Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

Buying Used Software

Anonymous
Not applicable
Hello,

I am looking for buying a used software of ArchiCAD. After I find someone to buy from, how can I make sure the software I am going to buy is genuine?

Thank you
10 REPLIES 10
Gerald Hoffman
Booster
Archicad is only usable with a hardware dongle. The program itself is free to use in Demo mode. The dongle will be registered with the Archicad supplier and depending on where you are in the world will have a transfer fee. I would get the dongle registration number and call the Archicad supplier in your area and confirm it is a valid key and what the costs for transfer would be. Do not but any software without a valid hardware dongle.

Cheers,
Gerald
"The simplification of anything is always sensational" GKC
AC 25-4013 USA, CadImage Tools
2019 MacBook Pro 16" w/ AMD Radeon Pro 5600M GPU
OS X 11.6
2.4 Ghz 8 core i9, 64 GB RAM
27" LG 5K Monitor
Anonymous
Not applicable
Gerald,

What do you mean by "transfer fee"? Isn't this included with the license I buy?
I mean, if I have a real dongle (after I verify it with Graphisoft) then what's the problem?
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
See this thread/wish concerning fees for US re-sales:
http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=28712

It appears that you are posting from Israeli IP addresses ... even though you list "us" as your location. Please post your correct location if you want to continue to participate on these forums. (Required by the forum Etiquette.) The answer to most questions here depends on the version of the software, platform and policies that apply to the country of use.

Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Anonymous
Not applicable
Wow, I've just read the whole thread and this is unbelievable.

Karl, you wrote there
"As far as I and anyone on these forums knew, the license transfer fee was $475. The only purpose of the fee was to change the ownership on Graphisoft US's records so that the buyer could purchase upgrades or subscriptions. If the buyer did not care about upgrading - well, they just used the key."

Does this mean people can buy a used software and use it without the permission to upgrade it? Or does GS's policy is that you can't use the software anyway without buying a new registration code?

If this is really the case, then I the second you buy a new software, its value goes down to zero immediately. This sounds too weird
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Jet wrote:
Does this mean people can buy a used software and use it without the permission to upgrade it? Or does GS's policy is that you can't use the software anyway without buying a new registration code?
The reseller for each country/region determines the policies there.

You can certainly use a copy that is still registered to someone else, but until the license is transferred to your name, you cannot get technical support or upgrades - the original owner is still the registered owner.

As you read in that thread, some countries charge nothing for this. The US/Canadian users are charged an outrageous fee. You'll have to find out what the story is for Israel:
http://www.graphisoft.com/purchase/africa_middle_east/israel.html

Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Erika Epstein
Booster
I believe the first copy of archicad that you own must have been bought directly from graphisoft. At least that used to be the case. Again, check with your reseller.
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Erika wrote:
I believe the first copy of archicad that you own must have been bought directly from graphisoft. At least that used to be the case. Again, check with your reseller.
I've never heard of that one, Erika ... I know of quite a few people, myself included, whose first copy was purchased second-hand....

Cheers,
Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Erika Epstein
Booster
Very Interesting. Policy has changed since I first bought it. I was told you could not get support unless you bought your first copy from them.
Verrry Interesting.
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Move to Canada Erika!

we're much friendlier.
Think Like a Spec Writer
AC4.55 through 27 / USA AC27-4060 USA
Rhino 8 Mac
MacOS 14.2.1