Just putting this out here for the benefit of others.

I purchased a Win 10 Pro license key from https://www.gamerspot.in/product/windows-10/ and I instantly got the confirmation email with key that said "Windows 10 Pro Lifetime Product Key Retail license 32 / 64 Bit" and the key that came with it worked on my machine. All good right?

I actually recommended this site to others after this, because from what I could tell I got a key and it worked, so it must be legit. I even upgraded my Windows to 11 and it still worked.

But a couple of days ago I noticed that the settings said that there is an issue with activation. I called Microsoft customer support and they explained that my key was a volume license key and it has exceeded the number of computers on which it can be used.

Clearly they sold something that wasn't a retail license key as one. The Microsoft rep asked me to contact the seller for a replacement. If in the event that it didn't work out, he asked me to visit Microsoft's dedicated portal for reporting counterfeit Microsoft products - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/howtotell/default.aspx

I initiated a ticket on gamerspot.in and after two days of back and forth, their final comment is that the order is over 8 months old and therefore not eligible for refunds/replacement according to their site policy.

https://preview.redd.it/5c0btbuoihfa1.png?width=1028&format=png&auto=webp&s=833ecf9df80a9b8e61e2945e9f212e040fde0ff7

So basically their MO is to get a volume license and then sell it to as many people as possible as a retail key and then when it runs out, point to their policy about refunds/replacements having specific time period.

Anyway, just putting this out there for others who may be tempted to get a cheap retail key.

I've reported them on the Microsoft portal.

Btw I just found out about this, but if anyone has bought win license keys from these kinds of sites, there is an easy way to find out if the key is legit retail key or some volume license key.

Just go to cmd and type this command - slmgr -dli

It will tell you whether your product key is volume or retail.

If you have purchased from gamerspot or vprozone or Amazon or something else and it worked, it would be helpful for you to post the screenshot of what your results show when you run the above command.

Hope this helps others.

Update:-

After verifying with other posts on here, I contacted individual users who vouched for vprozone.in and I ended up getting a Win 11 Pro license key from them for Rs. 210 and when I run the slmgr -dli command on this one, it does confirm that it is a retail key.

https://preview.redd.it/jt0725kzrqfa1.png?width=347&format=png&auto=webp&s=71ef836b590bcc4ef5b7fd6b9e868f4344a36933

So at least this one seems to be working fine. Will update here if there are any issues in the future.

Update 2:-

After I threatened to complain to Microsoft about the lack of customer service, gamerspot sent back a response offering a new replacement key which did end up working. I told them that it was too late and I have already purchased another key from someone else but I still appreciate that they came around. Just not quick enough.