How do people explain tier fees?

How do people here explain tier fees to people? I put it in the covenant but some people don't appear to read that and then they think you're having them at it when you try and explain that there are fees attached to using the land.

I don't think the purchase window helps either because it won't reveal any changes to payments (which is because they're not being paid to LL) in fact it informs someone that their monthly fees won't change.

Do people just allow people to reserve land and then explain everything to someone before they make a purchase or is there an easier way of informing people that there are tier payments associated with the land?

I think many are happy when they don't read it and violate the covenant as you can evict the users and keep their money for breaking the rules.

It is really up to the user to read it and I'm not sure how before a sale you could alert them to the tier. Unless you put a sign with information on the unrented land.

I'd tell them that LL, in order to cover the operating expenses of their servers, charges a monthly maintenance fee for land owners. Mainland owners pay directly to LL, while island parcel tier is paid to the island owner, who in turn pays LL.

I'd think that residents who are prepared to buy land have already informed themselves about land ownership, and made a decision between mainland and island plots. Perhaps you can put up a "for sale" sign on the land, which also mentions the tier fee?

Send them to the Support page, to look up LAND FEES in the Knowledge Base.

If they won't do that, then they can learn the hard way when evicted.

~Jessy

I think the best way to explain tier fees to people is the terminology you use when accepting them as a customer. If you explain at the beginning that "rent for this plot is X per month". Most will understand at that point that there will be recurring charges. People know what "rent" means. That is essentially what you are doing after all--renting plots.

Using the terms, "purchase", "ownership", "tier fees" etc can be very confusing for a new player. Just be up front about that fact that you are transferring land to them for a monthly rental fee and an upfront charge(if you charge one).

Thanks guys.

Yes Plato it was when I was having a discussion with someone and I was trying to explain tier fees that I realised this could be problematic. She kept saying she didn't want to rent. The parcel was for sale and could be resold so I was trying to explain that she would own it but that land here generally comes with a land usage fee.

IMHO - It is so much easier to just include it in the weekly/monthy rental fee, and adjust it if exchange rates change.

some rental boxes even have an option to make the adjustment based on the Lindex automaticaly

Unfortunately I decided to sell some parcels, rentals aren't as tricky to explain.

You could try putting the rental / tier / usage rate into the parcel's name or description, along with a reference to read the covenant.

I do know that when buying land that has a covenant, there's one extra 'step' in the purchase - the one that asks the buyer if they have read the covenant. (at least, it did that a couple months ago, hopefully it still does that.)

So there's no excuse there. They can try and claim they never read it, but if they've completed the purchase process then they have already clicked a button that says "Yes I've read the covenant" so you are protected there.

-Atashi

I am very new to the island residential business myself. I learned within a few short days how to approach those that I see pay $1 for the lot.

At first, I put the rental box on the lot. I ASSumed that people knew better. Soon I was getting people buying the land for $1L and returning my rent boxes!! I had to go explain it to them (most times if not all times, not completely in english) about how rents worked, yada yada yada. Then had to start the land sale process all over again including resetting all the proper permissions on the land.

So the solution to the problem was I placed my rent box just outside of the plot of land for sale. When I received notice of the $1L payment for the plot, I would send the buyer a message "Welcome to X Island, let me know if you have any questions. I will invite you to the XS Isles group once we received your rental payment". That would get the conversation going right away in a non-threatening manner.

I also placed the information in the description etc, but not sure if that has helped as of yet.

Yes, I still have newbies buying and this process has helped tremendously. It also helps to have a free babbler.

I spend, on average, about two hours with each person coming to Caledon.

About an hour explaining what the sim will be like, showing them a reservation map, answering questions, &c &c with notecards, the covenant, and all that stuff available. Prices are on the notecard I send before the discussion starts.

Then, once a sim is ready for move-in, I generally spend more time going over the parcel meters, deeding land to groups, moving the odd tree or two, and generally easing the move-in process.

Some people don't need much, or any help at all. Others are simply new to the grid.

Yes, I'll even start out with 'what's a prim' and work all the way through esoteric quirks of land group object deeding, if needed. Occasionally I'll pair up a friendly resident with a new neighbour, just so there is more personal attention if it looks like it will hit the 5 or 6 hour mark to get someone going.

