Handling land swaps?

I need to get a 256m plot in the sim where my main properties exist. I have a 512m in another sim that I want to dispose of (both are mainland) at a very attractive price. One option I'm thinking of is to post an offer in the classifieds to exchange the 512m for a 256m in my main sim as an even trade (this is all about prims and tiers, by the way). How do people handle such swaps between strangers? Is there a trustworthy process for this?

Otherwise I'll just put the 512m up for sale at a rock bottom price and watch for a 256m to come available.

Thanks!

I am not aware of any way to complete this trade without one side trusting the other. (you don't both have to trust the other, just one way trust).

The best you can do is sell each other the parcels for L$4/sqm and then at least if you get ripped off you can get your money back... or you didn't lose more than the value of the parcel.

People are always asking me to do swaps. I usually say no. But when I do them I /always/ make them sell their parcel to me first for L$0. i.e. they have to trust me or the deal doesn't happen. Since you're not in a position of power and the other side will be doing you a favour you may not be able to insist on this.

Note: If you have them sell their land to you for a low price, tell them at least 4 times to set it to you specifically and not to Anyone. If you only mention it three times they will sell it to Anyone and you will both lose it to bots.

Agreed......I did it, on my mainland parcels, to get a parcel that was adjoining one I wanted to keep. The other party had several parcels on the sim, and was willing to swap, so both of us would have our owned parcels together instead of seperated. I took a deep breath.....and trusted her. There was no other way to do it. All went fine and I got what I wanted, EXCEPT that, for a minute, I was over tier. Just until she bought the one I was swapping. We were both right there together and did the swap inside of a few seconds, but that few seconds put me over tier for one month, I had to pay the higher amount, because in those few seconds, I owned that additional parcel, that she then took over. Gotta watch that.

I've done swaps, but only for smaller parcels up to 1024.
Without an honest broker like Elanthius being involved, there is a risk element that one has to gauge. I haven't suffered so far.

Renting tier is a good way to avoid temporary tier jumps.

Right, going over your tier is a big risk as well. Want to get bumped up a level just for 256sqm? You can avoid this by using "Buy for group" and having a friend donate tier to the group temporarily.

I'm a puzzled by "... watch for a 256m to come available." That suggests there's not currently a specific 256 for which you'd be swapping. Unless there's something unusual here, there wouldn't be much likelihood of a 256 becoming available in your favored sim.

If you're on good terms with your neighbors in that sim, such that they wouldn't feel compelled to try to rip you off, you might want to ask around among those who have prims to burn; maybe one would like to shrink their holdings. Although 256 is all of 58 prims so... I dunno. It just seems like a pretty special situation. And it would seem very unlikely that anybody would want to shed 256 in one sim and add a specific 512 in another--unless that's one mighty attractive 512 for some reason.

In the few times I've done swaps, I've been happy to trust the other person and I've never come unstuck, except the first time, and only in the way that you described - tier level.

The most recent swap I did was only for a 16m, and the other person just set hers for sale to me at 0L, without any discussion of trust, or who sets it first. In fact, she hadn't even seen that I'd cut a 16m for her in the corner of the sim - a long way away. She just took my word for it and she didn't come unstuck.

Yeah this is another good point. No-one has ever tried to rip me off during a swap as far as I know and I've done dozens. But if you read some other threads I'm in you'd know I'm pretty paranoid about trusting people in SL with my money.

There are several "unused" lots and a number of 256m's in the sim and I can't get in touch with any of the owners. I'm just looking to get some additional prims without exceeding tier limits. I have 325m in excess tier. I'm thinking that someone might want to spin off 256m in exchange for 512m, and I've never seen another living soul around us. Qie, I don't understand your comment about a mighty attractive 512? It would seem relatively simple to me to be willing to give up 256 that I was not using and get 512m where I could put a skybox or something. What am I missing? Thanks!

I suppose it's because land is just so cheap now, I figure that if somebody wanted a 512 instead of a 256, and had tier for it, they'd just dump the 256 to the bots and pick up their choice of 512s. It's *possible* that one of the 256-owners in your sim would want your particular 512, I guess, but it seems more likely (to me) that they'd want the L$s and the flexibility to use the proceeds on whatever land they find that fits their fancy--and their tier.

(By "mighty attractive" I was thinking of a unique situation, like a 1536 I found for a good price, between a Linden roadway and protected Linden water two sims deep off of 48m of shoreline--just when I happened to be big into scripting boats. If your 512 happened to strike the fancy of a 256 owner in that way, you might well have a swap even if the other landowner had to move some tier around to do it.)

Lol.... you beat Elanthius to the suggestion and some cheap advertising