Best way to sell Linden? Please help.

My shop has fortunately been doing pretty well so I'm now in the position to convert some of the Linden to real money. I know Lindenlab provides the service but charges 3.5%. I also looked into SL Exchange but couldn't figure out how to transfer Linden to Paypal, I have also checked out anshex.anshechung.com (I'm looking to offload about L$50,000) but the site isn't big on support documents. I have no idea how to use it.

Could anyone provide some guidance as to which option is the best? I don't mind paying for commission as long as it's reasonable and safe and doesn't not take too long to process.

Any help would be appreciated.

For your first few times, I'd recommend just selling straight through Linden Lab, here:

https://secure-web16.secondlife.com/currency/sell.php

You'll usually end up selling your L$ for around L$277/1USD, plus the 3.5% commission as you noted. I did this for quite a while until I got adventurous and started playing with the Limit Sell option... This is where you tell LL to sell your L$ for a specific (aka lower than market value) rate. Right now, you can get around L$263/1USD, which is good if you're selling, bad if you're buying.

You would then use the new USD in your account to count for next month's tier, or Process Credit out to PayPal or as a check.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there's generally a better buying rate on SLX and a better selling rate on the LindeX.

I don't understand what you mean by transferring L$ to PayPal, though. You don't, you sell it for USD and then transfer that.

Thank you so much Oryx. I'm a complete newbie at this so I'll have to ask some very stupid questions (plus I'm a designer, which means I can't count).

We can currently buy L$184/1USD, so to sell L$277/1USD does it mean you lose out the difference?

Also, how long does it take for Linden to pay you? And once the money comes through, how do you transfer it to Paypal?

I second what Oryx said...just sell them on the Lindex. From what I hear, LL is slow to transfer $US from your account to PayPal...it could take several days. But that is better than asking them for a check. They charge you a fee for that.

If you do decide to use SL Exchange, it's a three step process.

1. Deposit your L$ from your avatar's account to SLX
2. Use the "Sell SLL" option on SLX to exchange L$ for $US
3. Transfer $US to your PayPal account

(And of course, you must HAVE an SL Exchange account. But I recommend that, anyway. It's free, and it lets you buy stuff on their marketplace.)

I probably explained myself quite badly (no surprises there!). I was under the impression that I would need to first of all, send the Linden to my SLX account from in-world, but then I had trouble figuring out how to convert Linden to USD so I could transfer it to Paypal. Or have I miss something completely...?

Why on earth would you BUY at L$184/1USD??? That's a horrible rate. You should be buying at the MOST possible L$ per USD, not the least. On LindeX, I believe it's about L$264? When selling, you want to sell for the LEAST possible L$ per USD, which, again, using the Limit Sell option, is about L$264. Using the Market Sell, which sells your L$ immediately, without waiting for fluctuations in the market, will net you about L$277/1USD. It depends on how quickly you need your USD.

Thanks Lindal. That clarified many of my questions. The SLX option does sounds quite straight forward. But when you sell it on there would to simply go for the default "the best price I can get immediately"? and do they not charge any commissions at all?

Oh my little head hurts Oryx, I need an accountant... I got the L$184 rate by going to the "Buy L$" page on Second Life. I typed in 1USD it converts it to L$184. Have I missed something terribly?

$1 - 30 cents transaction fee = $0.70 x L$263/$1 = L$184

I'd guess the OP opened the "Buy L$" window in the viewer, typed in $1 and noticed that would yield L$184 and assumed it was the exchange rate.

There's a 30 cent transaction fee per L$ purchase, so you didn't get the value of $1 in L$, but 70 cents in L$.

If you want to see the exchange rates use the site (https://secondlife.com/currency/sell.php) instead .

