Do You Buy Cheap on the GOM?

I would be interested to hear people's experience about buying on the GOM.

Do you wait for the price to fall before you buy?

Do you only buy at times of real estate deals?

Do you buy regularly so that you always have sufficient game money?

Do you ever think to buy one of those $4.05 packets stacked up behind the cheapers ones, rather than the cheapest packet of your selection?

Some people think "for the good of the community" you need to keep the value of the Linden at $4.00. So are you willing to wait a few days -- weeks -- months -- to get the size packet you want but to pay $4.00 or more so in order to support the Linden?

If someone has set out a packet at a really low price, do you think perhaps you are harming the community by purchasing from that low-baller? Why do you do it?

Tiger Crossing, I would love if you could take the same formulas you made for the auction and apply them to the GOM (since I'm figuring the owners of GOM aren't likely to put this information out). But here are my burning questions:

1. What percentage of the sales on GOM (by day and by week) are the "deliberately set-out-low" kind of sales of say, less than 15 minutes duration on the market before purchase?

2. What percentage of sales are purchases of these set-low packets which are then put out for sale at a higher price immediately afterwards by the same customer?

3. Can you tell us what percent of your clients engage in trading of the Linden currency itself, i.e. not purchase of Lindens to use in-world, or cashing out of Lindens to use out-world, but buying and selling of the Linden itself rapidly merely to make money off the currency?

no i dont buy cheap but i sell cheap to undermine the market and to make a quick buck. Merry Christmas LOL

All of my transactions to date have been selling accumulated $L for out-world cash. That may change if I change my economic paterns from "making and selling stuff in-world" to "building up assets and being a business owner in-world" or decide to try my hand at day trading. The current low value of the L$ makes it more ideal for the later two stratigies and very sucky for the former. I don't like selling for less than $4, especialy after comission and the "pay pal tax", beccause I'm watching my own bottom line; not because I care about keeping the value of the $L stable.

GOM has their own forums, BTW, you might have better luck asking there. I know the people who run GOM acutaly pay atention to those.

I have never bought L$s for US$s.

There have been many instances where I have bought $L that I thought where set below market value. I just turned around and placed them back for sale at a higher rate to make a profit. Every instance in which I did this I turned a profit within hours/days.

Buyers and sellers should have conflicting preferences as to what they want the value of the $L to be as it relates to the USD. I am not a regular currency trader, but when a deal presents itself, I pounce.

As far as sellers desiring the $L to remain at $4, as a seller I would prefer $5 or higher. The higher the better IMO. I do not think it will get there in the near future, but I wouldn't be upset if it did.

The point that I think may have been lost in the thread that got a little out of control was that as sellers, we have the commodity that is needed. Sellers determine the value of the $L. From all of my experience dealing with buyers of $L , I have seen that they are really not that price sensitive. They just want a specific amount of $L and they want it ASAP. It is in a sellers best interest to try to get the most bang for their buck.

I buy Cheap and Sell High for a Profit... A penny or two per trade adds up over time.

with the fall in the value of L$, every1 is at a loss, but now all non US$ currencies are loosing out even more. When i sell on GOM, have fees taken from me, get paypal tax from me i end up with almost 50% less than what i got about 5 months ago. The value of the pound has dropped sooo much to the US$ its like 1£ = 1.97$

I don't have much RL money - so I leave the buying the more expensive Lindens to those who've got the £s! I don't trade on the currency either, I just buy it and use it in-world, for land and objects, so there is no benefit to me of buying high on the GOM.

There isn't enough buyers... Sellers out number buyers 4 to 1. And until we get back to a 50/50 split between buyers and sellers, I see the L$ dropping like a rock. Land is the linch pin of the SL economy and LL's glut of land has caused land prices to decline. The resulting decline in land means that your L$ can buy more land then it could 6/mo ago. The net effect means that extra L$ is left over in people's pockets. What they don't spend on land gets dumped on the market for sale.

Just like Sulumor said, 4096 use to cost L$40,000, now its about L$15,000. As such, where does that remaining L$25,000 go? Up for sale. The only hope for the L$ is if Land Prices go back up. And that will only happen if a) LL stops all new land sales and b) the population continues growing to consume the existing glut thats out there. Otherwise, I wouldn't be suprised to see the L$ drop to half its current value.

Former Format Quote:
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L$250 = US$0.95/cents (L$1000 = US$3.82)


* Remember when it was around US$1.50 for L$250? Under the new format that would be L$1000 = US$6.00.


In any case, the L$ is just about at the same level it was at in May/June '04. The only difference is that its declining fast.

Good. Ultimately, I'd like to see the end of the link between the L$ and real money.

That will never happen. Your question fails to acknowledge the have's and have not's. As long as players "Want" L$ and as long as there are player willing to sell their L$, all you need is an agreement between both parties on what to exchange to make both people happy. Currently, the Buyer has USD's and wants L$ --- The Seller wants USDs and has L$.

The current valuation of the L$ is about US$3.83 for L$1000 linden dollars. Your wish is noble, but its ignoring the core basics of humanity. Greed!!!! The only way to grant your wish is to rid the game of L$ all together. But the effect will yield less content, except from those who spend all their time and energy for free. Those who seek personal gain from their hard work will just stop working as hard because there is nothing to gain.


Greed is your enemy Charlotte.