From Sue Chastain,
Your Guide to Graphics Software.
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A. Everybody loves to get a great deal, but if that amazing offer on Photoshop sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Legitimate copies of Photoshop are generally priced around $600 for new users and $150 for upgraders. If you find a site offering a price which is way out of the line from that, it is most likely not a legal copy. After all, Photoshop is probably the most pirated software on the planet. The internet has made it easy, and now there are plenty of sites willing to take your money for an counterfeit copy of Photoshop. If you give these sites your credit card number, just losing your money could be the least of your troubles--you open yourself up to viruses, spyware, identity theft, and more.

Before you succumb to the temptation, read my article on how to spot, avoid, and report Internet software piracy scams and illegal warez. The article will also point you to several ways you can get inexpensive or free software the legal way.
• How to Spot and Avoid Software Piracy and Scams

Here are some additional pointers for spotting piracy, directly from Adobe:

If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Check a reputable retailer site to look up the market price for the software. If there is more than a 20% discount on the MSRP without Adobe rebates, then there is a significant risk that the seller is:

• Trying to resell OEM bundle copies without the required hardware,
• Trying to resell products unbundled from an Adobe Collection or Suite,
• Trying to pass off an educational version of software as a full retail version,
• Trying to sell a counterfeit or illegal product (usually provided on CD-R) with a cracked or bogus serial number,
• Trying to provide an upgrade version with a counterfeit previous version as a "full" version of the current software, or
• Trying to resell a product stolen from a reseller or retailer.

If Photoshop is priced out of your budget, it could be that you really don't need it. Photoshop Elements offers much of the same functionality of Photoshop, for a fraction of the price.
• A Comparison of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements
• Photoshop Review
• Photoshop Elements Review
• Check Prices on Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

If you have a student or educator in your household, you also might be able to qualify for reduced pricing on academic versions of Photoshop.
About Academic Pricing | Academic Software Sellers

Lastly, here are links to some of my favorite sites for finding legitimate deals on software and more:

• More Stuff 4 Less
• xpBargains.com
• SlickDeals.net
• Free After Rebate
• Discount Watcher

Please note: The sponsored links on this site are ads purchased by companies that want to advertise next to relevant content, based on a set of keywords they specify. Sponsored links are administered and maintained by a third party. Just because an ad appears on this site, it doesn't mean it's a legitimate company!