Linden Buy Fees Reduced to One Cent Until Friday

 

 Just a few hours ago today, Linden Lab announced they are reducing the fee for purchasing Linden dollars to one US cent in their "One Penny Buy Fees" limited time offer.

 

Times are tough for a lot of people, so we've come up with one way to make things a little easier: Second Life is launching a special LindeX limited-time offer – a chance to make Linden Dollar (L$) Buy fees nearly disappear for a limited time! 

While the global economy wrestles with rising tariffs and tense trade talks, we’re responding with a bold, Resident-first promotion: we're charging just a penny for your LindeX buy fees for the next 2 days. We’re committed to you - our Residents - through these challenging times, and we will continue to stand by you as we have over the past 22 years. 

 

 

This limited time offer started at 12:30 PM SL time today, Wednesday April 16. It is scheduled to continue for fifty hours to 2:30 PM Sl time Friday April 18, at which time the one cent deal expires, "Compare that to the standard buy fee of 10%, with a minimum of $1.49 and a max of $14.99—this is an unprecedented cut designed to empower Residents, stimulate activity, and boost in-world trade. This is a one-time only opportunity that won’t come around again, so you’ll need to act fast if you want to stock up on Linden Dollars and save."

 

In theory, someone could buy up to $1999 worth of Linden dollars during the deal. If a Market Rate transaction takes longer than 2:30PM Friday, then the normal rate applies, not the deal.

 

Linden Lab has never done a one cent sale on it's transaction fees before.

 

For the blog post in full, Click Here. 

 

EOTB : Second Life TOS To Update

 

On the official Second Life blog on Tuesday, October 25, Linden Lab announced it will soon be updating Second Life's Terms of Service. The change will take place on Monday October 31.

• We clarified certain functions associated with the LindeX as well as the terms applicable to orders placed on the LindeX.
• We added a section describing the terms applicable to your use of Stored Value Accounts, including your relationship with Tilia LLC. 

 In the  Terms of Service page, the LindeX is mentioned in Section 3.2 (scroll about halfway down the page). Stored Value Accounts and Tilia are mentioned from Sections 4.1 to 4.4 . 

Most likely, the changes have to do with the recently announced deal between Tilia and JP Morgan. They appear to be minor ones. 

A thread in the official forums has opened. A quick look showed reactions varied from worry to cautious optimism to humor. 

For the blog post, Click Here.

 

Linden Lab Raising Fees to Buy Lindens, Will Raise Fees to Sell

By Bixyl Shuftan

Second Life is getting more expensive for it's residents. On the Linden blog yesterday, they announced that they were "making multi-million dollar investments in Second Life that will benefit Residents in the near and long term, while also ensuring that the virtual world’s bright future ahead is even more awesome than its 14+ year history has been. Exciting times!" This was followed by an announcement that there would be "Updates to LindeX and Credit Processing Fees."

Underlying SL’s user-to-user economy and the ability to buy and sell L$’s for real currency is a significant amount of ongoing work to ensure that everything remains compliant with applicable laws and regulations, while also preventing fraud and money laundering. This work comes at a cost, and we are adjusting related fees in order to help cover those costs and enable us to continue to invest in Second Life’s future.

Starting yesterday, the fee for buying Linden dollars over the Lindex rose from 60 cents to 99 cents per transaction, an increase of about two-thirds. Starting on January 3, the fee for selling Linden dollars will go from 1.5% per transaction to 2.5 percent, and the $25 USD cap on fees per transaction will be removed.

At least one Second Life businessman has responded to these increases. Oobleck Allagash, a co-owner of KraftWork and PocketGacha, commented in New World Notes that the Lab had "attacked those who work to create the SL economy by raising the fees to process payments nearly 67% overnight, but more importantly, removing the $25 cap which will, for larger brands, result in exorbitant additional costs." He questioned the reason for the increases, "what work has changed specifically that will require LL to generate millions more a year annually? Sounds a bit more like those that drive the SL economy are in fact now paying for the failure of Sansar."