Mini-continent land barony is probably the worst business on the grid to just sorta leave out there and hope it goes well - it's probably the #2 business in terms of personal attention needed (I'm guessing escorting is #1).

that`s why i don`t bother with L$ and let ppl know where they stand from the first moment heh

haven`t been asked about tier or covi yet

Why use a word like tier (which is a little confusing to many)? Why not call it what it is............a maintenance fee. Much easier to explain what maintenance is than what tier means. You, as the estate owner, does do the maintenance........get sim restarts, deal with griefers, deal with convenant breakers, etc. And you have to pay LL their "maintenance" fee too. Just a little easier to explain.

Desmond speaks words of wisdom.... I'm still in the "mom and pop" area of sim ownership and seriously need to think about just how far I want to scale this up. At then end of the day, owning /renting (or "leasing" - I don't say buying EVER) is not what I'm here for - if I ever get to the stage where my SL income pretty much matches my SL outgoings, that will be the end of my expansion plans.

But check back later lmao!

Inc

For land you're selling, why not call the maintenance fee a "property tax"?

Who wants to work with a tax man?

lol

I think that the word "tier" is the problem -- it's not a very intuitive word.

There are a few ways to explain it, I think. One way is the condo + maintenance fee concept, which others mention in this thread. The issue there is that the maintenance payment is BIG compared to condo payments in first life, so I think that may run into some challenges.

Another way to look at it is a long-term lease: you pay a certain amount "up front" and then you have regular lease payments, and if you default on those, you're out. Problem is that the lease never ends.

Yet another way to look at it is a mortgage: again, you pay a certain amount "down", and then you have to pay the mortgage every month. It's true that you never "pay it off", but in real life with 25 and 30 year mortgages many people don't pay those off either, and the size of the payment will feel more like a mortgage to many people I think.

The reason I choose to use the word "tier" is that that's the word LL use to describe Land Use fees. I'd fear if I changed that terminology people would think I was trying it on.

However you're right, it's worth considering changing the terminology or the methods. It's all an experience here that's for sure.

Oh I wasn't critiquing you, my comment on the counter-intuitive nature of the term was aimed at LL, really.

Lol I thought you were being helpful as has everyone else in this thread to be honest

Tier to people who supposedly BUY LAND is just another word for 'you own nothing!!' NOT A THING!

They just use a fancy word to make it look nicer. People who "buy" land-like me too- own squat. If anything buying land is a suckers route because you can rent and it will be exactly the same except you don't pay all that front money in your frist payment like we land owners have had to do.

NO one owns anything, this is what the word TIER means in sl.

Maintenance fees? What maintenance? There is none, only thing of that sentence of two words thats correct is fees, that's it.

Actually, the way LL has "tier" set up is really rather accurate. Since SL allows everyone who "buys" (for a lack of a better word) land on a Mainland sim the first 512 meters are free of additional charges for use, maintenance, or whatever. In that sense the term is exactly what is happening. Anything above and beyond that 512 meters is charged extra.......call that first 512 meters a basic level of land "ownership".

Think of your local Cable TV provider. You get your basic Cable channels for a flat charge with no additional fees. Upgrade to, say, "basic plus" and you get an addtitional fee applied to your bill...........go to "basic plus, plus" and even more is charged. All the way up to the highest level of service available........and that costs the most. And most cable companies also use the word "tier" to discribe those additional levels. It's pretty much the identical situation with land in SL.

Of course it would be nice if there was some recognizable level of service that goes along with those addition dollars spent for the exta "tiers". Not that cable companies do much in the area either. However they do answer their phones most of the time. Hahahaha............that's another thread.

Just call it what it is: RENT. It's rent. You don't pay it, you get evicted. You don't truly own anything. Some people think they can get something for nothing when it comes to land. They will be sorely mistaken, and then turn around and be the first ones to yell scam, when it's not - they were just ignorant.

Well the term I'd use for owning land in SL would be leasehold. The people who buy from me are allowed to resell, so there's more to it than those who rent from me but it's certainly not freehold land. If you don't pay the fees you will forfeit your land anywhere on the grid and that includes the 512M premium members get because we have to pay our premium fees to have that land.