Office 2013 resellers?

[Thrust Augmentation]

I've got some system shuffling / upgrading coming up & will require some new installs of MS Office 2013. There are a plethora of UK resellers offering licences for peanuts all going by names like "software" this & "key" that, some via Amazon but I'm unfamiliar with all of them & the low pricing just seems, well low.

Does anyone know if any of these outfits are selling genuine or valid keys that will install & remain licenced like they should?

I know that Office 365 is available, but don't want to go down that route & while Office 2019 is also available, 2013 would be a definite preference for commonality between the upgraded & existing computers.


Thanks.

[jimtherev]

This is an interesting one. I've been using this 'cheap' - i.e. under ten quid - copy of MS Office 2016 for a couple of years. Bought off ebay and downloaded quickly and efficiently. No comebacks whatsoever.
**However** I've just downloaded a couple of copies of '2019'. Again successfully, but I notice that within 24 hours ebay has taken the offers down. Are Microsoft mounting a campaign against these cheap sellers? I suspect that they might be.
But in conclusion, I've not paid full price for software for years; never knowingly bought 'bent' stuff; never had a failure yet...

Oh dear... what have I done?

[Thrust Augmentation]

Well that's good to know!

Office 2019 is still a current / MS sold product - wonder if that's why offers are dissapearing.

I'm not specificaly looking for a bargain on 2013 & would be happy to purchase from MS if they still sold - just want to avoid 365 & retain commonality across the (small) "fleet".

[spitfirek5054]

I use Open Office,which is free,and downloadable from the internet.

[Thrust Augmentation]

I use Open Office,which is free,and downloadable from the internet.
I did try Open Office some time ago & it wasn't really much liked by myself or other users - nothing exactly wrong with it, but with a bunch of people who have been on the MS Office platform since nineteen canteen it just turned into a bit of a no-no (I tried!).

Thanks.

[BirdmanBerry]

I might be able to sort a legit copy of 2013 as we're moving the office to 365 and currently using 2013 standard licenses.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Office 2019, rather than 2013 - but I bought this key 3 months ago for my new laptop, installed a treat, still working well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PS78H4D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have tried Libre Office. Slow, clunky, no good for the sort of complex stuff I have to do e.g. writing scientific papers.

I am currently trialling a writing package (a bit more complex than a word processor) designed for writing books in, called Scrivener. I'd not use it for writing letters, but am pretty convinced now I'll be writing my next book in it. £43 for a full Windows licence is hardly painful.

G

[PJD1]

The cost of Microsoft Office from Microsoft or a licenced reseller starts form £120 for the home and student edition (or is via a subscription to Office 365). Any of these "licences" sold for a few pounds on eBay or Amazon clearly fall into the category of if it looks too good to be true it probably is. They may well install and work OK initially but they are certainly not legal, they will probably be some form of OEM or volume licencing key that were intended for use by computer manufacturers or large businesses and if Microsoft become aware that the keys are being sold illegally they will block them and your copy will be likely to stop working.

[kenparry]

Forget OpenOffice, as its development more or less ended several years ago. Try LibreOffice, which came from the same roots, is still under active further development, and has compatibility with MS file formats.

I have been using it happily for some years.

[750XL]

I've used these sellers numerous times on eBay and had no issues at all. I believe they simply recycle serial keys from old PC's

[kenparry]

I believe they simply recycle serial keys from old PC's[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]

I understand that Microsoft's validation process prevents that, as the old hardware will not match the new, and the detected differences will result in a validation fail.

[PJD1]

I've used these sellers numerous times on eBay and had no issues at all. I believe they simply recycle serial keys from old PC's

You can't just re-use an old licence key, the activation process ties the product key to the hardware that it was installed on, it wont work if you try to reuse an old key on a different computer. The key must either be an unused one or an OEM / VLK licence. These keys may well "work", I have heard many stories of people using them without problems but they are illegal pirated software and there is a high likelihood that they will stop working at some point in the future when Microsoft blacklists them. Also downloading and using software from a non legitimate source caries other risks in that it may contain viruses or malware, You pay your money and you take your choice!

EDIT: crossed with above post.

[750XL]

Apologies, looks like I've been proven wrong on that count then - it's been a few years since I've purchased keys from eBay so I can't remember exactly how they get the keys and sell them so cheaply.

However, I've had over 5 keys for 5 years or more that still work on different machines so it does work.

[FlightDetent]

PJD1: Are your strong words about illegality not at odds with the EU High Court ruling that specifically says otherwise? I do respect Microsoft's choice to brand them as such.

[Thrust Augmentation]

I might be able to sort a legit copy of 2013 as we're moving the office to 365 and currently using 2013 standard licenses.