The Lab did mention one way it had been trying to protect inworld businesses, "Recently, we closed an exploit that fraudulent gacha re-sellers had used. Our governance team can now catch them when they attempt the cheating method that we have already fixed." Though this alone isn't an explanation for why such a large increase.




To read the Linden's blog post in full, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Annouces Hike in Paypal/Skrill Transaction Fees, "Faster Credit Processing"

For those who use Paypal or Skrill to buy their virtual currency from Linden Lab, their fees are going to go up. On Monday, it was announced in the official Second Life blog that there would be some "Upcoming changes to fees" starting on April 5.

In addition to taking time, processing credit and paying real money to users’ PayPal and Skrill accounts incurs costs to Linden Lab. Each transaction actually costs us more than the $1 (USD) fee we have been charging. To address that and in light of the significant investments we’ve made to improve the related systems and processes, we will be making some adjustments to the fee structure, beginning next month.
 
As of April 5, 2016, instead of charging a flat fee of $1 (USD) per transaction, we will charge a fee of 1.5% of the transaction value, with a minimum fee of $3 (USD) and a maximum of $15 (USD). Additionally, the fee for purchasing L$ on the LindeX will increase 10¢, from $0.30 (USD) to $0.40 (USD) per transaction.

But it wasn't all bad news. Linden Lab stated it has been making some changes to how transactions of money is made. So people will be able to sell Linden dollars for real-life currency from the Lab at a faster time. The Lab is saying most of their purchases of Linden dollars for real ones will be completed within two days, though some will take longer.

We’re happy to announce that we will significantly improve how quickly we’re able to process a majority of credit requests. Based on current data, we estimate that the upgrades we’ve made will allow approximately 75% of process credit requests to be completed within 2 business days. 
 
For a minority of requests, the process may still take 5 business days. Because we’re dealing with sending real money to users around the world, we may require additional information and perform other processes that could impact the time needed. A good rule of thumb is that the better we know you as a customer, the more likely it is we’ll be able to quickly process your credit requests.

On the SL Universe forums, one store owner mentioned getting an email from Linden Lab asking about their source of income. It was suggested the email was related to the changes in how transactions are carried out, though there was no way to confirm it.

To read the blog post in it's entirety, Click here.

The Third-Party Linden Exchange Services Two Months Later

It's been about two months since the Linden Exchanger Crisis in which Linden Lab briefly closed down the Third-Party Exchange Services. The result from the residents was an uproar, especially from non-US residents as they often had problems buying Lindens directly from Linden Lab. Most exchangers folded when the Lindens demanded they shut down. But one, the Podex Exchange, instead tried to reason with the Lindens. It was ignored and then shut down by force. Eventually, Linden Lab partially relented, allowing the exchangers to apply for approval as Third-Party "Linden Resellers." After a few weeks, Podex was back in business.

There were concerns that the market would be dominated by Linden resellers that were subsidiaries of real estate businesses, thinking they'd be able to offer the best deals. But this has not been the case. Of the top five exchangers on the Linden Dollar Authorized Reseller Program website, only one was known for it's sales of virtual property. AnsheX, the most well known, never even made the top ten.

In terms of Euros per 1000 Lindens, the top three exchangers were The Teledollar Cash Service, The Podex Exchange, and the ELDEXchange. Teledollar made the top of the list at 3.34 Euros needed to buy 1000 Lindens. Podex was second at 3.40 Euros. But, Teledollar only did business with US Dollars and Euros. The Podex Exchange worked with those and more, British Pounds, Japanese Yen, Russian Rubles, and more. Recently, they have began accepting Mexican and Colombian Pesos and Peruvian Nuevo Sols.

Podex also offer many more payment options, from Paypall, to credit card, bank transfer, and more.

So despite it's rough treatment from Linden Lab earlier, Podex is alive and well, and offering it's customers good deals.

