Mostly because of concerns about pirated software but also because the price saving isn’t that great. Avoid third-party sellersįor software like Microsoft Office, we generally avoid third-party sellers on Amazon or Ebay. Rating over 95% over a year should be OK. If you choose one of these retailers, check their overall rating and number of ratings. On the right column is a link to ‘Other sellers’. The retailer has sent their goods in bulk to Amazon’s warehouse for shipping to individual customers (‘fulfilled by Amazon’).
This Office 2013 Professional is sold by another company with the keycard shipped from an Amazon warehouse. Just because the product is being sold on a ‘main’ product page doesn’t mean it’s coming from Amazon themselves. It’s not always clear that Amazon isn’t suppling the goods. That company is responsible for any complaint, refund or warranty dispute – not Amazon. You pay Amazon, but the other company supplies the goods.
That 10-15% discount is typical.Īmazon not only sells products directly, there’s also an option for other sellers to offer the same product. As we type this Amazon US is selling a year of Office 365 Home for $85 instead of Microsoft’s $100 for the same thing.
Most retailers sell the main Office products at a discount from the Microsoft Store price. You don’t get anything better or faster buying direct from Microsoft, just less money in your pocket. The Microsoft Store charges the highest price for their products. Microsoft wants people to buy direct from their web site but that’s not a smart move. Ebay and Amazon merchants show their star rating, customer feedback and how long they have been operating on that site. Use outlets that have a good online reputation and have been trading for some time. Your entitlement to a refund or redress for a illegal product is different depending on whether you buy from Amazon itself or a third-party seller working with Amazon. To reactivate your Office applications, reconnect to the Internet.After the report of pirated / illegal Microsoft Office from an Amazon retailer (and Amazon’s initial refusal to act) how can you protect yourself from a similar problem on Amazon or other sites? If you don’t connect to the Internet at least every 31 days, your applications will go into reduced functionality mode, which means that you can view or print your documents but cannot edit the documents or create new ones. You should also connect to the Internet regularly to keep your version of Office up to date and benefit from automatic upgrades.
Internet access is also required to access documents stored on OneDrive, unless you install the OneDrive desktop app.
For Microsoft 365 plans, Internet access is also needed to manage your subscription account, for example to install Office on other PCs or to change billing options. However, Internet access is required to install and activate all the latest releases of Office suites and all Microsoft 365 subscription plans. You don’t need to be connected to the Internet to use Office applications, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, because the applications are fully installed on your computer.