why can't I cash out?

I have built up a small amount of money in SL and now want to cash it out so I can pay for hosting on my website...for some reason though SL will not let me cashout, is there something special I should do first like deposit $500??!

Do you have payment information on file?

As I recall there are only two ways you can actually cash out (as opposed to merely selling L$ for cash).

First is to have a Paypal account and ask to have the cash from the sale of your L$ deposited into your Paypal account (for a fee).

Second one is to ask them to send you a check, but there's a very large minimum amount required before they will do this.

That amount is $10,000 US

Sell/Cash out through an alternate site if none of those options are of interest. LL isn't the only service for doing that.

I'm not sure you can even cash out when you're just "Payment Info on File"?

Your LindeX clock doesn't start running until you either pay for premium or buy some amount of L$ so even with just payment info you might need to buy some token amount of L$ and wait a few days until you actually have a LindeX sell level.

you can buy $1US worth of lindens, wait about 6-10 days and that will then get your account open for selling them too.

Virwox as one example lets you exchange and send cash direct to a bank account, paypal is optional.

Actually, US $2.50 is the minimum buy or sell amount, last time I checked. You do have to put in some amount to start the clock on selling L$ for US$ on the Lindex as noted here:

https://secure-web6.secondlife.com/my/lindex/describe-limits.php


As noted there:

"Days" in the New Resident limits description refers to days since first billing transaction with Linden Lab.

Meaning you have to wait a week after buying some L$ before you can sell and cash out. The trading limits are there to protect against credit card fraud. Someone using a stolen card would have to buy some L$ first, then wait a week before sending it elsewhere, which give the card owner time to notice.

There are other limits on transactions to reduce fraud, if you make an "unusually large transaction". As a top currency trader on the Lindex, I have hit those limits. They will not tell you what those limits are exactly, but again, it is similar to what credit cards do. If you do something "unusual" they will stop you and ask what's going on.

You can cash out via PayPal to any PayPal account for a fee of US$1 (Normally that would be your own account, but you can send it elsewhere). It takes about 5 business days to get there. Linden Lab has some arrangement for a lower than normal PayPal fee to transfer funds, in return for a slower than normal delivery. As noted above, there are other ways to do it that are faster, that might have different fees and exchange rates, so consider both before you decide which way to go.

Just to complete ...
... L$ 500 is the minimum buy limit on XstreetSL.com