was genuine COA etc. before using the key. I was surprised someone would have the balls or stupidity to sell illegitimate keys on their own company's account and charge so much for them! Worst comes to worst I can buy genuine from America and have it sent over here for cheaper than the questionable key above, I have already checked the licence terms and it is legitimate for UK use.

Cheers

[elephantsoup]

Do you know any students or nurses?
Get them to get it under the home use scheme for you

http://www.microsofthup.com/hupuk/ho...?culture=en-GB

[Mr.James]

I'd be wary, Microsoft don't allow certain types of keys to be resold.

We've just sold one of our companies and have been told (by MS themselves) that they do not allow the transfer of licenses for anything purchased on our Open or Select licence agreements, only our Enterprise agreements (250 licenses min). Anything that is transferred also needs a raft of forms filling in.

Pre installed software can be transferred, as long as it's part of the sale of the qualifying hardware.

If they key you have been sent is an Open license or a Select agreement key too, it might work and activate successfully, but it's still not legal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hangman]

Whoever told you that at Microsoft is talking out of there arse.

All perpetual licenses can be transferred as part of a business sale. The only caveat is that open licenses purchased in the EU cannot be transferred to any company out of the EU.

I would speak with your LAR (LSP) or your Microsoft Account manager and ask them to engage with your aligned LSS who will be able to help you.

If your LAR can't help you, you should find a better LAR, you could do worse than transferring to me. (sorry for the sales bit at the end).

[evilsatan]

I am aware of those schemes elephantsoup but that wouldn't be legitimate The whole point is I want to ensure I have legit licences for use in an office

The keys I have received are no doubt valid, but the legitimacy is what concerns me as they may be from a volume licence which would not cover use by another company or they may even be stolen keys. The £150 seller has just replied to me to say the keys were bought from the Microsoft Online Store using his Microsoft account, he has sent me photos of the sticker he has removed from the disc he sent me, it reads:

To install Office form this DVD, use the 25-character Product Key found in the "Install from a disc" link under the Account Options section on the Office My Account page www.office.com/myaccount

I can't see how he can buy keys for resale and sell them for £150 (less than half the software RRP) unless they are volume or he used a stolen credit card etc.

[Over Carl]

All perpetual licenses can be transferred as part of a business sale. The only caveat is that open licenses purchased in the EU cannot be transferred to any company out of the EU.

To me that line looks like it says that if a business is sold, any relevant licenses can be sold with the business.

The rest of the thread seems to be talking about a business that isn't being sold selling their licenses.

Am I just picking up on ambiguity, or are we on about two totally different scenarios here?

Back to the thread topic, I really doubt these licenses would be legal.

[evilsatan]

I agree, the purpose of the thread was more to see if it is possible to distinguish the type of licence rather than to see if these ones up for sale are legit. I didn't know if I could enter the licence key into an M$ website, tell it which product it is and then be told if it is volume licence etc.

[evilsatan]

Well I have requested a refund and have found someone else selling genuine retail packaged licences at a discount so have bought from them, the main thing is that I have a COA or unused licence card for a commercial licence so it is suitable for this use.

[DejaVu]

I agree, the purpose of the thread was more to see if it is possible to distinguish the type of licence rather than to see if these ones up for sale are legit. I didn't know if I could enter the licence key into an M$ website, tell it which product it is and then be told if it is volume licence etc.

One & Two

One - Is to check the Code is valid and should let you know the version it's for... including VL. Part of this from MDL.
Two - Is the place to enter the Code and MS allows you to download the corresponding Office product for it.

[evilsatan]

Very nice