[Answer - NO!] Is vst-club.com legit? Has anyone used them?

After seeing things that require Kontakt 5 full version, I was looking into upgrade paths and came across this site. At first glance it looks very legit, and contains a lot of older (boxed) software, which makes sense, but as I perused further I came across RX4 Advanced and Ozone 6 Advanced for ridiculously cheap prices (like $15 and $10)... This immediately gave me the willies.
 
I just went back in tonight and cannot find the RX4 or Ozone anymore, but I am still not confident that this site is legit since the contact info is a simple email form with no company address/phone number.
 
Originally I was looking at the Komplete 6 (11 DVD) set, but now I am not sure if this site is a complete farce or not. Has anyone ever used these guys?

Their site is registered in Moldovia. Read into that what you will, LOL! For my money, they are almost certainly selling cracked software. 

sharke
But the correct info is not much better. It's registered in Russia. Without wishing to stereotype, an awful percentage of the world's internet crime originates here.

So, please do not.
The last time I wasted my money to one company registered in US, but the amount was not worse visiting my lawyer (I do not have insurance for that). Funny enough, that was an attempt to buy score for song about practical "democracy" (in the same country).

Hi Bob
Just one thing - if you upgraded from 6 to 8 ultimate (or even 7 on the way) you wont be able to transfer it - I think they sort of cancel your version of 6 once you have upgraded to the next version, if you see what I mean. 
Hope that helps
Nigel
 
 

bitflipper
Back on topic - no, vst-club.com has been discussed here before and is absolutely NOT legit.

Thanks for the responses. As soon as current flagship products popped up at ridiculous prices, "cracked software" came to mind for me too. Not meant to point at anyone in particular but this site itself (so much about it just screams "wrong" when you read further into it).
 
 
 
 

I remember being naive back when the similar mp3club was popular and believing i could really get thousands in software for next to nothing.  They were based in Russia too.
 
On a related note, i have noticed many of the kids that i work with from other countries get serious sticker shock at the actual prices of software. Apparently the software is provided at extreme discounts in certain impoverished countries and/or they are being sold pirated software dirt cheap.  i say "and/or" because I do know there are actual programs in existence but not what the ratio of deep discount to pirate ratio exists. It gives me perspective on why adults from those countries might actually believe these offers are legit.

There WAS a time, when software/music/video was almost completely illegal in Russia. But the reason was simple:
imagine Windows has price $10000 and SONAR yet another $15000. $500 for cheap "Original" content. So the question was not "pay or not to pay" but use computers/listen music or forget about it. Yes, it WAS so bad. For short period, just several year. The next phase was like $1000/$1500/$50 respectively. That time I have bought my first legal CD, $15... I had monthly salary ~$100 officially supporting products from local company and one big US software developer.
 
But the times are changing. In US "white only" has disappeared completely and copy rights protection took the rest of the world into account, but it took quite some time. Content piracy in Russia still exists, but it is not the same as before. 2009 was the first case when 2 persons was sent to prison (for 1.5 and 2 years!) for trading illegal software. That was the first, but far from the last precedent. All famous physical "markets" with pirated music/software was closed. Most sites with illegal content was forced to move from Russia. While some sites also have changed domain ("famous" Russian book site is in ".ec" (Ecuador) domain), other still use Russian registration and proxy. While vst-club is registered and has IP in SpB, that does not automatically mean it is physically there. It can be just a proxy address (as domain names, still relatively cheap there). These people are "hunted", with progressive success.
 
10 years ago, I could not imagine to get something from officials in Russia without some "bonus" under the table. Today it works. But 10 years ago I believed that "west laws" protect consumers. Today I understand that is a miracle. Here (in Europe, I am not in Russia), copy protection laws are systematically misused while consumers are normally pointed that "chapter 1024 part 43 of our AGB has warned you...". Software patents, FTA... Well, I do not want to continue that, too political, especially for this forum.

Enforcement is everything. Consumer/copyright laws mean nothing if they're not being enforced. Which is why it's a common occurrence here in New York to see people lay out a picnic blanket on the street and sell hundreds of bootleg DVDs. I've even seen cops buying them. There's a guy on Delancey Street who has a table set up with boxes and boxes of CD compilations of old soul and Motown tunes that he's obviously just downloaded illegally off the internet and burned onto discs. He's been there for years and the cops just walk right past him, nobody cares. Then of course you have the counterfeit goods openly sold on Canal St. Every few years they have a "crackdown" and a bunch of stores in Chinatown get raided. It's all for show - the store owners pay a fine, and they're back in business knowing they'll be left alone for a couple of years until the next raid. 
 
But try setting up a website in the US selling counterfeit goods and they'll shut you down pretty quickly. You'd have to do it on the Dark Net via Tor.