Update 10/04/2017Updated the list of legit sellers and scammers (
at the bottom - click).
Update 03/01/2017I tried to sum up the
danger of using EDU promotional codes here.
Update 10/13/2016Another very important thing to check, if possible
before you buy the account, is whether the address registered in the account is real - i.e. whether it really exists and is residential (a person can really live there). Just use google maps and look that address up.
Also, check whether the name registered in the account matches with the name on the card that was set as the payment method.
You also want to know how old is the account. If the account is totally new, created maybe only a few hours before you bought it, you need to be very careful. Most of the Amazon security checks are performed within the first 48 hours. If anything doesn't seem right to them they will put the account on hold and request additional documents from you and if you don't comply they will suspend the account.
You can determine the account's age by checking the Bills section. If there are no previous billing months, only the current one, you have to assume the account was just created and therefore you should be double careful.
Since there are more and more questionable posts popping up offering AWS accounts, here is something that may help you decide whether you risk sending your money to an anonymous person.
Besides checking the obvious - reputation, vouches availability, topic and trust feedback (
make sure you enabled "Show untrusted feedback by default" in "Profile / Forum Profile Information") - always check whether the e-mail that the AWS account is tied to is part of the deal. Otherwise you will pay for something that the sellers may anytime block access to. Once you buy the account immediately change the password to both AWS and e-mail accounts and don't forget to remove all password recovery options in the e-mail account (secondary mail address, phone, security questions etc.).
Another very important thing is checking the EC2 limits. If the sellers don't show them on their own ask for screenshots. Here is what a real normal EC2 limits of a genuine legit AWS accounts look like:
A freshly opened AWS account
A normal AWS account after the initial limits have been lifted
If the limits claimed by the sellers are distinctly different be very careful, their screenshots may be photoshopped.
Last but not least, if your only reason for buying an AWS account is the fact that you already have one and you think you can't have another one then you are mistaken. There is no such rule as 1 AWS account per 1 person, it's perfectly legal and normal to have multiple AWS accounts. Just go on and sign up for another AWS account. You may use the same phone and card number if you wish, the e-mail address has to be different, though. But don't create too many accounts with the same phone and card - from my observation the 4th account and onward created with the same info will have the limits nearly all zeroes.
This way you can also kind of circumvent the initial 2-regions limitation of a newly created AWS account - for all subsequent AWS accounts you can simply ask the 2 enabled regions to be changed to different ones instead of the default Virginia and Oregon and that way you can cover more regions, but be careful to not make it too obvious. Just keep in mind that the free-tier 12-months benefit is allowed only 1 per a person, not 1 per an account, so even if you create 10 AWS accounts (all in the same name and with the same phone/card number) you are still entitled to only 1 free-tier bonus.
Feel free to add your own suggestions and experience regarding buying AWS accounts on this forum, it will help all of us.
P.S.: I do not sell AWS accounts nor I know any genuine AWS accounts seller on this forum that I tried and can recommend.
Also make sure that you keep consistent with access IP if you use the console, clean and fresh contact data (most important of course payment method).
A great point from RFX and this can actually be solved using roles. You can link all the other accounts to one single "master" (or "control") account and then only log (and thus expose your IP) into that account. This way you will have to actually log in a bought account only once, to set the link. After that you will never have to log into it ever again.
Here is a mini tutorial how to access multiple AWS accounts from one single AWS account without logging into each separatelyWhat to do in every account that you want to access from your master accountYou need to create a role for cross-account access, enter the account number of your master account to establish trust and attach an appropriate policy to it. If you want to be able to access the billing pages too (e.g. to apply the AWS credits there, or work with the payment information etc.), you also need to activate IAM access. See the screenshots:
What to do in your master account from which you want to access the other accountsYou need to create an IAM user and then log into the account using that IAM user via the following link:
https://123456789012.signin.aws.amazon.com/consolewhere the number is the master account number.
If you want to be able to access the billing pages of this master account as well, you will also need to activate IAM access.
Then you will simply use the "Switch Role" option to switch between accounts:
My personal list of legit AWS code sellers I personally obtained valid codes fromWarning: this is a list of honest people selling AWS codes, not AWS accounts!
My personal list of scammers I encountered on bitcointalk.org - click hereThe general rule is: if the seller is a newbie, with no reputation, with no topic nor trust feedback, offering no vouches and/or selling from a locked or self-moderated topic and unwilling to go first or use escrow =>
AVOID.
Also avoid anyone calling himself "we", it's just an early teenager desperately trying to pretend he - a little boy - is some kind of legitimate business entity, truly laughable.
Always check the trust feedback first and
make sure that you have enabled "Show untrusted feedback by default" in "Profile / Forum Profile Information".
