Problem Buying L$

I just recently joined SL. Yesterday I tried to buy L$ and apparently I didn't do it right because instead of L$, I have US$. So I went to the Buy L$ page and was presented with the following:

---------------------------------------------------------
Buy Linden Dollars (Market Buy)
Quantity of Linden Dollars: ______
OR
Approximate Cost in US$: ______
---------------------------------------------------------
Your Balances
L$0 US$25.00

Your Remaining LindeX Trading Limits
per 24 hours per 30 days
Buy US$10.00 US$10.00
Sell US$0.00 US$0.00

Your Remaining Account Billing Limits
per 24 hours per 30 days
Purchase US$0.00 US$0.00
---------------------------------------------------------

So I enter $10.00 in the box next to Approximate Cost in US$ and press Buy Now.
I re-log in and am presented with the following:

---------------------------------------------------------
LindenX: Buy L$ Confirmation

Order Summary
Description: Buy Linden Dollar Order for L$2580
Estimated Price: US$10.00

Payment Method

Click on the Place Buy Order button to complete your order. Your payment method will be charged the actual cost to fulfill the order after applying any credits from your US$ account balance. A confirmation of this transaction will be sent to [email]cbryant_3@excite.com[/email].
Credit card type: AMEX
---------------------------------------------------------

I press "Place Buy Order" and am presented with the following:

---------------------------------------------------------
We are unable to complete your request.
• This transaction would exceed your daily billing limit by US$9.74. You have already billed US$25.00 of your daily billing limit US$25.00.
• Couldn't reserve order.
• The system encountered an error while processing your order, please try again.
---------------------------------------------------------

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for any assistance.

Try a lower amount. If you paid other fees like premium membership, it counts towards your total limits for the day. You will be able to use your credit to buy more L$ when your time expires or if LL increases your limit.

That looks kind of confusing to me. It looks like you have a daily limit of US$25 worth of L$. Also looks like if you bought US$10 worth then it meant you would have exceeded the limit.
Have you bought any L$s before which would make it think you had gone past your limit?
When you say that instead of L$ you got US$ do you mean it tells you that or did you actually receive US$? it may have cashed out your L$s.

Thanks for your response.

I have tried lower amounts and keep getting the same result. I have not paid any other fees.

Do I have to wait 24 hours between buying the US$ and converting it to L$?

Thanks again.

Hi Rileyboy, welcome to the forums.

You have been caught in the billing/trading limits that LL uses to help fight credit card fraud among newer accounts. Unfortunately LL calculates the limits in an odd way which will cause the problem you are having now.

What happens is that you have a certain billing limit, and EACH transaction you do counts against it. So if you had purchased the L$ directly, you would have been fine. If, however, you do it in two steps as you did -- transfer US$ into your account, then use your US$ balance to purchase L$ -- the first step puts you over your limit, and you won't be allowed to complete the second step.

On the bright side, the solution is easy: wait 2 days. Now that you've completed a billing transaction (adding US$ to your account), your "limits clock" will start ticking. Two days later, your limits will increase, and you should be able to buy your L$. Your limits will continue to increase during the first month, and soon you should be able to buy all the L$ you need.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy Second Life.

I have just had the same problems and error messages.

It is so unfortunate because now I feel I have been ripped off. I have spent $25 of my money and am unable to use it.

I made this mistake because I clicked ont he L$0 sign in the main screen and it led me to the credit window. There was no warning to me, as a newbie, that if I took this route to buy Linden dollars that I would be unable to access them once I handed over my $25.

I understand wanting to combat credit card fraud - but there is a very easy fix by posting a warning message on the relevant page of the web site.

Very grumpy Theodora signing off.