Was that a statement or a question?
eBay terms state they arent allowed to sell only the used product key (presume linked somehow to the Microsoft law suit previously mentioned above) so to protect themselves, they make the seller actually send the motherboard that the licence key relates to/ from the broken computer it was used in.

I set up a new PC last week and paid £5 for a Windows 10 Professional key and £7 for an Office Professional 2016 key. I have now received 2 broken motherboards, but on the upside the keys worked fine. lol.

Illegal software is illegal software.
Once again - pirate you're own, don't pay someone to do it for you.

​thats not how OEM license works. OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. it means MS sends volume license keys to the likes of Dell, HP, lenovo etc so they can implement MS Office on their new PC. but it is against the condition of the license for the software to be sold on itself. there is no such thing as new OEM license as all OEM are issued to industrial scale pc builders not your bedroom builders. so if someone tries to sell you an OEM without any hardware then you should question where it came from. however what you said is entirely false as computers can exchange hand several times and therefore the license it carries should be fully valid. nowadays many of the license are locked into the BIOS such as Windows OS but as far as I am aware office licence are not implemented in such way and therefore there is no way for MS to distinguish a license being used properly or being sold on as independent software. so there is no issues there. the only thing needs to be concerned about is if these keys are generated from non-ms licensed generator or they are from legit batch.

to clear out a lot of misunderstandings, guessings and wrong information being written in this thread.
Here's a brief info on all the MS keys (that I can remember):-

OEM - OEM keys like many have said are keys tied to a board, (THESE ARE NOT VLK's (volume license keys)).

VLK - Volume license keys used to be for older versions of MS Office which were primarily given to manufacturers to install and activate the product on install. VLK's are also available via. MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) (THESE ARE NOT TO BE SOLD). Also used be Network Admins, Sys Admins to do remote installs etc.

KMS Server and keys generated- KMS is key management server, basically in large enterprises a KMS server is established which has a KMS key. Based on the product(s) that has been purchased, upon entering the key in the KMS server, you can generate unique keys for multiple pc deployment (think of this as MS's way of overcoming VLK issues).

MAK Keys - Multiple activation keys - These are VLK's but they are the keys which are provided to KMS server guys. Basically a MAK key is used when there is just no time for generating KMS server keys or for other bespoke situations.

UUID Keys - Windows 10 works on UUID which is contained in the BIOS. Basically a Unique identifier which is stored on the ROM of the BIOS and can not be changed, manipulated in anyway. UUID is the new COA (certificate of authenticity) sticker replacement (the sticker that used to come with windows machines with the keys written).
No matter how many times you reinstall windows, you won't need a key anymore, coz if your BIOS is working your key would be picked up from the UUID. There have been some very very interesting discussions about cloning UUID's and finding out the Key from the UUID itself. But still nothing concrete on that yet.

My best guess is, either someone is selling KMS keys, MSDN MAK Keys or just MAK keys.

Not all of them are illegal, but, you might just be able to get away with it easily.

I personally have all of the above keys for multiple softwares versions... lost track (not showing off).
Back in the days we used to get a card with all the VLK's written for all the products in the enterprise once you join the admin team, those were fun days. I think many schools still have those VLK cards laminated and all.

I hope this helps.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Office-Professional-Plus-2016-32-64BIT-ORIGINA-OEM-LICENSE-KEY-SCRAP-PC/282320180662?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3D9c5fcadc29fe4b0a800dcbd4b8ca4b2a%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D172469014593

2016 one is even cheaper :confused:

not sure about this, but exact same wording used here, and only costs £3.69
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORIGINAL-OFFICE-PROFESSIONAL-PLUS-2013-32-64BIT-LICENSE-KEY-SCRAP-PC/112284664231?_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160323102634%26meid%3Df313b720922f4b9096ca13f0e53be0d3%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D172469014593

When not to trust an eBay deal of the day :smile: Nice find guys :smiley:

Their feedback seems very good over the last year but I have no idea how genuine they are. It seems you can find keys for almost every MS now on eBay.

How does this work. From what I understand you only get the key so where do you get the actual software from?

Wow all the time I've paid hundreds of pounds in the past for Office this seems to good to be true?

They are OEM licenses usually the same key used on multiple machines. It's against Microsofts terms for these to be sold to individuals so you run a risk of the keys being revoked but for the price difference it's worth a go. I have been using OEM office for years and never had an issue...

I got one of these last month. Works a treat. Stick in the code at setup.office.com and download.

They keys come from inactive legacy licences from decommissioned machines. MS and others tried to stop it with lawsuits but failed.

The 2016 one is annoying, you can't uninstall any of the products you don't need.