Originally Posted by
PJD1
Not true I'm afraid. The eBay sellers selling MS products at low prices are typically selling volume licence keys that are designed for use by large companies who need to install many copies of the software on their computers, reselling these keys on eBay is definitely outside the terms of the licence. The keys will almost certainly work when you buy them but if Microsoft become aware that they are being sold in this way they will blacklist them and your software will stop working. The typical profile of these sellers would be someone who works in an IT department and has access to the keys through their workplace and has taken it upon themselves to use this to make some easy money for themselves. Of course the sellers say they are working within the terms of the licences, they would hardly say otherwise! Volume licence keys were never intended to be "split up" and sold in this way and it is not legitimate use of the licence to do so.
I concur. Buying licences off eBay and similar sites nearly always involves going outside original licence terms and conditions, which you should find on your disc or in the box, except if your disc is unreadable. You usually click past them without reading them as you start your installation. You know: the BIT WITH ALL CAPITAL LETTERS legalese.
Catch 22!
Don't support thieves and shady characters by giving them money. Pirated software, by the very definition, should always be free.
You paid for the software, the millions of hours and lines of code of intellectual property that went into the code. You paid for the installation media. You should, barring abuse, expect that media to last for a long time if carefully preserved in original box in a controlled climate. Don't be asinine about it,, otherwise your Micro$oft support call will change from a free one to paid. They are usually understanding, and their job is to assist customers, except those that are clearly frauds attempting to steal software.