Question: Why are there huge price differences between companies who seem to be selling the same product?

This is a GREAT question and deserves a detailed answer, so happy reading.

First, you have companies out there like Tiger Direct, Buy.com and Amazon. These HUGE companies buy and ship their products from direct distribution channels. They have competitive prices for their cheap software when compared to the brick and mortar stores like Best Buy, Staples and Office Max. Occasionally, a manufacturer such as Microsoft will provide incentive money or kickbacks to these companies which allow them to lower their prices to move particular items. Unfortunately, this type of activity usually occurs when a manufacturer is trying to sell off old product to make way for a new one about to be released or they are trying to gain market share. Regardless, on occasion, you will find some very good deals from these large companies.

Next, you have companies like DirectDeals.com who buy products from the same direct distribution sources as the large internet retailers as well as secondary sources. These secondary sources are where the great deals come from. Occasionally, we run across limited amounts of specific products that are priced under the current distribution price. We agree to buy these items and bring them into our warehouse for inspection to ensure that they are 100% genuine. We then sell them at a discount over what our normal price would be buying directly out of distribution. So when you see a price on DirectDeals.com that is well below the price of a major online retailer like Buy.com or Amazon.com, you can rest assured that there are limited quantities available and once we sell out, the price will go back up to a competitive level with these large companies.

Lastly, you run into companies online who seem to be able to offer unlimited quantities of the most popular items at INCREDIBLE prices. You should do your homework on these companies to find out where they purchase their products and ask them out right if the product you are purchasing is 100% genuine. Many of these “start-up” companies out there are shipping directly out of china and carry no inventory. There is a 99.999% chance that any product you purchase online that arrives from china is counterfeit. These counterfeit products will load and install normally. You might even be able to use them for a while without any issues, but the moment you try to update any software on your computer, the manufacturer will disable the product. Another tactic they use is to take products that are licensed for students and sell them as the full commercial product. This is especially true of products from Microsoft and Adobe, but the issue is not limited to these manufacturers by any means. What is worse, use of these products on your computer is an infringement on the manufacturers copyright and can put you at risk of being sued by these companies for copyright infringement. So that $80.00 copy of Office 2007 Professional could easily cost you 100 times that amount in fines. The last time I looked, a manufacturer had the right to sue for up to $150,000.00 per infringement. That’s a lot to pay for a copy of Office Pro. Companies are especially vulnerable because a single disgruntled employee could unleash a firestorm of inspections and possible litigation by turning in companies who “skimp” on their software license requirements.

The moral of today’s blog is “The best price on software does not always constitute the best deal”. Ask questions when you purchase software. Understand what you are getting. Question companies who are offering “GREAT DEALS” on products that other company can’t even come close to the price. Ask them WHY their product is so cheap.

Now, I don’t normally do this, but I will give you a prime example of what today’s blog is all about. Go to the price comparison site http://www.nextag.com/ specifically this page.

http://www.nextag.com/Adobe-Systems-DESIGN-PREMIUM-624665352/prices-html

On this page, NexTag allows companies to post their product prices for the Adobe Systems Design Premium CS4 V4-WIN NEW Retail (65021566). If you sort the page by price, you will see that the lowest price on the page starts around $620.00 and the most expensive price on the page is about $1800.00. Now, scan the page and you will see a drastic jump in the price right at the $900.00 mark. Why do you think there is such a difference between the lowest priced company on this page and the highest?

Now let’s think about this. What is being advertised is the RETAIL BOX commercial version of this Adobe product. (Manufacturer Part Number: 65021566). The distribution cost on this will range from $1400.00 to $1600.00 depending on where you buy it and how much of a discount you get from the distributor. How is it possible that half the vendors on this page are selling this product BELOW DISTRIBUTION COST?

Want to know? Click here!!

http://www.nextag.com/Adobe-Design-Premium-CS4-632149223/prices-html

This is the ACADEMIC version of the same product. (Manufacturer Part Number: 65029326) The internal components of both software packages are identical except the serial number. There are no markings indicating the product is Academic, but if you call Adobe and ask them to verify the serial number, they will tell you the product is licensed for educational use. Remember the moral of this blog? “The best price on software does not always constitute the best deal”. Commercial use of Academic products could subject a company or individual to fines or litigation from the copyright holder. Be cautious. Ask questions. Buy Smart. If you qualify for Academic Products and use them according to the license agreement, you can save lots of money. Companies who get duped into buying something they are not authorized to use, can end up paying much more than they bargained for if the copyright holder audits your licenses.

What is the difference between OEM and Retail Boxed products?