Offer appreciated, but the product key is tied up to the original MS account used / created when Office was installed is it not?

The cost of Microsoft Office from Microsoft or a licenced reseller starts form £120 for the home and student edition (or is via a subscription to Office 365).

I'm aware that 2019 is available - £420 a pop for Professional. While the price is hefty, as said it's the preference for 2013 that's driving the query, not the price.

Also downloading and using software from a non legitimate source caries other risks in that it may contain viruses or malware, You pay your money and you take your choice!

I wouldn't download from a random source - I would be expecting a key that would be valid via the normal office.com/setup route.


The prices suggest to me that these products are most likely illegal, but I find it hard to fathom that some of these resellers have been pedalling these products for years, without interruption & that while I know plenty that have gone down this route I don't know anyone that has had any issue. It seems to me that the MS licencing police either don't exist or don't care.


Thanks all.

[PJD1]

PJD1: Are your strong words about illegality not at odds with the EU High Court ruling that specifically says otherwise? I do respect Microsoft's choice to brand them as such.

I am no expert on the legal details and not familiar with the court ruling you refer to however my best guess would be that these sellers are people who have access (probably through their work) to OEM or VLK product keys and are making money by selling them on eBay. This is clearly against the terms of the original Microsoft licence and they are also probably defrauding the person who paid for that licence in the first place (probably their employer). I am aware that many people have purchased these and had no problems and I have heard of others who found that their activation was cancelled after a period of time due to Microsoft black listing the keys. Of course many people will be attracted by the low price and are willing to take that risk for the sake of a few pounds and that is precisely what the sellers rely on. My own personal view is that this sort of thing just increases the price that the honest ones amongst us have to pay for our legitimate software licences and it is no different to benefit fraud or tax evasion but others may have different opinions :)

[FlightDetent]

What's it they say, everybody's got one? :confused: Your noble ethics are well built with strong arguments - in the given narrative.

Meanwhile, in the real world, there are legions of people with unused expensive SW licenses. Licences that had been properly purchased and are the sellers' property to dispose as they see fit.

In Microsoft's particular case mostly due to the provisions of their own Software Volume Licencing "Agreements" which will coerce you to buy an additional one.

https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2012-07/cp120094en.pdf

[PJD1]

I am no legal expert but this section of the document you link to seems to suggest that that what these eBay sellers are doing is clearly not legal.

"The Court points out, however, that if the licence acquired by the first acquirer relates to a greater number of users than he needs, that acquirer is not authorised by the effect of the exhaustion of the distribution right to divide the licence and resell only part of it."

This suggests to me that if someone has legally purchased some form of volume licence then they can re-sell that licence as a a single entity (provided of course that they are no longer using it themselves) but cannot split that licence up and resell parts of it to multiple users as these sellers appear to be doing,

[Genghis the Engineer]

Surely however, it's up to Microsoft to pursue that if they believe it to be the case - not the rest of us. They have the resources.

G

[Fly-by-Wife]

PJD1, (https://www.pprune.org/members/418184-pjd1) I don't think you understand the concept of what a Volume licence means in this situation. It refers to the sort of agreement that a company has with Microsoft whereby the volume of purchases they make entitles them to various discounts. It doesn't refer to the number of licences of a particular product that have been acquired.

It is perfectly possible for a company to have bought several hundreds or thousands of licences under a volume agreement and to subsequently sell them on following a corporate upgrade to a later version, where the company acquires new licences for the later version, and the original licences are no longer in use.

Of course, this situation tends to be uncommon, as organisations tend to only upgrade when they have to, so the old product has little or no usable support life left and therefore has negligible resale value, or else they pay annually for software updates, where the update subscription allows the perpetual licence holder to upgrade to the most recent version of the product without having to buy new perpetual licences.

FBW

[PJD1]

Fly-by-Wife (https://www.pprune.org/members/177854-fly-by-wife) I can assure you that having worked on numerous large IT projects during my career I do understand the concept of what a volume licence is. It does not refer, as you seem to suggest, to some sort of discount for buying a large number of individual licences, it refers to buying a single licence that authorises the holder to install and use the software on multiple devices. It is important to understand that there is a difference between a product key and a licence, they are not the same thing. When someone buys a software licence they are entering into a legal contract with the software provider and the licence sets out the terms and conditions under which they are authorised to use that software. In the case of a retail product that might be a licence that allows you to install the software on a single computer and you would be provided with a single product key that enables you to do that. In the case of a volume licence that might be a licence that allows you to install and use the software on up to 100 devices and you might be provided with 100 product keys to enable you to do that.

The product key on it's own is not a licence to use the software and if you read the section of the document quoted in my previous post it clearly says that dividing up a volume licence and selling only part of it is not allowed.