Tighter rules on claim auction-won land

Due to some thoughts that came out of this thread, I came up with an idea which I think needs to be lifted out of that thread and into this one, so I repeat my post here:

I've been thinking about ways to stop abuse of the land tier/auction system in this way (winning a lot of auctions, but not claiming them for a long time, to avoid land tier fees) without also penalizing people who want to bid on land, but win it when they can't get in-world to claim it (perhaps they're on vacation or something).

What I think would be fairest is that when a resident wins an auction, a timer is triggered when they next log in-world. This should also be accompanied by an informational window that pops up on log in (not an IM, as those get lost in the login spam at times).

It would inform them that they have 24 hours to claim the land they just won. (Maybe less?) If they do not claim it within that time frame, it goes back to auction. Perhaps there could be a "special cases" email address where you can give a reason why the claiming did not take place in the time frame allowed - which would prevent the massive abuse we currently see, but would allow for e.g. a person needing to sell to a neighbor before claiming the new land.

The more I think about this, the more I feel it is needed. It is frustrating to see people "camping" on land which they're not paying tier for, but meanwhile preventing other people from owning it and using it.

Is this really going on??? I thought it might have been an issue of one or two cases... but the way you talk it sounds like it's happening a lot.

Which, I have to say, is infinitely angering.

On a side note, has anyone noticed the last ten or so auctioned land being battled for by land barons and land barons alone? It's kind of interesting that land is in demand right now but only because the barons are still buying it up. So long as they do that, LL has no reason to stop adding land to the system, and eventually the barons won't be able to hold on to aaall that land, eh? I'm kind of excited. Land sales are going to be a very interesting situation in the near future.

Currently the limit is, what, 7 days? I don't see how that's really hurting anyone. It gives auction winners a chance to adjust/sell/give away other plots to meet land tiers before claiming the land they won. Also, at least in my most recent winning, it lets someone who's close to their monthly billing date wait till that day passes before tiering up (rather than paying a month's worth of higher tier for 3 days worth of holding more land).

On an individual basis, in small quantities, it doesn't hurt anyone - which is why I suggest the "special case" email, which might extend the 24 hours to 7 days.

But it is being abused to the point that one person currently has several Sims' worth of unclaimed auction land in total, for a week (or more, the limit is not being enforced), which costs LL a large amount of tier fees.

Is that really fair on the rest of us?

Daemioth - take a look at the Land Sales map, down in the snow sims. By my estimation, at least half of the lots showing as purple went through auction a week or more ago, and are lying unclaimed.

The only fair rules are rules that apply to everyone equally. If LL is not enforcing the existing 7 day rule then they really should get on it. But I don't think it would be right to take away everyone's wiggle room to penalize one person or to hold one person to some kind of higher standard because she buys a lot of land.
I also have to say that an extra week of seeing natural terrain before "For Sale" signs go up is probably a good thing for everyone.

There are more issues than just not picking up the land and paying the tier, although three sims worth of tier fees should be enough to wake up LL.

By holding three sims worth of land, that means that the land prices for land parcels that are being sold can be held in check, kept a higher rate than the presently going-for-auction-rate of 3L to 2L.

By holding three sims worth of land, that means that others who wanted to build their dream build are possibly being denied the land of their choice, and probably pointed to higher-priced land.

It simply means market manipulation, higher profits from not tiering up, higher land prices, and higher prices that the players are paying for land.

It means market manipulation by continuing to bid on and win auctions while unclaimed land remains off the market. Simply put, defaults should be taken back by LL, the restocking fee of 10% per winning bid should be applied, and further auction bidding should be revoked by the main account, and any other alts that should come afterwards.

There's probably more dirt under the rug than what's being seen at the moment. I have seen 2048 land being split into 1024 parcels, yet the description still reads 2048. Buyer beware, if you look at the description and think you're purchasing 2048 of land. It looks like it's a good price for 2048m of land, but when you look at the actual parcel meters, it's only 1024.

I've seen this more than a few places, but assumed, in my innocence, it was laziness rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead. There's a lot in Ohno that has been for sale for weeks, and is labelled "1024m2" even though it is actually 2048m2, and priced for it! No wonder it hasn't sold!

I guess when you're parcelling up auction land at the rate of several lots a day, you just don't have the time to spend on individual names and descriptions

The Lindens are aware of this problem and are going to address it. It is not happening on a wide scale of users, but as you have mentioned, one user has abused this with shocking amounts of land. I think the inconsistency between the 24 hour grace period of buying land in world and the 7 days in auction doesn't make sense anyway. Hopefully they will stop this abusive behavior right away. Based upon the response I have seen, I trust that they will.