One of the most common questions asked at DirectDeals.com is "What does OEM mean?"? So, this week's blog will answer that question.

The term "OEM" means Original Equipment Manufacturer. This term is used in the computer industry to describe any person or company that deals with or installs new equipment or software on computer equipment. While that might seem a little confusing, I will do my best to clarify.

Almost every part on a computer has a retail boxed version as well as an OEM version. Every manufacturer who creates computer parts has at least these 2 versions they sell in the marketplace. They do this for many reasons, so let’s discuss a few of them.

Retail Boxed products are those products you see on the shelf at companies like BESTBUY, FRYS, and WALMART. They are usually in colorful boxes with lots of information telling you why their version of this product is the best on the market. This type of product is designed to compete side by side with competitor's products. Most manufacturers will support their retail boxed products from pre-sales support to installation and post-installation warranty periods. The costs of this type of advertising as well as the customer support and the technical assistance that may be required to support these products normally cause them to be higher in price.

Now let’s compare "OEM" products. OEM products are in many cases the EXACT SAME product as their retail boxed versions. OEM products are normally purchased by distributors, sub-distributors, and system builders in bulk boxes of 3, 5, 10, 30, 50, and 1oo pieces at a time. The packaging is very compact and the product usually does not come with manuals or instructions on installation or pre-installation settings. This is why there is a suggestion that you be somewhat familiar or technically savvy with computers when using OEM products. The manufacturer does not provide free installation support for OEM products, however, paid support is almost always offered. Because there are usually no manuals or instructions, OEM products can seem a little intimidating to some, but the cost savings usually outweigh the fear associated with using them. The internet is a wealth of information when it comes to the installation and technical support of any product. Many people who use OEM products rely on this information to resolve the rare issues that arise when installing any OEM product. OEM products are handled exactly the same as their retail boxed products. They are installed in the exact same fashion.

OEM software has a few licensing issues that need to be discussed. Most software manufacturers produce OEM products. OEM software works exactly the same as its retail boxed counterparts. OEM software does not come with free installation or technical support from the manufacturer just like the hardware discussed earlier, however, now we are dealing with intellectual property and licensing. OEM software products are considered "married" to the machines they are initially installed on. This means that in most cases, the OEM software cannot be transferred or installed on another machine without purchasing a second copy of the product. In the case of Microsoft products, they require that the Certificate of Authenticity or COA be removed from the software packaging and stuck on the computer itself, symbolically joining the software to that computer. This also makes it very hard to remove the sticker and place it on another computer. The End User License Agreement covers all use and restrictions on software products. You should read the EULA prior to installing the product onto your computer to see if you agree with the licensing restrictions imposed by the computer manufacturers.

DirectDeals.com is always happy to answer any questions you may have. Just leave us a message on this blog or contact us directly at customerservice@directdeals.com.

Is this price is to good to be true? Well...... maybe......

For years, Microsoft has been telling us that "if the price of a Microsoft product seems too good to be true, it is probably counterfeit" and for years, that has caused many to pay more than they had to pay for their software. To understand what I am talking about, you have to know a little about software and exactly what it is.


Software is intangible. A thought. A process. Intellectual property. It is a specific combination of binary 1's and 0's that tell a computer to perform certain functions. Basically, it is making yes or no decisions for thousands (and possibly millions) of questions per second. Software only resides on media like a floppy disk, CD, DVD or a hard drive as a means of transfer from one form of storage to another. Since software is intellectual property, what you are really purchasing is the "right to use" the intellectual property more commonly known as a "license". This may come as a surprise to many of you. What that really means is that $350.00 piece of Microsoft Office you just purchased is not yours, it still belongs to Microsoft. You merely paid for the right to use the software. This is all covered in the EULA (End User License Agreement) that you probably agreed to without reading.


So, now we get to the reason for all of this......


Software piracy is a huge problem worldwide. The BSA, Microsoft and other manufacturers like Adobe, Corel and Symantec do a great job of telling us that much of what is out there is counterfeit. What they are telling you is absolutely true. Because software is intellectual property and resides on media forms such as floppy disks, CD's and DVD's, anyone who has the knowledge, can copy this intellectual property on to their own media and sell it. This is illegal because, the copyright owner is not being paid for the "extra copy" versions of their property that exist. These companies spend MILLIONS of dollars developing software and they have the right to be paid for each and every "copy" of their intellectual property that exists and is being used.


Usually, these "extra copies" of software are sold at a very cheap price and therefore, we get the phrase "if the price seems too good to be true .......". I could give you hundreds of examples of blatantly counterfeit products out there on the internet. You have seen them...... $59.00 for Windows XP Professional. $68.00 for Office 2003 Professional. $49.00 for Adobe CS4 and the list can go on and on. You can't type in a software related keyword in any search engine without finding someone selling counterfeit software.


