Buying CS4, good price and legal?

[MindBrain]

I've been looking online to buy Adobe CS4 Design Premium. I've seen some selling on ebay for around $790 or so. They seem to have good packaging, what I want to know is if this packaging is official.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Adobe-Creative-...ware?hash=item439a29bc71&_trksid=p4999.c0.m14

Seller, cyberpcs seems to have a good reputation, but I've never bought and sold on eBay so I don't know much about it. Can anyone tell me if these pictures show an official Abobe release? Is it some sort of OEM version? If there ever was a problem with the serial number what would Adobe say about it?

Any ideas? I can't afford to purchase at this price and end up having a problem with the serial number, either immediately or in the future. Thanks

 

[sigmadog]

The price from Adobe for the CS4 Design Premium is $1799. Why would anyone sell it for less than half that price?

I'm skeptical of such radical savings for top-of-the-line products. It's too good to be true IMO.

 

[jampat]

If you don't buy from an authorized Adobe retailer, they will laugh at you if you have problems. The serial number is everything with Adobe. Hell, you can download all of their software directly from Adobe. They don't care who has the software, their security is all based on the serial number.

Cost to my computer supplier was way more than that sale price. Run away.

 

[definitive]

are you a student by any chance? if so, then you can go to adobe's website and check their educational discount prices. keep in mind that they might or might not allow you to install the package on more than one home system, and you might or might not be able to buy an upgrade to future cs5 pack.

 

[MindBrain]

Well there seems to be a lot of people buying it and leaving positive feedback, the ad says it will register with Adobe. I just want to know is it an OEM version or something, that wouldn't be a problem but I just want to know.

Is the DVD case it comes in the same as the one in the boxed retail version, or is it an official different separate package?

Anyone else have any information about this? Thanks

Edit: No i'm not currently a student. My only other option would be to take a class and get the education version. But for the price of CS4 and the class I'd be at around this price of $790, and I'd have commercial version, could get updates for sure, can install on 2 computers etc...

 

[Blue Velvet]

Well there seems to be a lot of people buying it and leaving positive feedback

Probably shills. The oldest game in town.

the ad says it will register with Adobe. I just want to know is it an OEM version or something, that wouldn't be a problem but I just want to know.

In my experience, there is no such thing as an official OEM version of the Creative Suite. These are probably hacked and pirated copies. Hand over your credit card number and get some software that won't activate or even download patches.

The official packaging is a box for the DVD cases. Far easier to fake up a sleeve in a DVD case and take a blurry picture than show the boxes the software should come in. But the killer disclaimer is buried at the end of the product description:

3. The customer did not use the provided DVDs to install the program but used other media, a downloaded version or a trial version.

A trial version downloaded from Adobe will always be able to be activated by the purchase of proper serial keys.

 

[MindBrain]

Probably shills. The oldest game in town.

Possibly I guess, like I said I don't use ebay or know much about how it works. But wouldn't there be a lot more complaints from people, especially after getting ripped off $790

The official packaging is a box for the DVD cases. Far easier to fake up a sleeve in a DVD case and take a blurry picture than show the boxes the software should come in. But the killer disclaimer is buried at the end of the product description:

A trial version downloaded from Adobe will always be able to be activated by the purchase of proper serial keys.

Yea this stuff kinda sound suspicious

 

[Disarm]

Possibly I guess, like I said I don't use ebay or know much about how it works. But wouldn't there be a lot more complaints from people, especially after getting ripped off $790




Yea this stuff kinda sound suspicious

You could just enroll in a school, then get the discount after showing ID, then drop whatever classes you signed up for and you will owe nothing. Do you have any friends or family in school?

 

[Peytah]

You could just enroll in a school, then get the discount after showing ID, then drop whatever classes you signed up for and you will owe nothing. Do you have any friends or family in school?

This is the best idea. The discount at my school gets me the whole creative suite for under $400.

 

[McShizzel]

If we're going to keep this legit academic licenses are just that intended for educational use and not commercial, although the chances of someone at Adobe finding out someone is using an academic license for commercial use is slim to nil.

I've purchased software off of eBay twice but never Pro software. Once it was a copy of Virtual PC for my old PowerPC G4 and that was legit came in a box and all brand new (I saved quite a bit of money because PowerPC by then went the way of the Dodo bird and I think the seller picked it up during a store liquidation).

My second purchase from eBay through a different seller wasn't so smooth, I bought a copy of ACDsee Pro for half price (I think I paid like $50) the license key worked and I was able to update the software but could not register the software because according to ACDsee it wasn't a valid code. So I'm guessing this person just used a key generator and then sold the the keys, by the way they had good eBay feedback to.

Moral of the story, for sure you can find some deals off of eBay but I am inclined to think there are fraudulent deals then legit ones. I wouldn't buy any major software or purchases for that matter off eBay.

 

[MindBrain]

If we're going to keep this legit academic licenses are just that intended for educational use and not commercial, although the chances of someone at Adobe finding out someone is using an academic license for commercial use is slim to nil.

That's incorrect. Academic licenses in the USA can be used for commercial purposes.

 

[definitive]

the ebay box looks similar to what my student box looks like, except the ebay one is clear (mine is black), and mine has a gray box towards the middle saying it's student copy, and at the top it says for mac.

according to apple tech support which i contacted earlier today, the copy i have can be installed on two computers as long as they're not used simultaneously.

 

[GoCubsGo]

The price from Adobe for the CS4 Design Premium is $1799. Why would anyone sell it for less than half that price?

I'm skeptical of such radical savings for top-of-the-line products. It's too good to be true IMO.

This is the best idea. The discount at my school gets me the whole creative suite for under $400.

And there you go. Answers the OP's question and corrects sigmadog.

 

[McShizzel]

That's incorrect. Academic licenses in the USA can be used for commercial purposes.

That's news to me, when I contacted Adobe a few years back they told me no.

EDIT: Just did some googling and yep my bad it can be used commercially in North America, apparently this is not the case in other parts of the world, since Adobe outsources their call centres I think the people are instructed just to say the contrary for fear of causing confusion. SWEET