# What are these guys selling (MS Office 2019 Pro+) on eBay?



## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

There are lots of ads on eBay for MS Office 2019 Pro+ for under $20. This one is $3.99.
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Now, I know that nobody can sell a full, real, legitimate copy of MS Office Pro+ for $3.99.

But it looks like they are only selling the 25-character key---not the actual software. The description is somewhat vague: it kind of suggests 5-minute download. But I also know that the actual MS Office Pro+ software could probably not be downloaded in 5 minutes, even on a really high speed connection.

So . . . if they are only selling the key, what good is that? Is it for activating a pirated copy, or a copy on a CD that has been previously been installed on another computer, or what?


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Yep, they are selling a key to activate a copy. Our kids used to have friends who would download trial/demo software and then go to pirate bay or whatever or use key generators from college geeks to unlock the full programs.
I'm pretty sure ebay shuts them down once they are made aware.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

GTX63 said:


> I'm pretty sure ebay shuts them down once they are made aware.


Thanks. Looks like eBay allows it:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=ms+office+pro++key&_sacat=0&_sop=15


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

NRA_guy said:


> But it looks like they are only selling the 25-character key---not the actual software.


The $3.99 versions are delivered by download link. It will include the software installation software file. You'll probably need to burn it to a DVD or thumb drive yourself.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

Nevada said:


> The $3.99 versions are delivered by download link. It will include the software installation software file. You'll probably need to burn it to a DVD or thumb drive yourself.


So I would get the actual MS Office software . . . not just the key?

Downloading the installation file and burning it to a DVD or thumb drive is fine to me provided I end up with the actual MS Office software, not just a key.

Thanks.


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## robin416 (Dec 29, 2019)

The one thing that would stop me, that you could also be downloading a virus.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

robin416 said:


> The one thing that would stop me, that you could also be downloading a virus.


 I've heard that possibility. Maybe I could download it to a junk PC and run a virus check on it.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

NRA_guy said:


> I've heard that possibility. Maybe I could download it to a junk PC and run a virus check on it.


Any good virus software will check it as it's downloaded.

While a virus is always a possibility, these people are only interested in making a little money. I wouldn't let the fear of a virus stop me.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

Nevada said:


> Any good virus software will check it as it's downloaded.
> 
> While a virus is always a possibility, these people are only interested in making a little money. I wouldn't let the fear of a virus stop me.


Great! Thanks. I may try it. 

I have wasted way more than $3.99 on a lots of riskier things in the past month.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Just curious, do you find MS Office does something more than LibreOffice or WPS Office? I am sure they have few proprietary gimmicks but for day to day use?

Reading reviews of those little cloudbook computers promising a free year of online version MS Office and people go crazy over it. For most people I just dont see the big advantage. Saying that, I havent used MS Office since guess win98 days, so sure its changed somewhat. What I remember most is how slow and sluggish it was on my computer. Friend had given me a copy to try.

I recently installed Lubuntu 19.04 on little HP Stream cloudbook. This little netbook/cloudbook not known for massive computing power. Lubuntu comes with LibreOffice. I was pleasantly surprised how fast it loaded. I like free version WPS better, but it really doesnt matter that much.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Open Office does about everything for free that MS Office does.
https://www.openoffice.org/download/


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

It's really just the fact that I have learned to use MS Office over the years. My employer (the US Army Corps of Engineers) made us use it at work and Microsoft allowed Army employees to get a free copy for home use.

I originally LOVED Corel's WordPerfect, and used it at work on my early desktop computers, but I was forced to switch to Word about 20 years ago.

Over the years, Word and WordPerfect got more and more similar anyway.

I tried OpenOffice briefly a few years ago, but I went back to Word just because I was familiar with it.

It sounds like I would not like the new MS Word 2019 (too many "improvements" for me to learn how to use).

And I will never, ever rent a copy of MS Office 365.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Yea renting MS Office 365 seems kinda dumb. Only way I would use such is if I worked for somebody that insisted on MS Office and was paying the bill. Their money, they can waste it anyway they want long as my paycheck is on time.

MS is trying their hardest to make everything they sell into monthly fee and put it in cloud.

I think there are free online office suites. But seriously rather have it on my own computer.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

HermitJohn said:


> Yea renting MS Office 365 seems kinda dumb. Only way I would use such is if I worked for somebody that insisted on MS Office and was paying the bill. Their money, they can waste it anyway they want long as my paycheck is on time.
> 
> MS is trying their hardest to make everything they sell into monthly fee and put it in cloud.
> 
> I think there are free online office suites. But seriously rather have it on my own computer.


I agree. I suspect that somebody hight up in MS has had a study done and it showed that companies and the Federal government are willing to pay an annual fee rather than buying a new version of software every few years. (Don't underestimate how many Federal PCs use MS Office---and, of course, money is no concern whatsoever for Federal agencies.)

Intuit is one of the worst software companies in my opinion. At one time they put a clock in some accounting software they sold and when the clock reached the end of life, it would no longer even open. Not sure if they still do that or not.


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