You might ask, why the software manufacturers don't just sue these guys. Well, that is easier said than done. It can take years to build a case against these pirates. They are elusive and often change company names or shut down completely after some time and pop back up somewhere else. The internet is a great place for these types of people to hide. Things have changed quickly in the software industry and not for the better. In the past, there have been huge raids on large scale counterfeiting operations and millions of dollars in counterfeit products have been seized. People have gone to jail, but now these companies have become smarter and have evolved onto the internet. They are not carrying any inventory like they used to and are now shipping directly from countries like China. If you have purchased from any of these online companies and have received your product from China, there is a 99.99999% chance that the product you purchased is counterfeit. They look very close to the original, legitimate software produced by the manufacturer, but they are time bombs in disguise. At any time, these manufacturers can audit companies in regards to their software licensing and the fines are very very steep. Not to mention, they can remotely check for legitimacy and disable or turn off the programs if they believe them to be counterfeit.

Now to my point.......

There are still legitimate ways of getting discounted brand named software from manufacturers like Microsoft, Symantec and Adobe. Retail Box, OEM and Electronic Licensing directly from the manufacturer are the ONLY legitimate forms of software from these major manufacturers. Companies like DirectDeals.com only sell legitimate Retail Box, OEM and Electronic License products from major manufactures’. We are a discount warehouse that sells directly to the public so our prices are very competitive. We buy from traditional and non-traditional sources to get the best prices available and do our best to pass those savings on to our customers. This causes our prices to change drastically at times, but we do our best to be consistent with prices and keep the most popular products in stock. Previous blog posts on this site give you a better understanding of Retail Box and OEM. You should read those and save hundreds of dollars on your next software purchase buying GENUINE PRODUCTS from DirectDeals.com.

DirectDeals.com is your one place to buy 100% Genuine cheap software. Buy discount software from Microsoft, Adobe and Symantec cheap at Direct Deals. Your one-stop software shop trusted online store for authentic cheap Microsoft Office, OEM and Retail Box, cheap Windows software, affordable Adobe software, best antivirus software, latest backup software, up to date anti-virus, cheap business office and the latest accounting tax software, inexpensive server software and low priced development software from Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit, Corel, Symantec, Panda, Trend Micro and Kaspersky as well as hardware from manufacturers like Logitech, Belkin, Hewlett Packard, Dell, Monster Cable and more.

The truth about software that manufacturers don't want you to know.

Fact: You can save hundreds if not thousands of dollars by substituting your retail boxed purchase with the OEM version of the same software title.

OEM software is Legal to use on any computer system, so why pay more than you have to?

The common misconception regarding OEM products is that they are somehow ILLEGAL to use unless you are a building the computer system. This is simply not the case. OEM products are DESIGNED for use on NEW Computer Builds, but they will work on any existing computer. According to the End User License Agreement (EULA), you must be a system builder to use OEM software, however it does not define who or what a system builder is. By using OEM products you automatically become the "System Builder".

The End User License Agreement (EULA) is the document that outlines the limits of use. This is the license you must agree to when you install the product onto your computer. You must abide by these “rules” to legally use the software on your computer.

While most EULA’s differ slightly from product to product and manufacturer to manufacturer, most have certain characteristics in common. We will list a few, but you should read the EULA on any software product you are using to be sure that you are following the terms of the agreement.

1. OEM products are designed for Original Equipment Manufacturers (System Builders). This means that the installation process on some products may assume some technical knowledge of the installer or technician.

2. The use of these products in effect makes you (the installer) the “system builder”.

3. The use of OEM products will make you ineligible for FREE technical assistance from the manufacturer; however, paid technical support is available from virtually EVERY product manufacturer. Manufacturers of OEM products do this because they do not want to carry the technical support burden that comes along with developing and selling software, when they are discounting OEM System Builders who use their products. That burden passes to the system builder if they decide to use OEM products. This means you can't call the manufacturer for FREE help with installing OEM products.

4. OEM software products are not “Cut Down” or “Shareware” versions of the product. They are fully functional products and once loaded onto your computer system, are virtually identical to their retail boxed counterparts.

5. OEM products can be upgraded just like any other product.

6. OEM products are usually restricted to a single computer and cannot be installed on more than one computer system. They are also restricted from being transferred from one computer to another. The product can be reinstalled multiple times on the same computer in the case of a computer crash or catastrophic event.

In closing, the cost savings gained by purchasing an OEM product versus a retail box product usually outweigh the “limitations” of the OEM license.