I am planning to purchase an OEM version of Windows 7 in a few weeks and wanted to know if I would get an authentic and most importantly sealed copy. I have purchased a copy of Kaspersky anti-virus on amazon.com about 2 years back and it was a no good copy. I did not work when I tried to install it. I gave it away and the person I gave it to said it was also a no good copy. Ever since that incident, I have purchased software directly from the company. Like Norton 360 I had about a year ago, I purchased from Symantec directly. Even though I had to pay full price from it, I was assured that it was an authentic copy.

Just stick to Amazon as the seller, and avoid the third party sellers.

I hope you let Amazon know that one of their affiliated merchants was selling bogus software so Amazon could remove them. I almost always prefer to choose items where Amazon itself at least fulfills the order at very least, or preferably are the actual vendor.

What does it mean that it was a no good copy? Did you get your money back for it? If it's in a sealed package, Amazon is just acting as the reseller, they did not make it and if it was bad, it was just as likely to be bad if that box was shipped to Staples or sold directly from their website.

Of course, if you are buying from another company through amazon, then you may or may not get a good company.

I would believe there is about a zero chance of Amazon selling anything but legitimate copies of software (assuming you are actually buying from Amazon)

As I viewed my past purchases from amazon, the software I purchased was sold to me from a third party. Unfortunately, I didn't get my money back as I sent the bad copy along with some other stuff to the Philippines and they tried the software on their end and it was confirmed to be a bad copy. I'm not sure if it was corrupt but it didn't work.

In the past, I would take a look under 'New for (the cheapest price)' rather than purchase from amazon.com itself. Now, I purchase from amazon.com and don't really check out the cheapest under "New".

So is it okay if I pruchase from xxx fufilled by amazon if that option is available and directly from amazon.com is not? There are times where the third party is selected as the primary vendor if amazon.com is not available.

If it is "Fulfilled by Amazon" then I think it is highly unlikely to be a bogus copy. Those items are stored in Amazon warehouses for the reseller, and I think it would be highly unlikely that reseller would be shipping bogus copies to Amazon to stockpile.

Personally, I've read customer comments where they've received fake stuff even when "fulfilled by Amazon". To be 100% sure, look for Amazon as the seller.

What happens if amazon is not available? Buy from the vendor directly? Also, does this apply to other items being purchased as well such as mousepads, computer supplies, even clothing, etc.? There are times when amazon is not available and its automatically sold by a third party.

If amazon isn't available, you might just want to look elsewhere. And yes it is possible to get bogus items when using Amazon as a portal. While I've had friends who have evidently bought bogus items from stuff sold by Amazon, I would consider it a rarity and the situation was always rectified.

With Kaspersky the disk doesn't really matter anyway. It's generally faster to just go download a copy from their site and put they key from the disk in it. In practice it's almost certainly going to update itself when installed and that's usually a reboot-required update. Thus use the current version instead of the disk version right from the start.

Now, if the key came back as invalid you most certainly should be squawking at Amazon about it.

You are bound by the seller's retrurn policies, not amazon's. So when I received an item ( a reading lamp) that was NOT at all what the picture looked like - much smaller, very cheaply made and in fact the lamp part broke off when we tried to use it) the SELLER would not issue a refund, only a replacement and Amazon would not get involved. So I only order from Amazon who I have found to be fair with returns.

I'll again plug www.computersworth.com - I've gotten OEM software like Office 2010, Adobe and Acronis from them in the past and they've been consistently great and cheap.

Exactly. Maybe buying the old fashioned way? How about buying from your local computer store? Or other local shops? I find most of them will match legit offers.

Normally when buying this type of software it's the unique product code that is most important as you can download the software straight off the company's web site if you lose the disc itself.

So was it the disc that was corrupt/drive wouldn't read it or was the product/serial code invalid and wouldn't allow you to unlock/validate the software?

I don't even remember since that was a few years ago but all I know is that it didn't work regardless of what computer I install it on.