Buying Second-Hand Office Pack Licenses: Why?

Why buy second-hand Office Pack licenses?

With over 1.2 billion users worldwide, the Microsoft Office Pack, renamed Microsoft 365 in 2020, is the leading office software suite on the market. It is essential for many companies that need efficient tools to carry out their numerous daily office tasks. And it remains unmatched by the competition of open-source software.

The problem is that the Office Pack is expensive. Especially since Microsoft has mastered the art of regularly releasing new versions of its flagship software suite for reasons of compatibility, optimization... or marketing.

In this context, how can you avoid paying top dollar for an evolving update that does not meet your needs while retaining your gains in terms of usage?

Purchasing a second-hand Office Pack license is an opportunity to save money with a reliable solution that meets your needs.

What is a second-hand Office Pack license?

The offer of Microsoft Office has become significantly more complex in recent years with software versions multiplying, particularly in a context of dematerialization.

Since the 2012 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, surplus licenses can now be resold on the secondary market, allowing IT managers to acquire older versions of Microsoft Professional at very attractive rates while keeping their IT systems operational and compliant.

Buying a second-hand office pack license thus allows the transfer of the right of use and therefore the license agreement to the new acquirer.

A second-hand office pack license like Office Professional Plus 2016 or Office Professional Plus 2019 will contain all the software present in the new Microsoft suite, namely: Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, Powerpoint for presentations. But also Outlook, Publisher, Access, to name just a few.

In the same way as a new license, you can benefit from multiple accesses depending on the number of users in your company.

To ensure your second-hand Office license is compliant, make sure to check the following:

You are buying software located in the European Union

The software was lawfully acquired by the original owner

The software was initially acquired for an indefinite period

The software has been properly uninstalled from its original system

Buying a second-hand Office Pack license: what are the advantages?

The advantages of buying a second-hand Office Pack license are as follows:

You save money on the acquisition cost

The total expense related to software represents nearly 35% of the IT budget. Yet, updates and support represent hidden costs that are increasingly high, up to 15% of the purchase price. With a second-hand Office Pack license, you can save up to 80% on your purchase.

You manage your IT investments long-term

It is actually not very profitable to invest every time in the latest version of a software. The burden of managing hardware and/or software obsolescence takes up about 40% of the time normally dedicated to development.

Choosing a second-hand Microsoft license allows you to balance choices based on your real needs.

You meet compliance rules

All second-hand Office Pack licenses are verified and guaranteed to be compliant with the original licenses. This reliability protects you against a potentially colossal fine during a compliance check by Microsoft.

Where to find a second-hand Office Pack license?

You can find a second-hand Office Pack license at many resellers.

First, the giants of online distribution such as FNAC or CDiscount. However, you will not be able to equip a large number of professional users as these marketplaces are more dedicated to individuals.

Then, there are brokers also known as agents. These will only handle the connection with a potential seller but do not take care of verifying compliance.

A B2B matchmaking platform specialized in second-hand software transactions like Softcorner is a reliable and high-quality alternative for companies whose financial stakes related to software investment are significant.

Our ambition is to facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers by acting as a trusted third party. In this capacity, we perform all verifications in advance to ensure win-win transactions.