"Too Good to be True" deals on Ebay

[Phil from Loreau]

I've been wondering about something for awhile and I think I'll bring it up to get some feedback.
I'm sure everyone here has at the very least checked out Ebay for programs like Photoshop and Dreamweaver and come across a "too good to be true" deal. My first thought is usually that it's either a scam or pirated.
Well, I came across on of those deals about 6 months ago. Dreamweaver Studio MX 2004 for $35 (Buy it Now).......that was with shipping. I couldn't help myself. After a quick review of the seller, I gave him the benifit of the doubt and bought it.
Well, turned out it was completely legit. I called Adobe and checked it out. Was even able to register it.
Since then, I've seen a few more deals like that. I always wonder, "what if this one is pirated or could I get lucky a second time? What would happen to me if I did buy it and it is pirated?" Now I'm not into the pirated software scene, and would never knowingly purchase pirated software [been approached before, even here on this forum], but really, what is the worst that could happen should I wind up buying something illegal? What are the legal implications?
Is a guilty conscience the worst thing that could happen? I can honestly say, I seriously doubt I'd stop using the program after I paid good money for it--no matter how good a deal.
Has anyone here been in that situation? Bought software you honestly thought was just a good deal and it turned out to be pirated? How did you handle it?

[jimbo_dk]

What exactly do you mean when you say you checked with Adobe? Did you call them up and check your serial number? You can get pirated Adobe products that register alright off p2p networks.

If you can buy a product that retails at $1000+ for $35, then it's pretty obvious that it's a pirated version.

In your case, though, since you're talking about MX 2004, this could very well be a legit second hand product or unused stock. That's a pretty old product.

[Phil from Loreau]

What exactly do you mean when you say you checked with Adobe? Did you call them up and check your serial number?

Yes. That's exactly what I did. I called to make sure the serial number checked out and I would be able to upgrade it.
It checked OK.
For some reason, I want to say it fell under some kind of "volume discount pricing".
Could this be the case or am I mistaken?

[DesignX0316]

I once bought Photoshop CS2 on ebay. They really package it very well and even the cds looks legit but I tried to register it on adobe.com and was denied. I then called them they said sorry they couldn't help me and that I should have bought it from the distributors listed on there site. What I did next is contact every single person the seller previously sold it too and told them why it was a fake. I contacted eBay and paypal and we all got our money back.

[beley]

Yeah, I'd be very cautious about buying software on eBay unless you're buying at near-retail prices or are buying older software. It's just not worth it...