Auction Prices

Interesting isn't it, the sort of reserve price LL sets on land parcels over about 5-6000m2?

I've watched the auctions recently and the larger parcels - the ones that get priced in US$ - rarely get sold. Mainly because the opening prices are set WAY too high. I mean, it's cheaper to buy on the open market! And no one's going to bid those opening prices up.

What makes it worse is that LL doesn't seem able to discriminate between PG and M, everything gets set to the same price...

You'd think they'd want to SELL the land so they can start earning tier on it, but that doesn't seem to be in the equation.

Neither does being open to offers on unsold auction land. *shrug* Go figure.

I think they're under no illusions (being in possession of all the data!) as to who is buying the land at auctions and why. So why bullshit around? They know what will be paid for it. A start price of an auction means nothing if you know the inevitable end price within a few dollars

Also, can you IMAGINE the outcry if LL themselves started actively promoting mature land as more valuable than PG? nono. They let the landbarons dictate the prices and any imagined additional value.

All good points - however, not only am *I* not buying it at those prices, no one else appears to be either...

After a bit surely the penny has to drop? The larger, US$ priced, parcels are way overpriced. If they weren't, they'd be selling.

Are you holding out for a year end clearance sale? Land doesn't spoil like milk left out on the counter.

When LL switched to whole sim auctions they indicated that a variety of sims would be available to choose from. They recently released a large amount at one time. Might be more efficient in terms of manpower to develop and release land in batches.

ROFL! Smelly land with green lumps!

Nope, and not talking about whole sims either. Stuff in the 8-16km2 range selling for US$ with above market starting prices. If they really want to sell it, realistic start prices would be sensible, otherwise why bother going through the motions?

It does when it costs the owner a monthly fee to host it. For all the land for sale on the map, it is all owned by residents, not LL. For all the predictions of Mount Olympus swirling around Drain 11, we needn't really worry about that until we start seeing bits of public land that nobody wants and LL is having to support just to keep the map intact.

Well I have to say that I looked at the auction results, and the map, and there's a lot of land that's been offered at auction and not sold.
Was the base bid price set too high? I TP'd to a couple of big parcels and I have to agree that it probably was.

Overprice anything and you'll get stuck with it. That's what seems to be happening. Too much land owned by the Governor and set to 'maintenance'... Sell it cheap, then take the income as tier. Instead, set it too high and take nothing. It DOES seem an odd policy

I wonder if they'll tell us how much total land is Linden owned in monthly increments? Probably not.

None of the large parcels up for auction are PG. It makes me wonder if they've decided the money is in porn (not that there is anything wrong with a little wholseome porn, but I'd like a place WITHOUT a billboard of a naked lady hovering over my place).

The full sims will sit until there is a need for them by a land trader or a resident developing a large project. At that point, they will be purchased, most likely for $1000.

Old story: Fella needs 10 bottles of ordinary champagne for New Years Eve party. Procrastinates, and goes to Crazy Charley's Discount Liquor Warehouse at last minute. Big display of domestic champagne: $10/bottle.

But Crazy Charley is sold out.

Fella desperately goes to Gran Vin de Champs du PooDePoo down on the fancy street. Big display of the same brand of domestic champagne sold at Crazy Charley's, but they want $20/bottle. Fella objects strenuously to the Gran Vin de etc. manager. "At Crazy Charley, this same champagne is only $10! This is highway robbery!"

The Gran Vin manager says, with a high-brow accent, "Then, sir, I suggest you purchase your champagne at Crazy Charles' establishment ... "

"But I can't ... Charley is all sold out!"

Manager: "Oh, but of course ... when we at Gran Vin are sold out ... then our price too is only $10/bottle."

Bah-dah-Boom.

Shaun hit the nail on the head. LL asks top dollar but always has a sim in stock. It is the market of last resort.

It's actually not top dollar unless there is a LOT of Linden land in the sim or something else wrong though. Actually looking at the auction list, I see that some of these sims are getting bid up to a respectable wholesale price and sometimes beyond. It used to be that you could pick up the more average sims really close to the starting bid.

At any rate, the same land will always cost more once it's for sale in-world. If one is looking for roughly a sim's worth of land, one can rarely do better than the auction.