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Why Not to Buy Adobe Software on eBay, Craigslist or Amazon Mkt

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Why Not to Buy Adobe Software on eBay, Craigslist or Amazon Mkt

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335 thoughts on “Why Not to Buy Adobe Software on eBay, Craigslist or Amazon Mkt”

  1. My concern is that software producers are turning to ongoing licenses for everything. Those of us with limited use just want a software package we can buy and use without payment a monthly fee. I can’t justify a monthly fee at this time. We may not need the latest bells and whistles. I still use Cool Edit on an old pc for tinkering with my music files. I have adobe 1 on a newer device but I think I need v3 or newer to make it work with Windows Media Mixer apparently.

    Reply
  2. @Duane
    I agree with him 100%. and I have brought this complaint to Adobe myself. I was with Adobe PS from PS4 to CS5 and now I am retired I just want to “recreate pictures” and play. It seems to me that after all those years you would have more consideration for those of us who grew up with your company. I would love to have CS6 but I simply can’t afford you anymore. Philip A. Bellefleur

    Reply
  3. I want something to show for my money should I choose to stop making payments. I also never upgraded more than once every 3-5 years. Adobe made billions from us. What a slap in the face not to offer another purchase option.

    Reply
    • Well, each to their own. Most customers don’t think $10 a month for the latest full desktop versions of both Photoshop CC + Lightroom CC (plus all related mobile apps and workflows) is too much to ask, considering that these two best-of-breed professional tools used to cost well over $1,000 upfront just to get in the door, not including upgrades! And people who previously upgraded only once every 5 years are probably not the customers Adobe targeted with the new model.

      There’s no question that some folks weren’t happy about the transition from perpetual-only to subscription-only products – but as a Pulitzer Prize winner once said, “I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.” Adobe took a risk and it could have flopped or flown. They may have lost some customers, but at the same time gained many new ones because of the far-lower cost of entry than before.

      By virtually every measure in the industry, their transition to Creative Cloud has been widely hailed as a major success, surprising a lot of skeptics and even exceeding the company’s own original expectations. Never before (not even with CS6), have so many millions of customers upgraded and been running the same single release of Adobe software, which makes the platform all the more powerful. There are thousands of improvements and new features in CC 2017 as compared to CS6… If you haven’t missed what you don’t have yet, that’s fine – but if the latest releases can help millions of people get better work done faster, then time is money.

      Looking back to 2012, it’s clear now that Adobe didn’t do this to make anybody upset but rather made a business decision on what would be best for the future of the company and the sustainability of their franchise. The subscription model is more flexible in many ways and allows them to keep the tools current with fast-moving technology, as well as make record investments in their product line and advance the state of the art in creative software.

      Bottom line, you are quite free to stay in 2011. Sure, you can mutter darkly about how you personally don’t like the transformation but that really isn’t going to change anything. The train has left the station but of course you don’t need to be on it – it’s a personal choice whether to remain competitive as a provider of creative services or not. Either way, those CC adoption numbers are pretty impressive and pointing unambiguously to the future, and the company is clearly not looking back now.

  4. @ProDesignTools
    how many subscribers will ever take or have the time to learn every single program Adobe offers? In addition to membership options, the old fashion way, or the 2011 train station options could still be offered with little effort. There are many who don’t care or need to upgrade every sixty seconds.

    Reply
    • Don’t want to get into a back-and-forth with you, but to put it mildly, those are some significant overstatements… Adobe had many different creative tools & services previously with Creative Suite, just as now with Creative Cloud. So like before, you can still learn as many or as few as you wish.

      Further, CC product upgrades are generally released every 3-4 months, and are not forced but rather available whenever users want to download & install them.

      Also, regarding the old model vs. the new model, you might care to read this:

      Why Creative Cloud Gets Free Upgrades but Adobe CS6 Doesn’t

  5. @ProDesignTools
    I am one of those who do not care to be on your running train. I loved the CS6 and I would like to purchase another (new CS6) software to replace it since I lost my older one.
    I do not want to learn new features in the Creative Cloud model. I am retired and all I want is to play with the PS program and remain doing just what I liked doing by creating new images/art without having to pay a monthly fee for many new items that do not interest me.
    I would like to know just why can’t Adobe sell to us the old Photoshop CS6 software at an affordable price? You will be amazed to learn that many millions of us still want to purchase it legally.

