Your specialist for used Microsoft licenses
Lizenzus specializes in trading used Microsoft volume licenses for businesses and public sector buyers. The people behind it have worked in IT for more than ten years and know the questions that purchasing and IT departments actually ask. We combine substantial cost advantages with a standard not every supplier meets: complete documentation and legal certainty.
What we stand for
Three principles against which every delivery has to be measured.
Legal certainty first
We trade exclusively in licenses from the European Economic Area (EEA) and document their origin in full.
Clarity instead of sales pressure
We advise you personally and put together a quote that fits. No anonymous mass checkout.
Businesses only
We work purely business to business, with companies and public sector buyers.
Why Lizenzus exists
Buying used software has been permitted for more than ten years and saves substantial sums. Even so, many companies do not use it. That is exactly the gap we close.
The starting point
Two sides that never meet
In many companies licenses sit unused: after a merger, after downsizing, after a move to the cloud. At the same time other companies pay list price for exactly the same software. Neither side usually knows the other exists.
The problem
The price is right, the paperwork is not
Used licenses have been permitted for years. Even so, purchasing and IT hesitate, and rightly: many offers consist of a price and an invoice. What is missing is the evidence that the license was allowed to be transferred at all. In an audit, that is precisely the question that gets asked.
Our answer
The documentation is the product
We treat the paperwork not as an accessory but as the actual subject of the transaction. The software works the same whoever supplies it; what can differ is what you hold in your hand when someone asks. Holdings where this part is not complete, we do not buy.
That stance has a consequence we stand by: we regularly turn down holdings that could be sold with a little leniency. What sits in our stock has passed this check. That is exactly the difference you hold in your hand when you are audited.
How we check every license before it enters our stock
The difference between a clean offer and a risky one arises not at the point of sale but at the point of purchase. Every batch goes through four steps before we offer it at all.
We establish who the holding comes from and why it is being released. A business closing down, a merger, a move to the cloud or over-buying are all traceable reasons. Where the origin stays unclear, we do not buy.
Not every license may be transferred at all. Working from the original paperwork, we check whether it is a volume license and whether the terms of the purchasing program stand in the way of passing it on.
We gather the paperwork of every previous owner until the chain closes back to the first purchase. If a link is missing, the holding is not taken on. An incomplete chain cannot be repaired later.
The previous owner confirms in writing that they have rendered their copies unusable. Only with that declaration is the transfer effective, and only after it does a license enter our stock.
It costs us margin, because we regularly turn down holdings that others would accept. As we see it, that is the only way to run a business that will still stand in five years.
What we do not offer
A range describes itself through what is missing as well. These six things you will not find with us, and that is deliberate.
Subscriptions and cloud services
A subscription is a right of use for a period and never becomes your property. It therefore cannot be resold as used. Anyone offering one is selling something that does not exist in law.
Licenses from non-EEA countries
The exhaustion principle applies only where the license was first placed on the market within the EEA. Offers from non-EEA countries are often strikingly cheap and, for exactly that reason, unusable.
Bare product keys
A key that can be activated is not a right of use. Without contract paperwork and without a chain of title, nothing can be evidenced in an audit. We do not supply keys without the papers that belong with them.
Holdings with gaps
If a link in the chain is missing, we do not take the holding on, even where everything else is in order. An incomplete chain cannot be repaired later, and a discount does not balance out that risk.
Private customers
We supply companies, self-employed professionals and public sector buyers with a VAT identification number only. That is not a matter of convenience; it follows from the type of license we trade in.
Legal advice
We explain the legal position as far as we understand it and lay our paperwork open. A binding assessment of your individual case is not something we may or want to give. That is a matter for your legal department or your own lawyers.
How working with us runs
The previous section describes what happens before a license enters our stock. This one is about what happens afterwards: the path from your first message to the paperwork in your files.
Step 1
You describe what you need
The quickest route is product, version and quantity. If you do not know that yet, a description of your environment is enough: how many servers, how many users or devices, what they do. We work out the requirement from that.
Step 2
We check and do the math
We match your requirement against the stock available. With server licenses we work out the client access licenses you need, because that is exactly where the expensive gaps arise. If something does not fit together, we say so before you order.
