I sold my land yesterday, but SL billed me land tier

Like the title says, I sold my land yesterday, but SL billed me land tier fees later in the day. Well, it sent me an e-mail saying so anyhow, although it doesn't reflect on my bank numbers as of yet (not saying it won't). Is there like some sort of time you have to wait with no land?

you have to make sure to log in to your account and switch the radio button to a lower tier, even if you don't own the land

i assume its documented somewhere, but i have not seen it

and yes, i was billed for tier when i had no land either

your fault, your problem, LLs new Motto

If you own land at any point during the course of a month you
will be charged tier.
You need to be completely rid of your land before the end of the month in order not to be charged tier.
And that is not to be charged tier for the next month.
So even if you sell your land on the first day of the month,
you still need to pay tier for that month.

I hope that clears it up some.

My last tier billing was July 25th.

2006-07-25 22:01:53 Premium membership (Monthly): $9.95
2006-07-25 22:00:13 Land Fee (up to 4096 meters}: $25



My land was sold on July 26th to Lawrence Linden (1 day after my tier payment).

My account says I will be billed $25 for owning zero land for 30 days - Next Bill Date: Friday, August 25, 2006 : US$25.00

Is this actually neccessary? to charge me $25 for less than 1 days ownership of land?
Bearing in mind there have been (and will be) days of server downtime this month and the next?

just stfu, do as you're told, fill our blank canvas with content for us to profit from at your own loss, and use a valid credit card

welcome to SL

Not sure about necessary, but it is how it's done.

i REALLY like your sig, btw

If you own it 30 seconds into the next billing period, they gotcha for the full amount..sorry, as usual another lesson learned the hard way. Guess theres something written about it somewhere on some help page, think ive seen it but not sure..or maybe its on "your account" info section..im sure if you hunt around for it long enuff it will turn up..

No, it doesn't matter what the radio button says. The only thing that is important is the maximum amount of land that you've owned at any one time during the month.

you are incorrect

i speak from experience

max out your radio dial and bet with your own cash if you doubt it

I speak from experience too. I have an alt that's at the 1 sim tier level but owns no land and thus isn't charged a dime for tier.

then they have changed it since april when i was charged for not clicking the radio dial

but i assure you I was charged and owned 0 land

Oh I see what they did there.... that radio button thingy... tricky

I can only speak about my own experience. My alt sold its land several months ago. I don't know exactly when because LL only keeps 45 days of billing history now.
But it's been at this tier level with no land for a while and it hasn't been billed since it sold the land.

The most common misunderstanding is what other people in the thread have already talked about. For example, you own the land for a short time in the month and then sell the land. Then at the end of the month, you get billed and it's confusing because at the time that you're billed you don't have any land. But in every case that I've seen, if I got charged, it was because at some point in the preceeding month, I owned some land.

Obviously, I can't say what happened in your case. All that I can say is that in my experience, the radio button doesn't matter.

another tricky thing that gets people is donating tier to a group

watch that one, another way i was bitten in the past

It's true that the tier system as currently implemented can bite you in a number of different ways. I've been bitten many times, but I've always been able to trace back the reason for the bite.

So, while I can't defend the system itself, I have to say that in my experience the system does work as advertised. It isn't intuitive and it gives you a lot of rope to hang yourself. But the rope behaves in a predictable way.

How does that work?

You were billed correctly. When you are billed, it is for the previous month. And you did own land in the previous month.

If you don't buy any more land, then next month, your tier bill will be 0.

That is why your being billed. You sold your land a day after you were billed for the month so selling your land the next day made you so you will have the tier charge on the next bill. so you might as well make the best of it and buy and sell land, not exceding the tier until before your next bill and get rid of it all a day or 2 before you get billed. if you wait until after again you will be billed again for land.

Also as far as tier charges go. you could own a whole sim for 1 second and I really mean 1 second and you will get billed for it. the full ammount, that goes of any size of land.

Its pretty bad but thats how it is ATM

If you are making a contribution of land to a group, then that land counts for your tier bill even if the group isn't actually using it. So if a group owns no land, but you're putting 1024sqm into it, you get billed for 1024sqm.

And yes, the "own it for a few seconds" rule is a serious nuisance, especially when you need to swap parcels with somebody. (Does anyone know if a Linden can swap them for you?)

You can use a group to swap land.

Let's assume that you don't have a group and that two people want to swap two 1024m2 parcels:

Step 1: Create a group for L$100 and add the two people that are swapping as officers.
Step 2: Deed the two parcels to the group, contributing tier w/ the land.
Step 3: Each person removes their tier from the group. The group now has 2048m2 of land and no tier. It displays a warning message, but it's okay for a short while.
Step 4: Set the two parcels for sale to the other person for $0. Don't do it for $1 or you will be vulnerable to land swoopers.
Step 5: Each person buys the lot that used to belong to the other person from the group.

This procedure costs L$100, but does not increase the tier of either person.

this REALLY should be stickied

thanks shack, i figured out how to do this long after i needed to

you will save people money and aggrivation from this step by step

good job

My experience for over a year has been as Shack described. You will be billed based on the maximum amount of land you owned during the preceeding month.

This is stated on the Land Fee's page: https://secondlife.com/account/landfees.php

(You may remain at the higher tier level without penalty; tier fees are only charged for the total amount of land actually held within your billing cycle.)