Foreign Trans. Fee/Because Linden's Bank is out of the Country!

I really feel this is so unfair! Now because Lindens Bank is now in a Foreign Country, even though they themselves are located in the Untied States. All Americans when they pay their Monthly Rent, Membership Fee’s and buy Linden Dollars, are now being charged right and left Foreign Transaction Fees. I was charged 7 times in one month, and because of this, I will now have to change the way I was buying L$. As again, this is so unfair!

People might want to check to make sure they aren't being charged fees they aren't aware of and don't want to be paying.

How are you notified of these fees?

I suspect that if this was happening to very many folks there'd be a lot of complaints about it, unless it's just started and there hasn't been long enough for people to find out about it.

There have been several discussions over at RA, that sadly turn into the usual trans Atlantic pissing contest. Plus there was an after the fact BlogPost about it. For my money, pun intended, it's just another knucklehead business move.Having a bank overseas to acommodate "They Majority of SL Users" is a perfectly logical move. But with LL being based in the US (albeit California ) there is no reason not tohave a Bank in this country to acommodate "The Minority".

*LAUGH!*

Consider the alternative of every bank and tax agent not being able to look at your transactions in an across-the-board style. The would have to dig into the details of why those transactions occurred. They would look into what previously caused those transactions. They might get into what type of business you run and start to charge business rates on your accounts. They might find that some of the IP traded needs to be taxed also and find there is past due fines on such transactions. They might find that the hardware used to run your business is actual a home computer, or likewise vice versa.

Anotherwords... a big headache.

The foreign tax probably is more worth your while then the alternative.

Hi SuezanneC,

In answer to your question. The FEE charges, just started as of my last Bank statement. This was how I discovered it. We now get charged 10% of the US Dollars we spend on anything with SL, from paying our monthly rent, membership fee and any L$ we purchase. At least that is the rate with most Banks. For me I can afford it. What I found to be the issue and that I did not care for, was having to find this out on my own on a Bank statement. What also really bothers me, is there are many players I have had the pleasure of meeting, who's income, well is not as plentiful. And these nickle and dime charges to enjoy SL, could cause perhaps not so good results for them, and their Income/Bank. This could actually cause over draft charges they may not be able to cover, all because they too did not know about the new Foreign Transaction Fee, all because of where Linden now has their Bank account at. I also feel, that since Linden is a US Company, that why should we as US citizen's have to pay Fee's. And from what I gathered, was it not us in the US, that kept SL growing to be able to open to the world?

Hmm. I bet there is a 10% the other way around, also.

I don't want to like gamble on it, but I bet anybody about this charge with this "foreign tax" on their income that is taken from L$ being sold doesn't actually have to report it to the IRS. It's already declared a foreign transaction... out of U.S. jurisdiction. *bam*

=)

It is 5% or more lower than the income tax rate.

In the event of questionable income, I would recommend to be very familar with the Ponzi scheme, so that you will know the difference if needed. I would not doubt that someone will try to create FUD over it and claim a Ponzi scheme. There really is no Ponzi scheme here when the exchange, like LindeX, is treated like any other currency exchange.

I'm aware of a Ponzi scheme.
Think I ran one in a dream last week o..O

While i understand if the fee is attached to purchase or sale of L$'s, i don't understand why it's attached to membership fees and land tiers.

Also, nothing i've received from LL gave any indication this new "fee" was going to be tacked onto my annual premium membership fee. Since i don't buy L$'s, don't own any land, don't pay monthly tiers, and don't cash out L$'s, is there any sort of recourse for this?

Yea, it's only $7.20, but it's pissing me off that they can't fix what they've broken but can add more broken stuff to further muck up the works, and they didn't disclose this fee when i made the payment. All the email statement from them said was my charge for $72 went through.

have been here over three years now i know the routine: call billing, file a ticket, blah blah blah... but it's been my experience that calls go unanswered, tickets remain ignored, and rarely is any real help forthcoming.

and i'm kicking myself for continuing to pay them for their "service" on three premium accounts.

I bought L$ with my CC after the switch, and had no transaction fee. I don't think that this is universal. Iy seems to vary by the company issuing the CC.

My account is tied to my Debit Card, I don't get charged the additional fee.

It is not out of the country. It just happens to be in another country that you aren't in.

Rather than engage in cross-Atlantic pissing, we should present our shared interest to the Lindens. That shared interest is to have nation-specific billing and technical support -- or, at least, time-zone specific billing and technical support.

I know that I have been very frustrated by the "foreign" transaction fees, especially on large purchases such as auction wins. I have been even more frustrated by the Linden's billing incompetence -- which has often led to the transaction posting, reversing, posting, reversing, and finally reposting -- causing me to pay not one but three foreign transaction fees. (This bouncing is simply billing incompetence. I have no similar problem with any other company.)

I understand that folks across the Atlantic are often similarly frustrated by the fact that many Linden services run on Pacific time -- a time zone that is just about perfectly inconvenient for Europeans.

All these problems can be solved if the Lindens stopped clustering services by locations, but changed their service model to time-zone specific, multi-service locations designed to provide full customer service (billing, support, etc) at convenient times and places for all SL members.

Beathan Vale

They could outsource to India, like every other USA based major tech corporation.

I think they moved their bank because they see legal problems ahead.

LL isn't charging the fee, your bank is. Yes, it's a result of LL changing to an overseas bank, but whether you get hit with it or not, and for how much, depends on what payment method you're using. My card charges 1%, which I do still find annoying, but that's mainly because LL broke my PayPal interaction on their site, which charges nothing. So I buy Lindens from SLX instead and cash out what I need for tier, etc.

Use PayPal, use SLX, change your payment card...there ARE options for avoiding those fees.

My paypal account stopped working too, so I switched to a debit card from my bank. I've never had the fee imposed. (knocks wood).