Step 3
You receive a written quote
The quote names the product, version, edition, quantity, price and expressly the scope of the evidence supplied with it, plus the end-of-support date for the version. So before deciding you can see what you get and how long it will carry you.
Step 4
Delivery with all the paperwork
The license paperwork arrives complete and in one go, not in parts. On request we structure it the way your filing system or your procurement file requires. After that it stays archived with us and can be requested again at any time.
How quickly this goes
On working days we usually answer inquiries the same or the next day. How long it takes to reach a quote depends on whether the quantity you want is in stock or has to be sourced first. If it takes longer, we tell you why rather than leaving you waiting.
Why we do not display prices
This is the question we are asked most often, and it is a fair one. The answer lies in the nature of the goods.
The stock is finite
New goods can be reordered any number of times; a used holding cannot. What we can offer depends on what was bought in beforehand. A fixed list price would suggest an availability that does not exist.
Quantity changes the price
Five client access licenses and two hundred are, economically, two different transactions. We tier by quantity rather than publishing a blended price that small buyers subsidize and large ones find too high.
The cut of the deal matters too
Whether a server license is needed with or without client access licenses, whether an older version will do, whether downgrade rights come into play: such questions often move the total more than the unit price does. A price list cannot capture them.
What is fixed instead
The quote you receive is written, complete and binding for the period stated. The documentation is included and is not charged separately. There are no later add-ons for paperwork, processing or provision. And if a new license is the more economical choice for your case, we tell you so, even though we earn nothing on it.
If something does go wrong
Should something go wrong, what counts is how quickly and how bindingly it gets sorted out. These four cases cover what comes up in practice.
Doubts about transferability
If it turns out that a license we delivered could not be transferred effectively, there is a defect in title and we stand behind it. The scope follows from our terms and conditions. Please come to us straight away in that case, even if the delivery was some time ago.
Questions during an audit
If your use is audited and questions arise about our paperwork, we answer them directly to the auditing body. You do not have to explain yourself how our documentation is put together. A short message to us is enough.
The wrong fit
If it emerges after delivery that the quantity or the license type does not suit your environment, we look for a solution together. Often that can be handled by adding to the order. Where the mistake arose with us, we carry it.
Paperwork needed again later
If paperwork goes missing at your end or responsibilities change in-house, we make the complete set available again. A message with the invoice number is enough. There is no charge and no deadline.
Frequently asked questions about working with us
Who do you supply?
Companies, self-employed professionals and public sector buyers with a VAT identification number, based in the EEA. We do not supply private individuals.
Can I speak to someone before making an inquiry?
Yes, and with larger projects it is the quicker route. A conversation about your environment settles in a few minutes what an exchange of messages would take days to settle. Write to us with a good time to reach you; an intention to buy is not a precondition.
Do you buy licenses too?
Yes. If volume licenses are sitting unused in your organization, we check free of charge whether they are transferable and make you an offer. How the purchase works and which paperwork we need for it is described on a page of its own.
Will you name references?
Only with the express consent of the customer concerned, because procurement decisions are confidential. What we do lay open instead is how we work: which checks every license goes through and which paperwork you receive. Both can be examined before you buy.
Can I take a small quantity first?
Yes. On a first transaction in particular that is a sensible route: you take part of the quantity, examine the paperwork at your own pace and then decide about the rest. As long as the stock lasts, we hold the remaining quantity for you.
What happens to the details in my inquiry?
They are used solely to deal with your inquiry. We do not pass them to third parties and do not use them for marketing you have not agreed to. The details are set out in our privacy policy.
How do I tell whether a cheaper offer is comparable?
The price is only half the story. Three questions settle the other half: is the chain of title complete? Is there a written confirmation of deletion from the previous owner? Does the license come from the EEA? With us the answer is yes three times over, and you receive the paperwork with the delivery at no extra charge.
If you want to go deeper
Three pages on which we lay open what our way of working rests on.
Why used software is lawful
The rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) with their case numbers, the limits of what is permitted and the four documents you receive with every license.
Selling used licenses
If volume licenses are sitting unused with you: we check transferability free of charge, value the holding and handle the purchase.
View used Microsoft licenses
The stock by product family, each with version, license type and end-of-support date. We give terms on request, tiered by quantity.
Tell us what you need
A no-obligation inquiry, answered with a concrete quote.