Purchasing an island, Land Portal v Private Seller

Hi

I have some questions regarding the purchase of an island.

If a new island is bought from Linden , it costs $1000 plus monthly tier charge of $295, (plus VAT is payable on each). They also require an advance tier charge of either 6 or 12 months payment.

For island purchases via the Land Portal, is the advance tier payment of 6 or 12 months still mandatory? I assume the first tier payment is due when the island is purchased.

What about buying an island from a private seller - using a ticket via the Linden Support System. It seems that only 1 month tier payment is expected. But its confusing, as one of the Linden land pages states that the tier payment is due 30 days after the island purchase date - this doesn't make sense as i would have expected the tier payment due on the day of purchase.

Also, it seems that purchasing an island from a private seller using L$ doesn't necessitate the payment of VAT on either the purchase price or the transfer cost - is this true?

Any answers would be really appreciated.

LL would never sell any islands if they required an advance tier charge of 6 or 12 months!

Thank you - thats really good news.

I should have said - that the advance charges are due on the ordering of a new island - although at the moment the Land Portal is down so i can't find the link.

Your first month is included in the purchase price of US$1,000.

There are no advance tier fees. If they had them, they wouldn't sell any islands. You pay tier on your island 30 days after it's received. The $1000 setup fee is due on the spot.

Thank you - that just never occurred to me - its starting to make sense now.

If you buy privately you won't have to pay VAT on the purchase price (you'll still have to pay VAT on tier). This could work out cheaper as second hand islands tend to go for less than $1000 anyway.

Linden Lab have improved the security for resident to resident island sales.

The stumbling block is the transfer time, some people are saying it's taking over 2 weeks for a transfer to go through.

Thank you - that has really cleared up a lot - such a pity though about the long transfer time.

when using the ticket system, how does one know when the money is deducted? is it safe to assume that the amount could be taken within 24 hrs?
are most private sellers covering the 100 rename/moving fee themselves?
if so, how is this defined on said ticket?
if someone sells a sim who's tier has been due for them on say the 22nd, and you both put in tickets prior to the 22nd, you are still looking at 30 days from the transfer, and in no way tied to their tier date, correct?
and lastly (sorry) is it possible to put in an order for an open sim at the same time as this transaction is going through for a first time sim owner, or would you simply be told that you must wait for it to be completed?

tysm

Advance payment for 6-12 months of Island Fees is only for price reduced Islands that are sold to educational or non-profit organisations.

Make sure that "buying privately" is actually transferring the sim into your name, so you really are buying it. Many people "sell" sims but are actually just renting it to you.... you need to make sure that you will end up paying tier, in US dollars, to Linden Labs, anything else and you do not own the sim and could lose everything at the drop of a hat.

Thank you - i misunderstood that as well - just thought it applied to everyone buying a new island - and is such a lot to pay up front.


Regarding private sellers and the transfer fee - i've noticed that some offer to share the cost.

This link may be helpful:

https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=4014

Guy with the concierge team gave me some great answers:

Sim transfers- seller always pays 100.00 rename/move fee
Land store bought sims are coming online immediately now
Tier date- remains the SAME on an existing sim (try to find someone who's tier date has already passed for current month!!!) and for newly created orders it's your order date
Open space sims- should be purchased through the land store, post first sim purchase, but there's no imposed delay other than that.

You can't link to the portal like that, all anyone gets is a your session has timed out error.

Oh that's cack.

Ok go to support and then knowledge base and search for "Private Region Transfer FAQ"

Lots of useful info there. I'd copy and paste it but I don't know if that will get me in trouble.

Thank you so much - that works great - i searched for "Private Region" and it gave 50 separate related FAQs and articles - with lots of real detail.