How are OEM Windows 10 Keys so cheap???

[iHomer]

How are they so cheap? I don't get it!

 

do they use old hardware/mboards and retrieve keys?

 

i just bought one with instant delivery from EBay £2/$3

[SquintyG33Rs]

OEM keys aren't meant to be bought by consumer they're always cheap. also the limitation of being unable to reuse it is kinda big deal

[minibois]

Can be for multiple reasons, the main one is that they are usually purchased in a 'roll of 1000', which are actually only meant for schools and other types of places that would need 1000 keys.

They can also be purchased in another region with a lower value currency.

[kerradeph]

I would be highly suspicious of a Windows key that was $3 on ebay. Also, normally OEM keys are locked to a specific piece of hardware (generally the Motherboard) so using it as you upgrade will be difficult or not possible. 

[DrMacintosh]

6 minutes ago, SquintyG33Rs said:

also the limitation of being unable to reuse it is kinda big deal

Thats not true. I bought a OEM Windows 7 home key and installed it onto an iMac and then removed the key and installed Windows 7 on my PC with the same key and also upgraded to Windows 10 with it. 

[SquintyG33Rs]

3 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Thats not true. I bought a OEM Windows 7 home key and installed it onto an iMac and then removed the key and installed Windows 7 on my PC with the same key and also upgraded to Windows 10 with it. 

yeah you can upgrade fine but normally you can't activate that key on another machine.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, SquintyG33Rs said:

but normally you can't activate that key on another machine.

I don't see why not. It was easy to deactivate the key and move it to my PC. I didn't even have to call Microsoft. 

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, iHomer said:

How are they so cheap? I don't get it!

 

do they use old hardware/mboards and retrieve keys?

 

i just bought one with instant delivery from EBay £2/$3

OEM keys are sold to HP, Dell, ect. They are technically not suppose to be sold to a general consumer. But, newegg and other retailers dont give two shits. Generally OEM keys are locked to the hardware for life, and MS does not offer any phone support to OEM copies of Windows. Generally its the computer manufacture who will provide the support. 

 

7 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

I don't see why not. It was easy to deactivate the key and move it to my PC. I didn't even have to call Microsoft. 

Because under the OEM licence agreement MS does not have to let you move the key. You got lucky that is all. They can tell you to pound sand. 

[kirashi]

8 hours ago, iHomer said:

How are they so cheap? I don't get it!

 

do they use old hardware/mboards and retrieve keys?

 

i just bought one with instant delivery from EBay £2/$3

Because they're illegally acquired and resold on places like eBay and Kinguin to regular consumers, which is against the Windows EULA and technically makes them non-compliant for their originally intended use.

[iHomer]

1 hour ago, kirashi said:

Because they're illegally acquired and resold on places like eBay and Kinguin to regular consumers, which is against the Windows EULA and technically makes them non-compliant for their originally intended use.

It's not illegal,

 

the ebay listing provided quotes from Microsoft and bays t&c's on these keys and it's okay!

 

btw the seller was 100% legit, 1000+ orders PER DAY!!!!

[JakeNTech]

With OME keys you don't get any support either, supposedly. But when was the last time you spoke to the microsoft help desk? 

When I let bought a windows 10 key it was a cheap one of eBay with an installer (£20) and worked on my PC and then worked on my friends PC when I moved to OS X. 

[LogicalDrm]

18 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Thats not true. I bought a OEM Windows 7 home key and installed it onto an iMac and then removed the key and installed Windows 7 on my PC with the same key and also upgraded to Windows 10 with it. 

 

Win7 and older are using different style of verification process than Win8 and newer. Only branded Win7 and older keys (which it reads brands name in COA) will lock onto mobo. You can buy non-branded and use them as you wish. I have one of non-branded Win7 keys too.

 

7 hours ago, iHomer said:

It's not illegal,

 

Illegal is bit odd term to use when talking about software. It probably isn't agains the law of any country. However, selling OEM's to other than system builders is against MS ToS. Retailers selling them shouldn't sell them unless its with new mobo or full system.

 

7 hours ago, iHomer said:

the ebay listing provided quotes from Microsoft and bays t&c's on these keys and it's okay!

 

Right... that makes it legit then. Like when when Nigerian prince writes you and says his bank has verified all money transfers to work 100% of times.

 

Btw, eBays policy on OEM software http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/software.html

Doesn't seem like eBay is all in with that...

 

7 hours ago, iHomer said:

btw the seller was 100% legit, 1000+ orders PER DAY!!!!

 

Seller being 100% and all that doesn't make stuff they sell legit. It just mean they don't scam money from buyers.

[LogicalDrm]

7 hours ago, kk027 said:

Not all, there are retail versions of OEM Windows.

That sentence contradicts itself. Retail and OEM are opposites. You cannot have retail OEM. What you mean is that some OEMs are sold to system builders by retailers. Doesn't make them retail version.

[kirashi]

7 hours ago, kk027 said:

Not all, there are retail versions of OEM Windows.

Sort of correct - there are OEM keys you can buy from retail markets, but they're still OEM keys and not retail keys. they're meant for system builders and receive absolutely ZERO support from Microsoft.

 

OEM keys still have set pricing rules from Microsoft so when you come across them being sold for $5 on certain sites, you have absolutely zero way to confirm if the key is new, used, or stolen from the ACPI/MSDM tables of computers in an organization or school who choose to activate their computer lab using MAK Keys or an on-site KMS server.