Have you ever purchased a MicroSoft product, gotten it home, opened the box, read the manual, only to find you cannot use it unless you upgrade your computer?

Return it, right?

Not so quick!  Most retailers will not honor returns once the shrinkwrap has been broken.

So, I'm out the $200 I paid for this???

Not necessarily!  Maybe I can sell it on eBay.  Others can use it, and I can recoup some of what I paid for it.

Not so fast!!!

Try listing a MS Office AE (Academic Edition) NIB on eBay and before long, you may be the recipient of a nasty-gram from the MS eBay monitor. You could have your listing pulled.  Why? MS retailers pay for the privilege to sell MS products.  Furthermore, MS puts restrictions on the sale of Academic Editions of their software.  These are the editions which are sold to students at $200 vs. $500, for instance. 

So, like I said, I'm out $200 PLUS my eBay listing fees???

Not necessarily.  I called MS support to determine whether they offered a solution to purchasers of their software who find themselves in this position.

Here is what I learned...

Since the product purchased was MS Office AE, the only authorized sellers are Academic Bookstores, etc.

You should call  the MS Money Back Guarantee Line (1-888-673-8624).

They require the following:

• The item must have been purchased within the last 45 days
• The item must be returned with a copy of the receipt, indicating date of purchase, and a brief explanation of why it is being returned
• The full name and address of the person who made the purchase

They will provide the return code to accompany the return.

As long as the KEY code has not been used, the return will be honored, if the above conditions are followed.

Furthermore...

They cannot authorize private parties to resell new MS software on eBay. As the rightful owner of the product, if you are taken to court (or whatever) you will be able to win (probably) if you can prove you never used the KEY code.  However, with the AE edition of this software, they would still have a case, unless you can prove you sold the product to a registered student.

I hope this helps others who find themselves in a similar position.