    Reply
  6. He’s not, you just want to make more money. The accessing the net for service and cloud functions are a pain. I have adobe premiere on an older computer and I love it. HATED using the cloud and it was so clunky and slow. Sorry but you are forcing people to find alternatives.

    Reply
  7. I don’t think that Zulma is in the minority of people who are resisting the cloud. I am not for the cloud either and still use retail CS6 for mac. As a graphic designer in NYC, there is a huge community that don’t want to convert to CC. I’m not speaking of freelancers (although there is a big community that don’t) but business, agencies and city run organizations full of designers… I don’t want to name the agencies, as the one I work for is also not willing to convert. It’s been a huge disappointment for some of us to be “forced” onto the cloud as the next step. While some may not see this as being forced but as a choice to get the cloud membership, I see it as force because there is no other alternative to using adobe. Numbers may show more subscribers, but doesn’t mean all who are subscribing had another option, although some embrace the change. Those numbers don’t describe people’s opinions, like the professionals in my industry who have seen it as a red flag and there have been big discussions about it across many communities since it affects a range of designers. NYC has a large art, design…etc community and many chapters for designers to meet. I have heard this time and time again from many about the finality of having to subscribe…basically you have to commit indefinitely if you want to see your work again. There are many valid concerns and all of these meetings and discussions won’t be showing up in numbers, but this is my first hand experience.

    Reply
    • Thanks for your comments Elizabeth, but regarding “if you want to see your work again,” there are unfortunately some misconceptions there as well…

      How to open your files without a CC subscription? Well, the free level of Cloud membership (which you retain permanently at no cost) will allow you to open, display, and manipulate files in some of the most common Adobe formats (types including .PSD, .AI, .INDD, etc).

      Similarly, you can use the preview and display capabilities of Adobe Bridge CC, which is free for everyone, for life.

      There also exist third-party utilities like XnView (free), which will read and write Photoshop .PSD files, and also opens Adobe Illustrator .AI files. ID Util (also free) will read and display any InDesign or InCopy file. Like Photoshop’s published .PSD format, Adobe PDF is another publicly-documented specification, and various programs can read and write those files.

      Adobe will also be resetting a new round of free CC trials at least once or twice every year that will work fully and open your files for 7 days. So if your paid membership has expired, then short-term opening or editing your files down the road could be as simple as just grabbing the latest free trial and firing it up.

      And then there’s always a Creative Cloud month-to-month membership available if you want to do more intensive work, for as long or as short as that is. You would pay only for the months you needed to.

      Bottom line, there should never a case where you are denied access to open your work or files – it’s just that it may not necessarily be 100% free guaranteed, depending on what you want to do with them. But obviously the maintenance of all professional software in working order has costs and tradeoffs, even for standalone perpetual tools.

  8. I am French and I fully agree with Elizabeth’s comment. We should have been given the choice between CC and box versions… Elementary, except for big business !

    Reply
    • Guys, this ship has sailed. Adobe is not going back and they’re not changing the model. Creative Cloud was launched six years ago last month – and the current offering still looks remarkably like it did back then at its introduction in November 2011. You have to hand it to the company for having a different vision and then following it through now with 30 million paid subscribers, despite skeptics. So if you’re still having this debate now, then we’re convinced it’s just barking at the moon and not going to accomplish anything.

      Some people are arguing that their overall cost of Adobe’s products may go up in the transition from perpetual licensing to subscription licensing. If that’s the point you want to make, then so be it. For others, it will go down (or already has).

      Adobe closed the last door to turning back last month when they stated there will not be a Lightroom 7 perpetual offering, and that going forward, Lightroom is available via subscription only. It’s done.

      However, note that even after a subscription has lapsed, you can still start up Lightroom CC to access your catalog and have limited use – see:

      What Happens to Lightroom After My Membership Ends?

  9. If Adobe is so sure that CC is really the best choice for its customers, with 30 million paid subscribers, why don’t they offer those who would prefer CS versions (with perpetual licencing) the possibility to get them? It would be fair. Adobe would appear as a company that is client minded and respects its customers!

    Reply
    • François, we tried to say this above: Sorry, but you’re wasting your breath. It’s not going to happen.

      Another reason they switched to a subscription-only model was the gain the ability to deliver significant new features on a more frequent and timely basis, to help respond to the increasingly-faster pace of technology these days (versus waiting 18-24 months between releases, which is what used to happen with the old model).

