Why are some Windows 11 keys so cheap?

OEMs and businesses are allowed to buy keys in bulk, and sometimes resell spare ones they don't need. (Or, worse, buy them in bulk with the direct intention of reselling them.)

I bought a couple of Windows 10 keys a few years ago, and they only worked for a few months before Microsoft blocked them. And fair enough, I suppose.

It's worth noting that if you have a valid key for Windows 7, 8, or 10 that you are not using, it will be accepted in Windows 11.

Most likely people reselling MSDN licenses (I think it's now called Visual Studio subscriptions). These are licenses meant for testing only (though entirely valid). Pretty sure you are not authorised to sell them and certainly not to use them in production.

People either buy a VS subscription then resell the licenses piecemeal (costs about $1000, and you get 10 license keys for each product, so probably profitable), or they got a subscription from their day job and sell the licenses.

Probably sold off from Microsoft for startups programs, volume keys, or the like.

They might work for some time, and then may stop working.

They’re probably student OEM keys provided to schools in poorer countries, which is the cheapest price Microsoft will sell a copy of Windows. They might work as keys but are not legitimate when used in the wrong country for the wrong purpose, so you might find odd limitations imposed now or later.

Different locales have different prices. I think they are reselling keys purchased in these places.

An anecdotal story: I bought some Windows 10 keys a few years ago from a site pcmag "recommended," where they were selling Windows 10 keys for maybe $55 each. I bought two at the time. I kept the keys saved in my email. Fast forward to last November during a minipc build, I planned on using one of those keys. I tried it. It was rejected as a non-genuine key. I thought being written up on pcmag was a recommendation, but it was probably not a vetted source beyond being cheap. I learned my lesson and I will buy through Microsoft or through Microcenter (us brick and mortar store).

It could be the key was genuine, once. But the reseller probably has sold it hundreds or thousands of times. That's how you get down to a couple of bucks

I'm pretty sure this is just grey market arbitrage. Microsoft sells Windows 11 in the US for $100+ but if they sold it in say Cambodia or India for the same price no one would buy it.

These sellers realized this and are buying a copy of Windows 11 or MS Office in their home country for whatever the price may be, marking it up, and reselling it on eBay to customers in the EU/US/Canada/etc.

I seem to recall seeing some of the embedded machines get a license key that was only suitable to sell windows installed on the sbc, however some were reselling these as generic install keys which don’t seem to work like that. Might still be a valid key, but likely for a different Windows sku.

The story I've heard is they're keys for OEM installations that are sold off without the hardware. So it's not legit by the terms of the license. On the flip side, I've known some to be used, and they never stopped working. Probably luck of the draw on that front, though.

Nice try getting your Amazon affiliate link in there!

IF you did this by mistake, these are likely someone selling volume license keys from a corporate or a developer account.

I was a bit surprised to see /r/microsoftsoftwareswap/ banned a few months ago.

They’re bootleg.