Is buying factory sealed software on ebay generally safe?

Hi,
I''m not sure about all software, but I bought a video game that was factory sealed and when I opened the packaging/disc case, the disc was covered with fingerprints!  lol  Luckily the game played because it was an old school game that I loved years back and wanted to have my kids play

I am sure there are some legit dealers on ebay, but I would be wary.  Software piracy is rampant.   I work in the software industry, so I do have an idea. 

Is your daughter a student?  The best way to get good deals is through an academic discount.  There are many academic resellers online and I can point you to a few if you are interested.

Or, you can wait until there are rebates and specials in retail.  There are also online etailers who are legit and sell for very little above their cost.  newegg.com is one that I can think of. I am not familiar with the software you are talking about though...

As for where they get them...some are through the grey market...NFR copies that they sell.  Some are pirated.  Others are academic copies they are selling without authorization.  Sometimes a major retailer will go out of business and liquidate.  It''s hard to track how sellers get what actually.

It depends on the software.  Some companies, in order to combat piracy, have made it so that when you purchase software, a registration number is emailed to you.  My bf bought music software off ebay that was worth about a grand or so, but it was completely useless because he didn''t have the emailed registration number.  He attempted to get it from the seller but they conveniently could not locate it.  He then called the company and was informed that what he had was purchased with a stolen credit card.

As far as factory sealed, that''s very easy to do.  When I worked in a record store we would open CDs in order to place censor tags in them and then reseal them.  They looked brand new.