I've been seeing this posted on Craigslist for a while. Any comments on the legitimacy of this offer?
I AM SELLING THE FULL VERSION OF LIGHTROM 3 FOR MAC AND PC. THE PROGRAM IS THE DOWNLOADED VERSION AS IF IT WERE PURCHASED THROUGH ADOBE. IN FACT IF YOU LIKE YOU CAN GET IT FROM ADOBES SITE, AND BUY THE SERIAL FROM ME. I TEACH A WORKSHOP FOR A COLLEGE, AND AFTER THE WORKSHOP THE SERIALS ARE USELESS SO I BEGAN TO SELL THEM. PLEASE ONLY SERIOUS BUYERS, I MADE THE PRICE LOW SO NO ONE WOULD TRY TO ASK FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT I HAVE EITHER YOU WANT IT OR YOU DONT, CAN BE INSTALLED ON TWO COMPUTERS AND FULLY UPDATED. THANKS I HAVE BEEN SELLING 2.7 ONLY HAVE A FEW OF VERSION 3 FIRST COME FIRST SERVE
1. Could be that the college purchased/owns the licenses. Doubtful that a teacher purchased these on his/her own instead of the college.
2. The seller could sell each serial number multiple times, using up your activations. Maybe unlikely, but possible.
3. These could be education licenses, which wouldn't necessarily apply to the buyer and could put you in violation of the license agreement and/or cause problems later.
If the $299 is out of reach, perhaps you can find a legitimate full version of LR2 on the cheap, and upgrade for $99?
Thanks Rick. More curiosity than anything else. I have a kid that's a college student and was able to use her student number to get LR3 for a pretty good price. I just always wonder about these kinds of deals and there's no better place to get input than here.
I bought a serial number for 2.7 from this guy and Adobe authorized it during the install. Everything is good except that I can't add the product to my Adobe registrations. (A lot of people don't actually register their products anyway.)
The real test will be when I buy version 3.0 as an upgrade and enter the serial number for 2.7 (as opposed to buying the full version of 3.0).
Since I just noticed that the upgrade is only $99, I'll but it now and install it and report back shortly.
Thanks for the input guys. Dang, wish I hadn't already ordered LR3 through my kid's school. I got a great price but it wasn't as great as $50. Oh well, live and learn.
Although you never really know, I figured it was worth the gamble in this situation.
He charged me and a friend of mine $40 each for LR 2.7 and we figured for that price it was worth the gamble. As it worked out, that was a great deal. Everything went well with that version and when I just installed the 3.0 Upgrade everything went extremely smoothly - completely authorized and registered.
Another question: Why would you pay $99 for the upgrade instead of buying the full version from this person for $50? Inquiring minds want to know. Is there some advantage of upgrading that I'm not aware of?
So this guys is selling serial numbers from a serial number generator. It is a scam albeit a good one that he will likely not get caught nor have any consequences for. I have dealt with him before and asked him questions about filling out the Adobe paperwork to get the license officially transferred to me. He always backs down and either tries to explain how it isn't needed or hangs up.
Lightroom just uses serial number authentication so ANY valid serial number will work. If anyone here wants to use LR3 for free please let me know and I can find you a valid serial number, there are hundreds of them available. If you use it as a professional tool I highly recommend purchasing it. Even if you just purchase the upgrade as CAZ did.
Lightroom just uses serial number authentication so ANY valid serial number will work. If anyone here wants to use LR3 for free please let me know and I can find you a valid serial number, there are hundreds of them available. If you use it as a professional tool I highly recommend purchasing it. Even if you just purchase the upgrade as CAZ did.
Jim's correct. I've seen this exact same thing done with all of Adobe's products for over 10 years now.
Bill - I bought it from him 6 weeks ago. At that time I had an immediate need for the program. As a result and because the installation and authentication went fine, my only lingering concern was basing an upgrade on that serial number. That question was answered when I bought, installed and registered 3.0 today.
I really just needed something to tide me over for a few weeks until 3.0 came out. I figured that if the info he gave me would be OK to run an upgrade from, then great. If not, I'd buy the full version. It seemed like a gamble worth $40. Either way, I feel more comfortable having a licensed copy that I have registered in my Adobe account along with the other products I use for my photo business and my law practice.
The serial number generator that Jim mentions is interesting. I wasn't aware that could be done. You learn something new every day...
Great information folks. Thanks for the replies. Much as I would like to use LR for free,(other than the temporary beta version) if I did that I'd never again be able to complain about someone using one of my copyrighted images without authorization. Free is good but remaining ethical is better.
Posted by Erik Aagaard on June 9, 2010 at 10:23 PM
I just picked up my copy of Lightroom 3 and also joined NANPA to get a 15% discount on Lightroom. I always wanted to join NANPA and saving a few bucks on Lightroom didn't hurt either Now I only need to learn the program...
I can't believe it took til the 14th post for someone to state the obvious. (Right on, Bill!) Getting Adobe software from someone generating serial numbers on the sly is pretty much akin to someone stealing our images. Probably worse. The guy makes it sound like he's in a legitimate business and is here just to do you one great, big favor, but what he's doing has slime absolutely dripping from it. I can't stand blatant liars and scammers like that! This is not your buddy slipping you his sharpening software CD to copy, this is some online poseur doing something that can't possibly be legal, and certainly isn't ethical. I just about fell out of my chair when I read CAZ saying, "...in my Adobe account along with the other products I use for my photo business and my law practice." OMFG.
