Microsoft Software Swap: Buy MS Products Up to -99% Off!

Reddit. A unique site, a unique community. If you're not familiar with it, it might be time to get acquainted. The reason? A subreddit where users sell Microsoft product keys at prices that are, in many cases, up to 99% cheaper than usual! In other words, a product that theoretically costs $100 could be bought for just $1!

But What is the Subreddit?

Since I assume there might be someone unfamiliar with Reddit, let me give a brief introduction.

Reddit is a large global community for everything. If you go to www.reddit.com, you'll see the most popular posts within the community. The popularity of a post depends on its karma. Karma increases each time a user upvotes the post and decreases with each downvote.

Reddit is divided into "sub-communities," known as subreddits, each with specific topics. For example, /r/Steam covers everything about Steam, /r/windows covers everything about Windows, and so on.

The /r/MicrosoftSoftwareSwap

Enough with the introduction. For several months now, a subreddit has been created where some users sell extremely cheap keys for Microsoft products.

One might find Office 2013 for $30 (Professional Plus) which costs $399 in the Microsoft Store (approximately -92%) or Windows 8.1 for $25 (Pro) instead of $199 at the MS Store (approximately -87%).

Where it really benefits users is with the more "heavy-duty" MS programs. For example, you can get Visual Studio 2013 for $10 (Professional) instead of $499 at the MS Store, a "discount" of about 98%!

Wow! But Is It… Legal?

One might understandably wonder if /r/MicrosoftSoftwareSwap is a scam.

My first thought was that the keys might be stolen.

However, being a student, I know that through my school, I can get free keys for nearly all Microsoft products, so I thought it’s very likely that these are students selling or acquiring the keys.

On the other hand, the sheer volume of keys being circulated makes it difficult to imagine.

To do a thorough job, I sent a message to one of the moderators of /r/MicrosoftSoftwareSwap and a key seller, trying to be as friendly as possible and not offend them.

The message I sent:

I am not showing his name and response because he explicitly asked not to publish them. However, he did reply.

Wanting a satisfying answer that I could publish, I contacted Microsoft for their stance on the issue.

I received the following response:

So, they suggest not buying from there, but they cannot prove it is a scam.

Should I Not Buy?

Although I cannot provide a definitive opinion since I have not yet purchased from there, I plan to do so in the future, so I won’t say "don't buy."

My opinion, considering the comments on /r/MicrosoftSoftwareSwap, is that they do indeed provide working keys and, as I saw in some cases, when keys don’t work, they promptly provide new ones without additional charges.

If I had to guess, I’d say these keys are genuine and come from Microsoft programs like Dreamspark and MSDN, which offer free keys for Microsoft products.

It seems somewhat difficult for them to be stolen given the constant flow and lack of interruptions.

However, purchasing from there is in a "gray area," so enjoy this knowledge responsibly.