You may see another product, "OFFICE PROFESSIONAL PLUS" for sale in eBay at cheap prices. These are not legal for resale, they are purchased on a microsoft select agreement, and must ONLY BE SOLD TO A STUDENT OR TEACHER, The reseller MUST require you to provide proof that you are a student or a teacher to make this license legal. If the reseller does not ask for such proof, your license is illegal and invalid. They are not retail boxed, and have the following text around the edge of the disks :

"Licensed for use only by students and faculty" "Illegal to resell or make copies of this disk"

Dont get ripped off by unscrupulous sellers who make claims about saving hundreds of pounds - they compare their price with a full retail commercial license office professional, (£350-£450) and the REAL cost of "Office Professional Plus" on a select agreement is less than £49.00 through Microsoft! Dont take our word for it, see what Microsoft say here:

http://cgi3.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=msnetsafeteam#NFR

 Microsoft software identified as “Not For Resale”, “NFR”, or “Promotional” is not licensed for redistribution and cannot be lawfully redistributed on eBay. These products look like this:

We do not sell this illegal Not for Resale version, we sell the fully packaged academic version.

Sellers of Academic Licensed packages of *any* kind MUST be both a Microsoft Certified Partner, or a Microsoft Gold Cerified Partner, and a Microsoft Authorized Reseller. If they are simply a Registered Partner, they are illegally reselling software, even if they show as Authorized Academic Reseller, because they have FRAUDULENTLY obtained AER Status.

You can check out if they are what they claim to be here:

Partner Status :

AER Status:

Must show here, AND be a Certified, or Gold Certified Partner

WARNING - "GENUINE" IS JUST A WORD - ASK A SELLER TO PROVIDE PROOF! BEWARE OF SELLERS PROVIDING EMAILED "KEYS" WITHOUT SOFTWARE - THESE ARE NOT GENUINE!

WATCH OUT FOR HIGH QUALITY COUNTERFEIT MICROSOFT OFFICE PROFESSIONAL AND ULTIMATE - DEMAND TO SEE AN IMAGE OF THE CoA (Certificate of Authenticity) FROM THE TOP OF THE BOX, AND COMPARE IT WITH THIS GUIDE

IF A SELLER DOESN'T PROVIDE THIS, ASSUME ITS NOT GENUINE!

Here is a comparison to assist you in determining if an item is Genuine:

SPOTTING THE FAKES:

OK, they are incredibly cheap - usually around £60 - £120 for a full commercial retail box that retails around £350 in the UK for a genuine one. The fakes are *always* the full commercial versions, ( never the academic version which can be identified by the red stripe at the top, and bottom, of the front of the box.) They are purchased typically from China for around £20, and will install (if youre lucky) - but in a few weeks time, you will get a message from Microsoft telling you that your Office is NOT GENUINE on your computer screen every time you use a program.

There are usually several "indicators" of the fake items - Silver strip running through CoA only appears through the hole, not showing under the hole either side to the edges of the label - the hole itself appears to be cut out, and has clean edges, almost as if a scalpel has been used to make the hole. Errors in text on label may be present - In the case below, although it is a UK Part Number, Origin Ireland, it says "Office Pro 2007 Win32 English US On" instead of "Office Pro 2007 Win32 English Intl Not To US CD". The picture below is from a counterfeit Office Professional 2007, Retail Box, Full Commercial License

And another: Part number is 269-11094 (correct part number for US VERSION) but text says "Office Pro 2007 Win32 English Intl Not to US CD" and the same indicators exist with regards the silver strip and hole

To Compare this, -Below is a Genuine CoA from Office Professional 2007, Retail Box, Full Commercial License