Is this legit? Didn't know Serif had resellers?

[000]

I just stumbled upon this website, claiming to 'represent Serif.

They sell tutorials and training, which I get, but also licenses for all three applications for a currency that is abbreviated with "GST" — is this legit?

https://affinitysoftware.com.au/

[Move Along People]

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[thomaso]

Interesting question, in particular their "multi-platform' offer, which is requested in the forum occasionally.

21 minutes ago, Jens Krebs said:

a currency that is abbreviated with "GST"

To me it is presented in Dollar, I suppose Australian Dollar (which would mean the offer is slightly more expensive than in the Serif store)

[Move Along People]

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[R C-R]

The curious thing about that offer to me is the "load onto two" verbiage. It is different from the 'all that you own or control' licensing info I would expect for a purchase of the Mac version from either the Mac or Serif Affinity stores.

[carl123]

Cherri International is a legitimate reseller for Affinity Sofware

Not sure how they get to supply it as "multi platform" though, maybe that is something Serif will be offering to everyone in the future (?)

[walt.farrell]

Serif does provide multi-platform licenses to volume purchasers of the applications. Businesses wanting more than some minimum number of licenses can take advantage of that, and use their licenses for either Mac or Windows.

Possibly Cherri International has simply purchased "x" number of those multi-platform licenses, and is reselling them to their customers. Their sales pages seem to indicate that the have 100 licenses for Photo available, and 1000 licenses each for Designer and Publisher.

Note, too, that licenses purchased from Cherri International, though usable on either Mac or Windows, are restricted to use on only 2 systems, unlike the unlimited number of systems we get with our individual purchases from Serif, the Mac Store, or the Windows Store.

[000]

3 hours ago, thomaso said:

To me it is presented in Dollar

It is a Dollar sign, but when you look in the basket is says "GST" which is not on the list of currencies I found online (the official abbreviation for Australian Dollar is AUD).

[000]

Thanks all for your comments and research.

[thomaso]

13 minutes ago, Jens Krebs said:

It is a Dollar sign, but when you look in the basket is says "GST"

Do you get the cart display different than this?: "GST" as an additional fee ("10%") but the currency continuously in Dollar:

[carl123]

GST is the Goods and Services Tax

A bit like VAT in the UK, I suppose

[MikeW]

4 minutes ago, carl123 said:

GST is the Goods and Services Tax

A bit like VAT in the UK, I suppose

Off topic...

When visiting this thread a little while ago, before I had fully awakened, I read GST as G&T. Now, I know it's "five o'clock" somewhere (like England right about now) so I'll need to hold off for a while before I make one...

[PaulEC]

I'm just wondering what the advantage is of buying from Cherri, rather than directly from Serif, (It seems more expensive from Cherri,) unless of course you can't buy directly from Serif in Australia. 

Incidentally. I see that someone is selling Affinity Photo for £5 (cheaper for bulk copies!) on eBay, with "more than 10 available". I wonder if this is dodgy, or something to do with reselling volume licences that's legit?

[walt.farrell]

4 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

I'm just wondering what the advantage is of buying from Cherri, rather than directly from Serif, (It seems more expensive from Cherri,) unless of course you can't buy directly from Serif in Australia. 

If I did my VPN experiments correctly just now (and that is not guaranteed):

• Yes, you can buy directly from Serif in Australia.
• The cost is A$79.99.

That would mean that Cherri is charging approximately A$20 more. For that extra amount you would get a license allowing you to run the software on either Mac or PC, which is a good savings over buying one license for each from Serif. But you can only use your software on 2 machines if purchased from Cherri.

You would need to do the math for your particular current (or planned) machine configurations to see which makes more sense for you.

[carl123]

16 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

I'm just wondering what the advantage is of buying from Cherri,

If you have both a MAC and a PC then it's looking like only one purchase is needed not 2

I wonder if a UK/US user could purchase directly on that Australian website and get both "licenses" that way, rather than having to pay twice via the usual Serif route(s) 

[walt.farrell]

Just now, carl123 said:

I wonder if a UK/US user could purchase directly on that Australian website and get both "licenses" that way, rather than having to pay twice via the usual Serif route(s) 

US, no, as they have a very limited list of countries you can use when providing your address during checkout. Though it's possible one could lie about their physical address, I suppose.

France, or Canada, or the UK, or several others: Apparently yes, but I did not try.

[PaulEC]

It all seems very complicated to "a bear with very little brain" like me! I think I'll just stick with buying direct from Serif. 😜

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, PaulEC said:

It all seems very complicated to "a bear with very little brain" like me! I think I'll just stick with buying direct from Serif. 😜

I am also wondering what happens when there is a paid upgrade to 2.x.x. Plus there have been various free brushes and textures and fonts on offer from Serif for us actual real customers.

[walt.farrell]

19 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Plus there have been various free brushes and textures and fonts on offer from Serif for us actual real customers.

Those have also been available for users who purchased from the Mac App Store or the Windows Store. The application Welcome Screen has a link to the Serif Store that lets you download if you have an account there, or lets you create an account if you don't have one yet.

In theory that should work for users who've purchased the application from some other reseller.

[000]

2 hours ago, carl123 said:

GST is the Goods and Services Tax

Ah, thanks -- yes, I'm more used to VAT.

[R C-R]

23 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Note, too, that licenses purchased from Cherri International, though usable on either Mac or Windows, are restricted to use on only 2 systems, unlike the unlimited number of systems we get with our individual purchases from Serif, the Mac Store, or the Windows Store.

That is what I thought was weird about it, too. I am not sure about the licensing terms for commercial bulk purchases but as I understand it they are available only for considerably more than just 2 seats. Also, if Cherri International made a bulk purchase I cannot see how they could resell individual sets of 2 licenses to any other entity, commercial or otherwise. 

[walt.farrell]

Unless someone from Serif decides to comment about how they deal with their legitimate resellers, we may never know what's going on.

[Leigh]

So, https://affinitysoftware.com.au/ are legit resellers for Australia/New Zealand and neighbouring islands but their website should not be accessible to users outside of those regions. Also, the 'Multi-Platform' wording is also incorrect. We'll speak with them to get access and the wording corrected - thanks for bringing it to our attention 👍

[thomaso]

18 minutes ago, Leigh said:

Also, the 'Multi-Platform' wording is also incorrect.

While "Multi-Platform" could simply mean that it's available for Windows and Mac, the more detailed text which appears on cherricomputers.com (i.e. after clicking one of the "buy" buttons in your link) might be more relevant for legal aspects:

Serif 'Affinity' allows this product to load onto two Mac and / or PC.

[Leigh]

Thank you @thomaso 👍