      For more details on the important factors driving this change, please see:

      Why Creative Cloud (CC) Gets Free Upgrades but Adobe CS6 Doesn’t

  10. Of course you can buy or sell Adobe software legally (full retail versions)… See text on Adobe’s website: “If you sell or give your Adobe software to an individual or business, you can transfer the license accordingly. Transferring the license allows the new owner to register the software in their name.”

    https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/transfer-product-license.html

    I’m going to be selling about (30) CS6 licenses because my business closed. I was told by Adobe Support that I could… as a matter of fact, they suggested it, and then verified all my serial numbers for me. Buyers are safe from viruses because they will download the software from Adobe’s own website.

    CC is a nice product for sure… latest updates, continued support, etc. But CS6 is far from dead.

    Reply
    • No one said CS6 was dead – although it is nearly six years old now and unsupported & end-of-life – and nowhere did we ever say that you can’t legally and officially transfer a valid Adobe license to another person (with due process, multiple-week waiting period and company involvement, including necessary paperwork submissions and required registrations on both ends). In fact, we even have an article about that. Still, most people aren’t aware of it.

      What we’ve said in the article above and elsewhere, and reaffirm now, is that your odds of having all that happen properly and successfully via eBay (amidst all the scams) are very slim.

      And even a supposedly-official and presumed-valid license transfer with an unfamiliar third party could easily end up with the serial number being revoked by Adobe down the road anyway… There are countless stolen, pirated, or limited-life serial keys out there, and even Adobe can’t tell right away. It happens all the time.

      As just one example, when all the computers out there get hacked, what’s one of the things first taken? That’s right, the Adobe serial numbers right off their machines… Once in, they’re very easily stolen – copied right from the System Registries or email archives. Then what happens to all those serial numbers? They’re sold on eBay and elsewhere.

  11. Unfortunately this feature either doesn’t work as advertised or some of the tutorial is missing. It appears to only work if you open a file that is already georeferenced.

    Two methods are given, but there is nothing to indicate how the second method is to be done. (Georegistering a PDF map or scan of geospatial data)

    The question has been asked and not answered in other help forums:

    https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1860275

    This particular thread is probably not the place to resolve this issue, but I’ve found no other help anywhere and so assumed my best bet is to just find Acrobat 9 and do it in a very simple manner.

    Thanks.

    Reply
  12. What I don’t like about Adobe CC is that I only use InDesign and Illustrator so I have to pay $40 (+tax) when the full suite is available for $50. The fact that Adobe only allows the photography portion at $10/mo. is a slap in the face to those of us who were the ones who bought the CS Master Collection because we used 2-3 pieces of the suite. I have CS6 and will keep it as long as I can. If it comes down to it, I may have to revisit Quark.

    I also don’t understand why I can’t buy a subscription card for a full year of Adobe CC unless I’m a student. After the data breach at Adobe that led to multiple fraud charges, I loath the idea of them having my credit card again.

    Reply
  13. What about this site?:

    « link not found »

    Is that legit?

    Supposedly, the seller is ADOBE!!
    But yet, when you call Adobe, wanting to buy the regular old version of Acrobat (NOT the DC version), the kids who answer the phones know nothing about this.

    Is it a legitimate place to buy Adobe Acrobat Standard, or not?

    Reply
    • Yes, that is legitimate – but no, the seller is not Adobe…

      The seller is Amazon, who is an Adobe Authorized Reseller. You absolutely need to see the “Ships from and sold by Amazon.com” in the listing.

      If you do NOT see that, then the seller is an Amazon Marketplace vendor – which is what the article above is talking about. In that case, the seller could be anybody on earth (for example, “Sold by: ProgramShack”) – and means the product is almost certainly not authentic or safe or legal.

      But actually, there’s no real reason for trying to buy from Amazon anyway, as Adobe offers the same software and same prices directly from their website:

      http://www.UpgradeAcrobat.com/

      In other words, you won’t find any discount on Adobe software from stores like Amazon (or Staples or Office Depot or Best Buy), even if they are legit.

  14. On Amazon, the seller is always listed as a hyperlink right under the product name/description. If there is more than one, the link will say “Available from These Sellers.”

    If it was a single, third-party seller, their name would be over to the right, by the price.

    In this case, it clearly says Adobe.
    If you click on it, it takes you to another page FULL of Adobe products.

    But thank you very much for that link to Acrobat!!

