PAid account VS free account.

did a search for this but didn't have any real luck...
When I first got on I just took the free account, I joined SL on kind of a "What the heck, I will check it out" cause I was bored...
I was not going to pay for something that I didn't even know what it was yet...

My SL life is this - Mostly just to talk to people and hang out, I don't buy land. I do buy clothes sometimes, usually off xstreetsl.com
I am not real interested in racking up tons of lindens, just a couple grand is more than enough. I will just pay the $8 for L$2,000 [price at time of purchase] when I need. So I am not looking for an SL job or trying to be a model.
I DO have a few friends there that I have known for quite some time off other forums and sites. We mainly just chat.

So what are the advantages of a paid account and for doing what I do, would it even benefit someone like me?

My search was "paid account free account" in all forums, search entire posts. Too many irrelevant results.
Thanks

The only real advantage is that it allows you to own land on the mainland. You get a L$300 a week stipend, but it's cheaper to buy on the Lindex. You are also supposed to get a better level of support I think, but I'm not sure what that amounts to.

If you don't want land there's no point in being premium.

At the moment none really. They're looking into making premium membership more worthwhile but it will be a while before they address that I'd imagine.

"Premium" would be a better search term than "paid".

If you can find a decent estate to rent land on you don't even need a premium account.

Never accept anything less then the land being fully in your name when renting on an estate btw.

Yeah premium is pretty pointless at the moment. LL says they plan to make it more worth it in the future.

You don't even need a premium account to own an estate!

I didn't go Premium until about 8 months or so of being in SL and then it was to purchase a small parcel on the mainland for my store.

As others have said, the only reason at this point is to own mainland. Everyone has their own opinions on this. I enjoy living on mainland (having found a nice area) and owning a spot there. However I am paring down because I want to lower my monthly tier. (*Grumbles again about LL could boost mainland land sales by readjusting the tier increases.)

So far, the only benefit to being premium is that feeling, more like an illusion, that you are contributing to SL. Unless you own mainland, it is pointless really, and you can contribute just as much as a premium member by remaining basic and never lose your account should a billing error occur.

In your shoes, I would not go premium at this time. If a time comes when you either want to actually own some mainland or they add some other perk you want, then consider it.

I joined SL over a year ago, and I am still on a free account. I don't own land. I rent a small skybox, that's enough. I don't have time to run a business in SL, and I already work in RL.

I just use SL as my own "Top Model" while I chat with ppl and go around and admire what other ppl have built.

I have a budget - so I buy some 1000 L when I need more but try to not overspend. Before SL, I used to buy some glossy magazines. I use that money on SL instead.

I have never felt that I need to be premium. Like mentioned before, the only thing you need to be premium for, is if you need help fast from LL. It's some "Live help" where you have to be premium to log into. I can still fill in help tickets and AR if I need to, as a free account.

It was rumours that only paid accounts could log into SL if the grid had too many avatars logged in. I believe that was only a rumour?

I have usually had good responses from Linden Labs on support, so I would count "support" as a real advantage for a premium account. As for land, I've had bot good and bad experiences on mainland and on island estates, and I have had much worse experiences on islands.

Linden Labs says they have the capability, t haven't said they've actually turned it on.

OK I was just seeing what the difference was.
At some point on SL I might go premium if I want to buy land for a store or something but
for now, it seems the free account serves what I do.
Thanks for the input everyone

They tried it once, and stated afterwards that they decided the negative responses and issues raised by the users was definitely not worth the minimal gains from doing it. One of the few times that LL has listened to its customers.

Locking out all but the Premium members is sort of like locking the doors to a department store and allowing only staff and a small VIP club to access the establishment. You lock out the majority of your paying customers that buy your merchandise. So from the standpoint of a content creator and merchant in SL, locking down access only to Premium members is a disaster. Because the majority of our customers are NOT Premium members.

At this point, as the others have said, there is no advantage for a new account to go Premium, unless you really want that account to be able to buy a Mainland parcel. Without being Premium, you can rent on the mainland or get land on any private island estate. So... unless you really fancy living in Bay City or some other Mainland location, it isn't a good deal, and doesn't even help LL very much, as LL gives the majority of your membership fees back to you over the course of the year, as a weekly L$300 stipend.

I may be wrong, but it may be possible to buy land on the mainland if you form a group, and rent tier from one of the agencies that do this, without being premium. They add an avi to the group to donate the tier. If the avi is premium (I think that they have to be), that should cover it.

Just be sure to open "about land", and then buy land for group after getting the correct amount of tier. One of my land trust officers is basic, and he can buy for the group.

I need to remember to check this out next time I see Skye online.

Personally, I've found the big benefit of a premium account is that I have a permanent place of my own in SL. The reason this is so important to me is that I designed and built my own house, garden, gallery etc. I also have a sky platform above it. I've got my place just how I want it and I'm happy.

My advice is if you want to own land that is secure, become Premium and buy mainland.

I used to be premium but decided some time ago to cancel it. A friend who had been on SL for years, had a problem with her credit card being accepted and shortly thereafter, her account was deleted.

Since I didn't want that happening to me, I reverted to basic and rent an apartment on the mainland.

Unless you want to own mainland land, I wouldn't bother personally.

I've seen this a couple of times now and am wondering how prevalent it is? I'm starting to wonder if I should "sell" my mainland parcels to my alt account so if something whacko like this happens I wouldn't lose everything on my main.

Advantages - NONE!
Disadvantages - A lighter pocketbook!

I recently went back to Premium.... Why? I want to own land where I am the boss, where only Linden can interfere with what I am doing. So owning land on the mainland is the only reason. The higher stipend is just nice thing, not more then that.

Morwen.

This issue really, really, really needs to be fixed.

yes, as if jira votes mattered.

Form a group with your alt, with both of you as owners of the group, and deed the land to the group. Then if something happens to one of your AV's you can still control the land using the other one.

Plus you will get a 10% bonus on the amount of land you can own with no increase in tier.

Done that, but since my alt is a robotic black ball called X7 it'll never be able to replace me on the dancefloor or at a 'best in boots' contest!!!