(The in-world rate will be a market buy which matches the highest limit sell; that isn't the best exchange rate you can get on the LindeX though)

There's a 30 cent fee when you are buying $L. When you put in US$1, you are only buying 70 cents worth of lindens. Last time I checked, Limit orders were $263 to sell or $274 to buy if you are willing to wait a day or so. If you want a good rate and want your order to be filled in minutes, put in a limit order to sell at $264 (or even $265 if there's a large amount at $264). Over 70 million linden are exchanged on the Lindex everyday, roughly half will be from the sell side and half from the buy side, so if there's around 35 million being sold at the price you want to sell for, you should expect it to take about a day.

That's just for 1USD. Try entering in a higher number like 25USD. This will give you a more realistic rate. LL charges a 30 cent transaction fee, so like Kitty said, it's accounting for that in the L$184 number. If you buy more L$ at one time, the 30 cents will be mitigated out, for a much higher buy rate.

[Edit: And Argos too. ]

I sell all my Lindens on the SLExchange Currency Exchange...
Here's a link to their step by step instructions for selling Lindens:
http://slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=8

One you've sold the Lindens, on the left side of the screen where it shows your Linden balance.. there is also a USD$ balance. You click the Withdraw under the balance to start the process of transferring to PayPal. All of my transactions over the last 2 years have been completed within minutes. I also have a PayPal Debit card so I have instant access to my cash.

That was it! Silly old me. I didn't know the rate changes the more you buy. It makes a lot more sense now. Thanks Claari for the link. I think I might go down the SLX route. It seems more straight forward to me. But when you sell your linden, do you normally go for "Best price" option?

It depends on how badly I need the money. If I can wait a few days, I use the limit buy/sell options. If I need the money (or the lindens) right away, I'll use the buy or sell now options.

I did it!. I went for the "sell now" option since this is my first time. I was surprised that it was converted into USD almost instantly on my screen. I then transferred it to Paypal. it's still pending on SLX so I'll see how it goes.

Thanks everyone for your help. Couldn't have done it without you!

Fun, huh?

You don't have to use the Sell Now option if you want your money immediately. You can do a limit order and just price yours at 1 linden worse that the current setting. For instance, if there's 30million offered at 263 and 40,000 offered at 264, price yours at 265 and they will be the next lindens that get sold. You'll get a better price than the Sell Now option, and you'll still get your money nearly instantly.

question relating to this...

If LL takes up to a week to process a Credit to Paypal and SLX takes 5 minutes... why would anyone want to use LL?


Is there a way to cancel a " Process credit" that is already pending? Waiting sucks!!!!

A lot of people don't know they can use SLX.

I just prefer using LindeX. A matter of personal opinion, I guess. I'm lazy, too, so an extra click to open a new tab for SLExchange is one too many for me.

I would use the LindeX, because the fees are lower and the exchange rate is better for selling.

Here's a little bit more on the best rates for the Lindex:

If you go to market data page (http://secondlife.com/currency/market.php), there's a column near the center of the table titled "Min Rate", then one "Avg Rate", then "Max Rate".

The "Min Rate" column represents the best rate sellers got on that day (263 for nearly two weeks). The "Max Rate" column represents the best rate buyers could get that day (274 for just over a week) . Both of these rates are before factoring in commissions, and correspond to the numbers you would actually enter into the limit price box on the Lindex. Obviously when you sell, you want to give up as few lindens as possible, and when you buy, you want to get as many as possible.

To set your price, look at these two columns and judge how the market has been, and how soon you need your money. It typically takes a few days to sell at these rates. In other words, a sell at 263 today or a buy at 274 is likely to be filled in less than a week. If you need it sooner, then sell at 265 or buy at 273.

Of course, there are no guarantees. The price is normally stable for several months at a time, but just went down by 1L$/US$ in the last few weeks (which is actually an increase in the value of the Linden agains the US $). So people who placed buy orders at 275 around August 11 haven't had them filled at all.

Two days ago, I put in a Limit Sell order at 263 and it was filled within 24 hours. The longer wait time will be on the Limit Buy side because you are waiting for people to do a Market Sell. There are a lot fewer people doing Market Sells than do Market Buys because people that have enough to sell usually know enough to wait for the better rate.