Cheapest place to buy Windows 7,8,10 + what's the deal with Retail vs OEM this time?

[jag272]

Hey guys. Just looking through here: https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/

Anyone bought from any of these sellers? I wouldn't normally go for something like this, but they're so damn cheap. I'm thinking a lot of them are probably MSDN keys or something.. Some of the comments are pretty off-putting too.. Too cheap to be true it seems lol.. Still, just wondering if anyone knows if there's a reliable seller amongst them?

I bought a 7 key from them just the other day after we had to replace the motherboard on one of the PCs in the house due to the old one failing and MS not playing ball. Activated fine and it was indeed a retail key, not a MSDN key or anything. They supposedly bulk buy them and then sell them all off cheap, how they bulk buy in such high quantities to sell them at £20 I don't know, but I don't know what MS offers are.

I specifically bought from s5ean since hes the one that actually runs the page, the other sellers seem to get reasonably good feedback.

Take it with a pinch of salt though, I'm sticking with just the one key from them atm and seeing what happens, but I can confirm it wasn't an MSDN key, or another other offer as far as I can see. Seems to be a proper retail key.

[ChinesePate]

they are msdn keys - at least mine is. there is 0% chance to get as low price even with bulk buying. I've upgraded my installation to w10 last night and it activated w10 with no problem
bought mine off s5ean too

[jag272]

they are msdn keys - at least mine is. there is 0% chance to get as low price even with bulk buying. I've upgraded my installation to w10 last night and it activated w10 with no problem
bought mine off s5ean too

Hmm will have to recheck the key I activated on the other PC then. I had a quick look at the product ID that came back from it and didn't immediately recognise the typical MSDN string at the start but perhaps I'm a little rusty having not used one for a while after the last one I ended up with timed out. That said it's not at all surprising, at that price point I would have been more surprised if it was an actual retail license because that'd be a massive discount for bulk buying.

Edit: If that does indeed turn out to be the case, and Win10 does end up being the "final" version, with transferable retail licenses and hopefully not selling service packs, I may replace the key I just used with a proper retail one if it does indeed last forever.

[GuidoLS]

Hey guys. Just looking through here: https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/

Anyone bought from any of these sellers? I wouldn't normally go for something like this, but they're so damn cheap. I'm thinking a lot of them are probably MSDN keys or something.. Some of the comments are pretty off-putting too.. Too cheap to be true it seems lol.. Still, just wondering if anyone knows if there's a reliable seller amongst them?

1) Any of them with verified seller are 'legitimate'.
2) Every key for sale is OEM - you'll never see a retail key for any of those products going for $10-$20. Be aware of the restrictions involved.
3) None of the keys you purchase there will allow a direct install of Windows 10 immediately - you will have to install the given version (7, 8.1, etc) and then do the upgrade that way.
4) On the off chance you get a bad key, you're only recourse will be through your pay company. Most sellers use PayPal, so if you go this route, I suggest you do the same. Never, ever, ever use your credit/debit card directly, unless you just want to give your money and info away.

I bought an Office key from THIS seller, and the turn-around time was roughly 90 seconds. It may be a touch slower over the next few days - seems there's a new OS being released and all that. I'm a little more wary on the OS side of things, and unless I buy directly from MS, I pay the premium for a physical copy with a Genuine sticker slapped on it.

Also, if people don't have to have the pro version, and are searching for a cheap version of 7, look for 7 starter - it should be the cheapest, and it still converts to 10 Home.

[jag272]

Just checked on the machine, it was indeed an MSDN. For some reason I was expecting a 5 number string not a 3 number string for the MSDN indicator. Therefore the keys will probably deactivate after 1-2 years without making further adjustments, and I doubt those adjustments will be possible in Win10.

That said, we don't necessarily know how they treat the Win10 upgrade, if they invalidate the old key when you do the upgrade, would it even matter if the key got blacklisted later down the line, or would the new legit Win10 key remain active. Are the 2 still linked or are they 2 separate entities.

Either way, thats shifting a little too into the grey area I think, and won't want to get Hexus in trouble so I'm going to draw the line there for my own discussion. Its an interesting question though I think.

Guess I will indeed be buying a full retail license of Win10 to replace that MSDN key once we actually found out the proper terms regarding them. Once MS figures the terms out first that is.

[ZaO]

Thankyou for the feedback on that, everyone There's got to be some risk with that price.. I suppose it can be worth a shot, but you'd sorta need to expect that it might come back to bite you at some point.