Todd - I was waiting for someone to pick up on that. I added it intentionally to see what kind of response I could generate. By the way, it probably took until the 14th post for someone to state the obvious because it wasn't until the 11th post that it was determined that the guy was definitely doing something improper.
I actually thought that as long as Adobe verified it during the installation process that it was OK (and I was willing to gamble $40 to find out). I'm not particularly knowledgeable about software (I still don't know how to use Photoshop (for which I paid full price)) or software usage issues. I will admit this whole thread has been very enlightening.
Had I known then what I've learned today, I would have found a more legitimate way of getting a discount copy.
Posted by Jack Garrett on June 10, 2010 at 12:22 AM
If he is using a serial generator (keygen), it is usually only a matter of time before Adobe recognizes the SN is not legit. and when you go for your weekly or monthly update, you will get a neat little message from them saying your serial number is not valid and voila, Lightroom may or may not work properly anymore. It's kinda like the Microsoft Genuine Advantage... you won't get updates until you purchase a valid serial number.
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on June 10, 2010 at 12:49 AM
Jim, thanks for enlightening me about the serial number generator. I didn't know such things existed and was beginning to think this guy was valid, after CAZ's upgrade worked.
Obviously selling "surplus" copies of LR3, the day after it's released raised a BIG red flag for his otherwise somewhat plausible story for the LR 2.7 copies.
I think this guy would be a great IRS audit candidate.
And there I thought someone offering serial numbers for a product that was officially released about three days ago was a dead giveaway. (I guess I'm just echoing Bill P., but that was my first thought...)
Discussion
20 repliesI AM SELLING THE FULL VERSION OF LIGHTROM 3 FOR MAC AND PC. THE PROGRAM IS THE DOWNLOADED VERSION AS IF IT WERE PURCHASED THROUGH ADOBE. IN FACT IF YOU LIKE YOU CAN GET IT FROM ADOBES SITE, AND BUY THE SERIAL FROM ME. I TEACH A WORKSHOP FOR A COLLEGE, AND AFTER THE WORKSHOP THE SERIALS ARE USELESS SO I BEGAN TO SELL THEM. PLEASE ONLY SERIOUS BUYERS, I MADE THE PRICE LOW SO NO ONE WOULD TRY TO ASK FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT I HAVE EITHER YOU WANT IT OR YOU DONT, CAN BE INSTALLED ON TWO COMPUTERS AND FULLY UPDATED. THANKS I HAVE BEEN SELLING 2.7 ONLY HAVE A FEW OF VERSION 3 FIRST COME FIRST SERVE
Thanks,
Bill
1. Could be that the college purchased/owns the licenses. Doubtful that a teacher purchased these on his/her own instead of the college.
2. The seller could sell each serial number multiple times, using up your activations. Maybe unlikely, but possible.
3. These could be education licenses, which wouldn't necessarily apply to the buyer and could put you in violation of the license agreement and/or cause problems later.
If the $299 is out of reach, perhaps you can find a legitimate full version of LR2 on the cheap, and upgrade for $99?
The real test will be when I buy version 3.0 as an upgrade and enter the serial number for 2.7 (as opposed to buying the full version of 3.0).
Since I just noticed that the upgrade is only $99, I'll but it now and install it and report back shortly.
I've never heard of the person on Craigslist so I'm inclined to be a little wary.
Definitely smells fishy.
He charged me and a friend of mine $40 each for LR 2.7 and we figured for that price it was worth the gamble. As it worked out, that was a great deal. Everything went well with that version and when I just installed the 3.0 Upgrade everything went extremely smoothly - completely authorized and registered.
Lightroom just uses serial number authentication so ANY valid serial number will work. If anyone here wants to use LR3 for free please let me know and I can find you a valid serial number, there are hundreds of them available. If you use it as a professional tool I highly recommend purchasing it. Even if you just purchase the upgrade as CAZ did.
Jim's correct. I've seen this exact same thing done with all of Adobe's products for over 10 years now.
I really just needed something to tide me over for a few weeks until 3.0 came out. I figured that if the info he gave me would be OK to run an upgrade from, then great. If not, I'd buy the full version. It seemed like a gamble worth $40. Either way, I feel more comfortable having a licensed copy that I have registered in my Adobe account along with the other products I use for my photo business and my law practice.
The serial number generator that Jim mentions is interesting. I wasn't aware that could be done. You learn something new every day...
Bill, well said!
I actually thought that as long as Adobe verified it during the installation process that it was OK (and I was willing to gamble $40 to find out). I'm not particularly knowledgeable about software (I still don't know how to use Photoshop (for which I paid full price)) or software usage issues. I will admit this whole thread has been very enlightening.
Had I known then what I've learned today, I would have found a more legitimate way of getting a discount copy.
Obviously selling "surplus" copies of LR3, the day after it's released raised a BIG red flag for his otherwise somewhat plausible story for the LR 2.7 copies.
I think this guy would be a great IRS audit candidate.