What About Creating A Tier Finders Group?

This thread gave me an idea:

What if there was a way people who had extra tier they wanted to use up could find people who needed tier and visa vera.

Someone could create a tier trading group where people could group IM what tier they have available and how long they would be willing to part with it (the sticky point of this whole notion since the person getting the tier would be screwed if the donating person took their donation back without notice) and people who needed tier could solicite it. A bulletin board at a landing point somewhere could work.

This group would be just for people to find each other. The actual tier donations would take place in the group of the person needing the tier. The group would not be responsible for deals that go awry.

I'm just the guy with the idea, I don't have time to organize it, but if someone wants to take the ball and run with it, go for it. I could donate the bulletin board area if this thing takes on traction.

I see this idea has been hit with a sudden burst of indifference.

My response was "Wow! What a great idea! I sure hope SOMEONE ELSE does it."

I'd guess that it's pretty typical.

been done actually.. well.. kinda. There are a few groups that I know of that rent tier to people, as well as selling land. I believe one of the landbot groups does it as well.

Not talking about a group that rents tier. This would be a group that matches tier donators/sellers with people looking for donations/tier to buy.

I pause somewhat at it, in a way that I wouldn't with other directory services, because of the possibility of scamming. I would hate for a group to get in too deep in terms of land ownership just to have the tier rug pulled out from under them by someone who leaves. I prefer that the large and reputable services make themselves known, versus making it easy for people to become complacent about rented tier and get in over their head with just anyone looking to hawk their unused tier.

Yep. I can see someone selling a ton of tier and then just taking it all back. Between that and the fact that I don't have time to make a go of this, I now invite Strife to make like Javier Bardem in "No Country For Old Men" and put a bolt in this baby.

Actually, Ray, it's a great idea. The problem, as you point out yourself, would be in executing it.
Just an idea, but people could donate/rent out to a central Tier Group, which in turn donates/rents tier to other groups. If people need to withdraw donated tier, hopefully the Tier Group could make up the shortfall from other donated tier in stock.

Does that make sense? Is it even possible?

Don't think it is possible for a group to donate tier (I might be wrong)

Anyone knows for sure?

It *is* an astounding idea Ray. I didn't realise there could be such a place for this till I worked out the difference between buying a neighbouring plot on a one avatar basis to dividing across a wholly owned group.
But ... considering the speed at which things change with clubs crashing, people changing their home plot sizes it could create a frenzy of activity for whoever tried implementing it.
Whereas a content vendor can take care of itself with the creator online or off, this would need close, personal scrutiny .. or a shedload of scripting?
How would it be priced .. per square metre? and if priced appropriately for someone approaching a quarter-sim tier change for instance, would it not be way too much for the little home-owner who simply wants to stretch their house patio out a bit?

Am I being devils advocate ... or just plain defeatist?

Good point, and I don't know for certain. But aren't the Ninja chaps who rent tier a group?

Pricing, as Bilbo points out, is another issue. Would this be commercial or non-profit?

No, I actually successfully rent tier from the 'Ninja Chaps' ( thanks Skye and Elanthius ) and the tier is donated by an av not a group hence my suspicion that it is not possible for a group to donate tier.

Oh well, that idea out of the window then. Thanks.

We take tier donations from individuals into the Ninja group, however, to rent tier to others it must be done by one of our various alts joining a renter's group, removing their personal tier from the Ninja group, and donating the tier as an indvidual person to the renter's group.

In essence, we replace tier we rent out as individual avatars with tier donations from the general SL population.

As Raymond points out, the biggest risk is that person who sells tier is a scammer who agrees to donate tier, takes a payment, then is gone in the wind. The group would then be required to have a member tier up and donate the tier (if they noticed the tier donation was missing in time). If the group remains with negative tier, the land becomes owned by Governor Linden.

There does not seem to be a large, continuous demand for tier rental. I think this is mostly due to:

1) Tier donations require a lot of knowledge about land, tier, and groups and it's overly complicated for the general end user. To establish a group for people to swap tier and sell to each other would require someone who explained the many permuations of tier rental. Every conversation I have about it with a general end user is 30 to 45 minutes; with land barons it's still 5-10 minutes about the details.

2) It's most useful for land barons who need tier for 1-2 weeks before billing dates. It's hard to find someone who can give half a sim or a whole sim on short notice *and* for a short time.

I've been renting my extra tier to Elanthius and his Ninja group for about 8 weeks. I've never had a problem getting paid on time, or anything - actually, Skye has been great with everything (even when I accidentally sold all my land to their bot!)

I'm willing to take the risk, and do business with them, because they are an established business, and if they started ripping people off, it would destroy their reputation.

Renting to/from your average Joe avatar in a community trading group however, is something different. He has nothing to lose if he decides not to pay you, or if his business practices are sloppy and time consuming.

That's my 2 cents!

Princess Ivory

I have had the same positive experience with their group. Just thought if there were a lot of people seeking tier, a bulletin board idea might be a good idea, but I guess there are not enough people seeking tier to get it to work. Plus it's just too risky to rent from strangers.

Maybe my next idea, a group for people who want to trade LOLcat textures, will be more popular.

Kind of like a middle man group with no liability?

That's a pretty cool idea actually.

That was the idea. A matchmaker for tier holders and wanters. I wonder how many thousands of meters of tier are just sitting in people's accounts...

Ive got the 512 sitting all abandoned in mine

Just an FYI:

We've got a 'minor' Tier-shortage crisis at the Shelter at the moment. A few large tier donators pulled out & left Second Life.... leaving us short about 7000m.

We've been floating the word around the Shelter group - so if you are someone who's still connected to the Shelter, you've probably already heard about it. But if you haven't, but you still consider yourself a 'Shelter Suppoter' - we could really use your help right now.

No matter what happens, the Shelter isn't going anywhere. We've got several contingency plans - but making up the shortfall with new tier donations is the preferred option.

If you *are* interested in donating some tier to help the Shelter - please contact FireEyes Fauna in-world, who is doing a fantastic job of trying to manage this little crisis for us

Thanks for the explanation Elanthius. I wasn't quite sure how it worked.

So basically, we should leave this to the professionals, which is usually a good idea anyway.

For the uninitiated, can you explain what the Shelter is?

Hehe - short answer: Check my sig.

Long Answer: We're the oldest still-running newbie support insitution, since 2004. We're very similar to NCI (who has grown way past us /sniff), with some fundimental differences:

Where NCI focuses on the *education* of new residents, we focus on their *socialization*. Our theory is, the biggest thing that keeps folks coming back to Second Life is *Friends* - and it can be tough to make them if you come here knowing nobody at first.

So, we try to provide a friendly atmosphere & social network that anyone can join & be a part of, no matter what social clique you may identify with. Most new residents stay with us for about 6 weeks & move on once they've become accustomed to SL.... others stay at the Shelter as volunteers & help newer residents as they come in. Its a nice little endless cycle - new residents befriending newer residents

Everything we do at the Shelter is free for folks, and aside from the casual socializing that goes on in the main area, we offer games that encourage folks to interact with one another, and social events to break the ice.

That about sums it up, I think