I was looking for software license for Windows and there are many offers in Shopee. They claim to be fully legal, however the price is very favourable - in low hundreds of TWD. Are these offers legit or not? I would expect such a reputable platform like Shopee not to allow pirated keys but on the other hand the price is too good… Any experience?
I am unsure. I think they will work but they may be a bulk OEM code that only work for one system, or they got something weird going on. I’ve heard stories (mostly reddit and quora) where it says that money launderers will buy a lot of game/app/software codes, sell it cheap online to launder money…
I would say they are not legal.
But the fact is, there’s no point because Windows still works even if not activated, it just displays nag screens and you can’t change screen background, that’s it. You still get full update support even if you aren’t activated.
I do not know about other software but in general these cheap codes are not really legal, or were obtained by questionable means or even furthers money laundering. So there’s no guarantee that it will work a year from now.
But the fact is, there’s no point because Windows still works even if not activated, it just displays nag screens and you can’t change screen background, that’s it. You still get full update support even if you aren’t activated.
I agree. My partner doesn’t :).
I do not know about other software but in general these cheap codes are not really legal, or were obtained by questionable means or even furthers money laundering. So there’s no guarantee that it will work a year from now.
Yes, there are few legal aspects.
Firstly, there are keys sold by the websites like vendafly.com. Apparently there they originate from OEM sources which have bought too many licenses and re-sell them now - which is (as far as I know) not compliant with license distribution terms (they are not meant to be resold) but they are legit as they have been paid for to original license “owner”. But Shopee prices are a third of the price from these websites.
My main concern is to pay the money to the people that have acquired the keys in completely illegal and unauthorized way. I don’t want to contribute to the next Kim Dotcom fortune.
Basically OEM keys cannot be transferred, meaning if it’s registered to one motherboard, you have to buy another key if you change motherboard.
Shopee keys, I’m not sure. Might even be money laundering where someone buys a huge bulk of OEM keys, and use this as a means to launder money. Keep in mind they are losing money, but 3 million in clean money is better than 10 million in dirty money (which can’t be used).
Retail keys can be transferred as many times as you want, and if Windows upgrades they often give you free upgrades. I had a retail Win 10 license for a long time and was automatically upgraded to Win 11. It may be worth paying the 3000 for this alone.
Also means there’s a chance the shopee keys could be deactivated some years later, and you’ll have to buy another one.
For windows.
Place I know buys all their Office licenses like this, they arrive in a box looking very much like the real thing. I would say 80% of the time they work fine, the 20% of the time they don’t then simply contacting the seller with a photo of the screen saying the code doesn’t work and the seller ‘gives’ them another code straight away with the actual (2nd) MS box arriving a day or two later.
So all I can say it it seems to work for them.
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It seems like you already know the answer.
Do I?
Shopee operates fully registered businesses in Taiwan. Shopee facilitates the payment. It is far from shabby as it gives the police/tax office all the data to go and investigate these sellers. I could imagine some new shops to be of dubious origin but the established sellers? I would expect the potential profit that Shopee gets from these sellers is not worth the risk of losing reputation for selling “stolen” stuff.
I think it’s straightforward for Microsoft to see if these are legal keys or not and ask to prosecute the sellers. It is in the interest of the company and it has all legal framework to do so.
So if it’s not legal, where and why does the system fail?
Good questions.
It may not be as straightforward as you might think.
There may be no way to distinguish keys for employee discounted software vs non-employee discounted software. No one outside of Microsoft will know for sure. The shopee seller may have acquired the software from a third party for what he thought was a good deal.
If the keys were generated artificially using some sort of key generator, I think Microsoft will be able to detect those when someone attempts to use them and block those from being registered.
I feel ok to pay for the keys from employee discounted software.
I don’t feel ok to pay the people using key generators. That’s grand theft. For some reason I haven’t seen such cheap keys offered in other places of the world. Selling stolen keys has been more of the thing 15 years ago and usually it has been done via some dodgy websites, not major shopping platforms. As for money laundering, I think too few keys are sold these days and the sellers make around 100k TWD/month from them, I imagine there are bigger amounts involved in money laundering to even bother…
So I’m puzzled but I guess I won’t find the definitive answer.