    I spent an untold amount of time trying to find it on their website. Even when I found a link to Acrobat Standard or Pro (and NOT the DC version), the link would always take me to a page selling the DC version!!
    ARRRGGH.

    It was all very frustrating.

    Reply
  15. @ProDesignTools

    I hate Adobe has decided to “rent” it’s product to me rather than allow outright purchase. Cheap to you is not cheap at all. Renting is ongoing and never ceases. At any time, Adobe gets to do what it did to Fireworks, just eliminate it and poof it is gone. Those of us that have the CS series can reinstall and damn you, keep our businesses up.

    Adobe had demonstrated it’s greed and determination to drain as much monies from us as possible. If you don’t utilize all the “perks” it is waste of space/bandwidth/disc space. Acrobat is not worth being shackled to the payment teat of Adobe. Only reason I still have you, My son gifted your CC to me for my birthday. I’ve purchased your programs from Amazon because they are easier and hassle free. Not Adobe. Adobe is intrusive, and infects. Amazon does not. Not all the changes are beneficial to some of us. Your new and improved most often are merely feature movements so owe have to hunt for things that were one place and are now hidden elsewhere. You want to control my creativity and how I create, to fit your mold of how / what I should be and what / how I should be doing it. Experience cause and effect has me not trusting Adobe. The first thing you did when you released CC was to disable my CS Fireworks. It is now on a machine not attached to the Internet, and I will be able to access it without disruption. YOU do not get to decide I “should” like your alternative.

    Adobe is still not the seller, it is the renter of the product at their whim.

    Reply
  16. I no longer use my fully-licensed Photoshop cs3, cs4. or cs5, nor do I use my lightroom 1, lightroom 2, lightroom 3, lightroom 4 or lightroom 5. All of my Adobe Software that I purchased from an authorized retailer over several years, what am I supposed to do with it then? Just let take up space, collect dust, throw it away? I hardly think so. I have already deactivated them, and I sent an email to Adobe informing them that although I have enjoyed the products, I would no longer be using them. I never even got an email back.

    Not sure why but not important, what bothered me is the way this article made it sound like if I were to sell my Adobe Software that I couldn’t be trusted to be selling genuine licensed software that I paid full boat for. The physical boxes, disks, paperwork belong to me because I paid for them, so not sure if this article was intended to come across the way it did, but yeah it bothers me.

    Reply
    • Sorry Michael, that’s just the way it is… It’s not you – it’s about the hordes of scammers who overwhelm and ruin it for the few legitimate folks would like to do what you suggest.

  17. @ProDesignTools I also want to purchase a fully legal copy of Photoshop CS6 for home use only. I too cannot justify nor afford to pay for CC that I may only use occasionally. CC would appear to be aimed at professional users only. Come on Adobe, let us buy your old versions directly from you. You could always sell them with validation certificate on a usb pen.

    Reply
  18. @ProDesignTools
    This is not a solution when you have NO INTERNET ACCESS WHATSOEVER.

    “You do not have to be continually connected to the Internet.  After the CC applications are installed and running on your desktop, online access is only required once every 4 months for revalida­tion of your annual membership. Plus there are solutions in place if you’ll be offline for an extended period – like traveling for six months without web access… just contact Customer Service.”

    Reply
    • That’s not entirely true. Even with CS6, you still needed some kind of online connection in order to activate the software:

      The New Creative Suite CS6 Install – Why We Did It

      As mentioned above, once activated, you do not need a constant or ongoing Internet connection to use the Creative Cloud applications.

      There are ways to install CC completely without Internet access (in other words, with 100% offline installation and operation), but those are for Enterprise solutions only which use serial number licensing for situations such as computers that are permanently offline behind a corporate firewall.

  19. Adobe can do as it likes, but I would say that they are inviting someone to become a strong competitor by sticking with only the subscription service; they behave like they have a monopoly. That usually does not turn out to so well when a company becomes so arrogant that they no longer listen. I think I will write an email to a company I buy multimedia software from and ask them if they will take a look into the possibility of becoming a competitor – they make wonderful software, and sell it at an extremely reasonable prices. It is not THAT difficult to do what Adobe does, especially in the dawn of the artificial intelligence age.

    Reply
  20. Irwin, I completely agree with you! I am upset by Adobe’s present commercial policy and, as an occasional user, will never subscribe to CC. I refuse to become Adobe’s milk cow. I am waiting for Adobe’ s competitors to wake up.

    Reply

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