Limited time deal stack social.
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How do they do it?!?!?
No idea. I’ve purchased a Sam’s club membership from stack social and it worked fine. I’m assuming this is just as legit. I’m going to snag a hdd drive tomorrow and spin up windows with the key to test it out.
The PCWorld online store is another good place to get Windows 11 Pro licenses on-the-cheap. Especially when spinning up a Windows 11 VM for longer term use with Proxmox, I find buying a W11 Pro license through the normal retail channels outrageously over-priced. Screenshot grabbed today:
I’ve always just used Linux on the machines I build because of the cost of windows. Good to know there are other sources of low cost licenses.
I have purchased many discounted software on StackSocial and quiet a few Windows keys. I believe most discount 3rd party sellers are probably buying volume/bulk im discounted regions and reselling individually. I never had any issues.
Volume licensing: buy bulk licenses at discounted rates, and sometimes unused keys from these purchases are resold by third-party sellers.
Cheaper regions: price software differently in different regions, so sellers can buy keys from cheaper regions and sell them globally.
Grey market: obtain licenses through less conventional means, like liquidation sales or outdated systems, which can lead to lower prices.
There are about a dozen places that sell these super discounted activation keys. Most purchase excess activation keys from companies that have volume discounts with Microsoft. It's a violation of those companies volumen discounts yet they don't seem to be enforced. Even if Microsoft were to crack down, then most that would happen is you are asked to activate again and you are out the small fee. How you get the new key would again be up to you.
When I started buying licenses from them for personal use a few years ago, they were claiming to be a Microsoft Partner and had it prominently displayed on their website. Can't find that today. I've assumed all along that they weren't actually acquiring licenses from other sellers and businesses, but that they were the company buying the volume discount.
After 15 to 20 purchases I've had trouble with the activation keys twice, and each time I emailed them and received a new key within hours that worked fine, and has been fine for years. I even bought my first Costco membership there this year, $65 and they provided a $45 gift card. After experiencing the in-store circus that is Costco, probably only be a one year deal, but seemed worth it at the time for $20.
I still amazes me that a customer can get a lifetime license of Microsoft Office Pro 2019 or 2021 for about $50 or less, when that would typically cost hundreds of dollars.