How Does Tier to Gov. Linden Work Exactly?

Hullo all,

I am considering buying some Linden owned land at auction, but the lot is an odd size--just over the standard 1024 sm. Do I jump to the next tier level (2048 sm) each month? Or is tier calculated in increments depending on the actual sm?

Also, does Linden Labs accept Lindens as payment, or will it be added to my credit card each month?

Thanks to all who reply.

If 1024 is the cut off for that level of tier, then you will pay the next level of tier each month. They do not take lindens, it comes from your credit card. If you sell items you can apply a "credit" in your account settings on the official website after selling lindens to offset that.

Thanks for quick reply Macphisto. Calrification, please. I am able to keep quite a few Lindens in my account every month. Will they accept the "credit" in Lindens? Or would I have to sell them back for US dollars? NVM, I just read your reply again and you answered that. Sry.

Groups recieve a 10% tier bonus. You could form a group, contribute your tier to that group, and then deed the land to the group if the 10% would cover the over run. Not sure about the particulars of this when buying land at auction to keep you from paying the 2048 tier for a single month, but I bet there is a way.

If you create a group be sure to get 2 members (yourself and an alt) in it within 24 hours so the group isn't disbanded.

OK, Good idea. Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it.

Also, don't forget that you get a free 512 sm of tier with every premium membership.

Form a group using either a couple of alts or friends, they just have to be in the group as basic members, they don't have to have any liability to it, alternatively give them officer status and limited building rights on your land.
There are also a couple of businesses that will rent you tier contribution metres per month by joining a premium with excess tier into your group.

tier steps go in
m²-steps= 512 (no additional tier, only 512 that are included in premium account)
m²-steps= 512+512*2^x (for x [0..7]) (for additional tier steps.)
beyond that it seems to go:
m²-steps= 512+65536+32768*y

You pay for the next highest step of your-owned and your-to-group-deeded land that you ever reached in that month.

If you change to group land, just make sure you are the only person that can sell the land. No one else in the group should have that permission.

If you ever decrease your land holdings, remember to go to your account page to lower your tier.

When you buy more land, your tier billing automatically goes up to reflect the addtional land.

When you get rid of land, however, your tier does not automatically go down.

Last month, I bought 1024 of mainland, decided I didn't need that much, and sold it for a different 512 parcel. I bought the new before ten minutes before I sold the old, so for ten minutes last month, I had 1536.

I happened to check my account page the day before Linden Labs billed by account. I found that Linden Labs was prepared to bill me $8.00 US for the 512 that's supposed to be tier-free. The page reflected accurately that I had only 512 land, but also said that at my current tier level, I was allowed 1024 more.

I'm absolutely sure that there is not technical reason why my tier cannot be automatically adjusted down the same way that it is automatically adjusted up. Linden Labs just wants to make a little extra money by catching me sleeping.

It's based on the max tier you had for that billing cycle

okay start of the cycle you had 1024m, so starts with 512m that you need to pay tier on

during a week you buy a couple lots and wind up with half a sim

you sell those lots and half your original land...

your tier will be the half a sim

as I understand the billing cycle

Important to make sure the 'pay liabilities recieve group dividends' is unchecked if you are including members other than an alt. When you sell the land, all members with that box checked will recieve an equal portion of the money.

That's not quite true.

On your tier date, you are charged based on the PEAK amount of land you used in that past month. It doesn't matter how much land you own on the tier date. Even if you have tiered down on the website, you can't stop the charge based on the peak amount of land you owned. (If they didn't do this, land could be abused in all sorts of ways by moving land between avs just before tier date.)

However.. when you tier up, you only increase your maximum tier level. You will NOT get charged for more land than the peak you actually owned in the month. All that the maximum level changes is the amount of land you can buy and own without being warned again.

Here's an "illustrative example":

You have 512sqm of land. (Premium membership)
You buy 16384sqm of land. (You are forced to tier up to 16384sqm.)
You sell 8192sqm of it. (You are still at the 16384sqm tier.)
TIER DATE COMES: You are charged for 16384sqm. (Peak usage in the previous month)
You keep your 512sqm + 8192sqm for the next month.
TIER DATE COMES: You are charged for 8192sqm. (Peak usage in that previous month. You are still at the 16384sqm tier but you aren't charged for what you didn't use)
You sell your 8192sqm.
You buy another 16384sqm. (You don't have to tier up because you are still at the 16384sqm tier.)
TIER DATE COMES: You are charged for 16384sqm. (Peak usage in the previous month)