Reliable Estate transfer method?

I'm trying to understand how one might purchase an Estate from an existing owner with an assurance that you're not getting scammed. From the knowledge base:



How is this not an ill-advised and infinitely risky way to spend a thousand+ US dollars? Is there a reason that they can't provide some kind of escrow, or is there some secure method already that I'm not aware of?

I think it's just that: inherently risky.

Adding escrow services would be more work for the Company, which is why I think they won't touch it.

Which is a shame, because if they cobbled up an automated system and charged even 200 USD per use, I'm sure it would fly.

Avion, you might want to shoot Trout Recreant a line. He's super smart about this stuff. Does it in RL for a living, so might be able to suggest a way to firm it up in SL.

That inheirent risk, coupled with a lot of other factors (buy from LL and don't pay the first month of island usage fee, that new-sim-smell, etc) are why I don't think 'used regions' are worth any more than, say, about $1000. I wouldn't pay more than that to get one from a third party, and don't view my own regions as an 'investment' - there is some capital tied up in them but it's like a car - as soon as you drive it off the lot, it depreciates a chunk.

I do agree though that LL should set up some simple automated system for transfering whole regions, and they could use it as a way to make some $$. Their manual method right now costs $100, but their cost is in the labour - someone is manually handling the change of ownership (as well as the change of name and change of location, that they include in the fee).

If they could somehow automate it, it'd save them money in the long run and make their customers more happy.

I can think of a few reasons though as to why they haven't done it yet or why they won't do it.... The whole private island ownership mechanism feels 'tacked on' and incomplete to me. You can't get a list of your islands anywhere on the 'my account' pages, estate ownership is sort of a behind-the-scenes thing, and it only ever touches your account when they bill you for the islands. It seems like an unfinished idea that they tacked on, got it to the point of some functionality, then got distracted and wandered away.

-Atashi

This really would be the best option. I've investigated 3rd party escrow services, but they're really not suited for SL transactions. When you do international deals (quite common here) there are all kinds of complications and extra fees. A company-supported escrow (or goddamit, just a sell option in region tools like you can do with mainland, if the transfer is in Lindens) would be quite welcome.

But to the person who says "used islands" aren't worth it: Class 4 islands are fetching a good price due to the $195 monthly cost. This won't last forever, but it is definitely worth the risk to some folks. A used Class 5, on the other hand, isn't a very compelling buy unless the sell price is significantly low (or it's being sold prefurnished/populated), as new island delivery's been just 2-3 days recently, which is better than turnaround for island transfer tickets. And of course, any Class 5, new or used, is going to come with the same tier.

And to the original poster, here's what I recommend (it's what I've done):
1. Confirm that the seller actually owns the island (check the covenant tab while in About Land on the island).
2. Do what you can to research this person's history, reputation.
3. When you finally agree to buy, send them the money via paypal while you are both online.
4. When the seller receives the money, both go to the support website at the same time and file a transfer ticket. (You both have to file tickets.) Also, remember to specify the estate and grid location you want the island moved to in the Details section, because there aren't special fields for that.
5. ASK FOR THE SELLER'S SUPPORT TICKET NUMBER.
6. Add a comment to your support ticket with the seller's ticket number, and ask the seller to do the same with yours. (Once, the seller misspelled my name in her transfer ticket, and Support kind of sat on her ticket because they hadn't seen a matching ticket from a buyer with the misspelled, non-existent, name. They apparently sat on mine for the same reason; they didn't see a transfer ticket from her with my correctly-spelled name.)
7. If you haven't heard anything for a couple of business days, ping the Lindens via live chat, provide the seller's ticket number, and ask them whether the seller has met their requirements (they will not perform the island transfer until the seller has paid the transfer fee, for example). If not, contact the seller and find out what's up. If you get no response you can often cancel the money transfer in PayPal if it hasn't cleared yet, or file a PayPal fraud claim against the seller if it has.

Thanks for the valuable and thoughtful answers here.

My biggest disappointment in this is not so much that I'm discouraged to do a private transfer (I've decided I don't want to), but if I do purchase an estate from LL, the inherent "shadiness" of it means that it's not much of a liquid asset, unlike my mainland holdings which I could sell easily in the event of some kind of RL upheaval. (I work in a field that pays well, but is notoriously cyclical).

The upside of it is that once you own the estate, the risk all appears to be on the buyer's side, right? I know *I* can be trusted never to scam anyone, so if I did need to sell it, it would just be a matter of convincing the buyer of said trust.

The risk is distributed because the buyer will factor in the inherent risk, and like you point out, the estate won't be worth as much to them as long as a risk factor (from their standpoint) exists.

To install a SELL ESTATE *FINAL SALE* button to click under REGION/ESTATE area , then even a password to insert at the website to verify you are selling off the estate island, whether its one or multiple.

That brings up another point, why are estates not listed in our accounts?

There are private escrow firms that exist solely to support this sort of function: where two parties each wish to ensure performance by the other.