Also, I got a reply from what appears to be a Microsoft engineer on the offical support forum. See what you make of this: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...ef8d50b?auth=1

[jag272]

That response is actually quite concerning IMO. Not only is it blatantly a generic copy paste response, but it heavily leads that that store link is actually the retail copy, which based off of what Scan have told us, isn't even able for purchase yet supposedly.

It's also quite concerning that the MS Store doesn't specify if its retail or OEM, but I guess strictly speaking OEM isn't supposed to be for consumer sale in the first place so either MS doubled back on their own rules and didn't inform the guys responding to queries, or they're releasing retail on their own store ahead of everyone else but not actually informing anyone.

I still don't know what their plan was with this sharing, or lack thereof, of information on there before. All it's doing is reducing my trust in them, wondering what kind of tricks they're trying to pull and just what it is they're trying to hard by not just publicising their plans, assuming they've even decided on their plans internally.

[GuidoLS]

Thankyou for the feedback on that, everyone There's got to be some risk with that price.. I suppose it can be worth a shot, but you'd sorta need to expect that it might come back to bite you at some point.

Also, I got a reply from what appears to be a Microsoft engineer on the offical support forum. See what you make of this: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...ef8d50b?auth=1

That's the kind of response that triggers me to ask for someone that speaks/communicates in a slightly different version of English. Nothing personal, but clicking on that link, and following through, leads me to the MS Store for Singapore... with no product numbers. I'd wait for, or seek out, a different, more relevant answer. You can go to the MS store on your own, with no need to jump through hoops - and you'll not find a discount price there if that's what you're looking for.

[ZaO]

Yeh I thought that reply seemed a bit off too.. It also took me to the Singapore store. Still, it could be an interesting way to get a look at the price for the retail version, if that even was a retail licenced version I was linked to.. I have responded and just asked for the codes again!

I don't need to find the cheapest thing possible, but I just want a new and unused licence for W7/8 Retail so I can upgrade it, seeing as it's so hard/impossible to find W10 Retail right now.. If I can't find a new version of W7/8 for a good price, then I might consider just taking a chance with one of those cheap keys..

[sqwerty]

r/microsoftsoftwareswap

Bought (several) legit 8.1N keys for $10 a piece upgraded to 10 last night no problems.

[icemantaz]

r/microsoftsoftwareswap

Bought (several) legit 8.1N keys for $10 a piece upgraded to 10 last night no problems.

I don't know how they can be legit at the prices on them threads

[ZaO]

MSDN confirmed. Chances of them keys holding out forever is probably pretty slim from what I've been able to make out. Unless, it somehow gets forgotten or whatever when you upgrade to Windows 10. But I doubt it..

[jag272]

MSDN confirmed by s5ean. Chances of them keys holding out forever is probably pretty slim from what I've been able to make out. Unless, it somehow gets forgotten or whatever when you upgrade to Windows 10. But I doubt it..

Ye thats what I was wondering about in my previous post before deciding it's probably best not to talk too deeply about it. I would think MS have that eventuality covered though otherwise Win10 piracy would be rampant.

[ZaO]

Ye thats what I was wondering about in my previous post before deciding it's probably best not to talk too deeply about it. I would think MS have that eventuality covered though otherwise Win10 piracy would be rampant.

Yeh I actually thought that when I last posted just now. I didn't quite realise what I was getting into with this, but now it's clearer to me.. Maybe a mod can delete some of our posts if it's a problem. But, I'm gonna stop talking about it now anyway, and I won't be buying one of those keys

[leepen@scan]

Finally confirmed...


Windows 10 Home (OEM)


KW9-00185 32bit
LN66042

KW9-00139 64bit
LN66041


Windows 10 Pro (OEM)

FQC-08969 32bit
LN66044
FQC-08929 64bit
LN66043


Windows 10 RETAIL (32 and 64 included)

FQC-08789 Pro
LN66037

KW9-00017 Home
LN66036

[ZaO]

Finally confirmed...


Windows 10 Home (OEM)


KW9-00185 32bit
LN66042

KW9-00139 64bit
LN66041


Windows 10 Pro (OEM)

FQC-08969 32bit
LN66044
FQC-08929 64bit
LN66043


Windows 10 RETAIL (32 and 64 included)

FQC-08789 Pro
LN66037

KW9-00017 Home
LN66036

Cool. Thanks for the info