How to Be an Ethical Land Trader?

I'm considering going into the land business. I've spent a lot of time researching and studying the SL land economy for the class I teach at NCI. I'd like to put some of that knowledge to use. However, I want to do it ethically.

Here's my question: how can you tell the difference between land that was mistakenly priced too low, and land that has been priced low to sell fast so as not to pay another month's tier? I want to buy the latter--but not the former.

I'm not talking about obvious errors, such as land set to sell for 1L$. I'm talking about the borderline cases--land set to sell at 3-5 L$/m2. Any suggestions on how to tell the difference?

Keep in mind that:

1) Time is of the essence. If I don't buy a low priced plot, someone else very likely within a few minutes.
2) It is very often not possible to contact the seller. And if I do, that simply tells the seller that they can get more for the land than it was originally priced at.
3) I am afraid that if offer a blanket "reverse any sale", I would fall prey to unscrupulous sellers.

Where and how do you draw the line between sharp business and taking advantage?

This is a serious question. I've been following some of the discussions on "land swooping". That's not what I am interested in doing. I would like to make money without (over and above my tier increase) screwing people over.

Suggestions?

That's like me going to Wall Street and asking how to be an ethical stock broker.

Good luck with your new business venture.

Troy

I've dabbled in land trading on occasion.

When I have a question as to whether or not the land was sold by mistake, I usually hold the land for a day before reselling it. That is enough time for anyone to contact me in case it is a mistake.

Unfortunatly, its impossible to flip the land back for a fast profit by doing this, the high cost of tier really forces you to be agressive if you want to break even, let alone make a profit.

If you want to be a land dealer, you'll need to be in the maximum tier range too, as that is the least amount of cost per square meter. But you also have to have the time and resources to handle more than a plot of two of land.

For me, I use my excess tier to help raise some extra cash, its very much a sideline thing. I've yet to make a real profit, although for two months I made enough lindens that would have covered my tier had i converted them, so it can be done. Of course, I turned around and spent them in game, but that's because the part I enjoy is making some sort of viable business, not the actual USD.

I guess one easy way to be ethical would be being prepared to sell the land back to the previous owner at the price you paid, if they contact you within a reasonable time (say 30 minutes if they were online) and say "hey that wasn't meant to be for sale".

It's almost in the same bracket as "honest lawyer"... but that does seem to be one of the main complaints about land dealers - swooping and taking advantage of someone else's mistake.

Lewis

all land for sale is fair game. if someone made a mistake, they will let you know. the best thing you can do in this scenario is sell it back for the same price to the same person (with perhaps a small time wastage fee added on). no harm done.

Carl,

Ask.

Sometimes $1 isn't always a mistake. When I get land for that low, it's usually people needing to tier not immediately, or newbies quitting because they don't like SL.

Ask who?

Thanks to the helpful responses in this thread, too...

If it's a mistake, you will quickly get an urgent IM from seller.

This is right on the money.

Carl, The best way to do it is just to use your best judgement. Hopefully the new land tools will cut down on the mistakes, but, there is still the potential for misuse, in my opinion no matter how many changes LL makes to the selling tools, people still will make mistakes with them.

People WILL let you know if there was a mistake, unfortunately not all of them will do it in a nice way, some of them will do it by immediately calling you a thief, scammer, or other choice names.

It seems to me that sometimes people make mistakes with thier land, even if it was their mistake, the first thing some want to do is blame someone else, and of course, who better to blame than the new owner of the land.

Unfortunately the general perception of land sellers in SL seems to be that we are ALL a bunch of scammers and griefers, which is not the case. Its a very competitive business, and sometimes things get ugly fast, due to mistakes and misunderstandings.

The majority of people I have dealt with in SL land are very nice and reasonable folks, but
you NEVER know what you are going to run into in the land biz ...sometimes even if you offer to sell it back with a small time wastage fee it only pisses the person off more. I have paid for land and had the person tell me it was a mistake and demand that I GIVE back the land, even forfeiting what I paid for it.

Most folks are not like this, most are really nice, and it's something you just have to learn to deal with on a case-by-case basis, and as I said before, use your best judgement

1. Buy imediately
2. Set the land up for sale to the seller alone for the same price for a "cooling down period" of maybe a day or two.
3. IM the seller asking them if they really wanted to sell at that price, and if not they can buy back the land during that period for the same price.

If you want to build a good reputation, never ever charge a fee for this selling back at the same price process. To do so would turn their embarasment at making a mistake into anger at you for being the one to exploit it, even though others may have exploited them even more

For a really good reputation, put this policy of yours in all your adverts.

To prevent yourself being scammed by people using you as a temporary storage for their land for a day, the cooling down period should not apply to land that was set up for sale just to you.

If you buy land by mistake, make sure to sell it back at the price you paid plus any spike in teir. That would be ethical.