Podex is a sponsor of Second Life Newser.

Bixyl Shuftan

List of Authorized Linden Sellers Expanded, Podex Back in Business

By Bixyl Shuftan

Almost a month after Linden Lab sparked a crisis by changing their terms of service to shut down Third-Party Linden exchangers, and over two weeks since an initial five "Linden Resellers" were authorized to do business, the list of companies residents can buy Lindens from has been noticeably extended. It's possible to once again possible to do business with many of those who shut their doors, or in the case of Podex had the doors shut for them despite repeated attempts to negotiate with the Lab. Podex is among the exchangers now back in business as "Authorized Linden Resellers."

"We are very happy to announce that Podex has been given permission to sell Linden dollars as a member of the Authorized Reseller Program" Jacek Shuftan stated on the Podex Website, "All our clients are welcome to buy Linden Dollars again."

Besides getting it's main source of business in Second Life back, the Podex Exchange has also made a deal with the OpenSim world "Virtual Highway." On this world which recently passed the landmark of one thousand registered users, Podex now offers business buying and selling Virtual Highway Dollars (V$) in addition to Visa cards and the "possibility to earn your own profit in our affiliate program."

Not all of the Third-Party Exchangers have been allowed to return to business yet. Some, such as Moneyslex and the Brando Estate's exchange service are still closed. But for the customers of many once-closed exchangers, their bank is back in business.

The Podex Exchange (http://www.podex.info/) is a sponsor of Second Life Newser.


Sources: Second Life Wiki, Hypergrid Business

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab to Allow Several Third-Party Exchange Services to Reopen, Podex Still Closed.

In a partial reversal of it's earlier ban, Linden Lab announced earlier today that they will be allowing Third-Party Linden exchange services after all. But so far, only five of the many exchangers have met their approval. Plus, the services now operate under tighter and more limiting terms and conditions.

Now, to give users more options and make it easier to purchase L$, we’re launching a pilot program of Authorized Resellers of L$. These sites are authorized by Linden Lab to purchase L$ on the LindeX and then resell those L$ using a variety of international currencies and payment methods. To be clear: per the Terms of Service, these resellers will not be allowed to purchase L$ outside of the LindeX (i.e. they will not be able to buy L$ back from users and cash people out). The list of Authorized Resellers participating in the pilot program is available here.

So far, only five exchange services, now officially called Linden Resellers,  have been approved by Linden Lab. They are AnsheX, Buildo, vForEx, VirWoX, and ZoHaIslands. As of the writing of this article, only two had operational ATMs, Bulido and ZoHa. ZoHa announced the news on their blog, "We are proud to announce that ZoHa Islands became today an Authorized Reseller of Linden Dollars," followed by a short description of what this means and the conditions.

The Podex Exchange, which was shut down early Friday morning, was not among the approved exchange services. On the Podex site, Jacek announced they had applied to become an official reseller, but were still stopped from doing business. On "Hypergrid Business," he stated, "Undoubtfully, it is a great news for residents who are not able to use Linden Lab payment methods. ... It will lower the profits of independent exchanges but gives a sparkle of hope that we can continue our virtual existence."

The new terms and conditions are more limiting for the exchange services than before. From now on, they can only get their Linden Dollars from the official LindeX Exchange, and nowhere else. They can no longer buy back Lindens from residents for US dollars or any other currency.

These new terms mean Linden Lab now has a more tighter rein on where it's Linden dollars go. It's very likely they were made with the US Treasury Department's FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) new guidelines about virtual currency in mind. Other conditions include resellers taking steps to "take commercially reasonable steps to prevent and deter credit card and similar types of fraud." They're also required to make sure no business is done with or anyone from any country with which the United States has an embargo with, such as Cuba or Iran.

The new terms have one serious weakness. With residents unable to sell Lindens to anyone but the Lab, Second Life business owners dependent on Third-Party exchangers to convert Lindens to real currency are still out of luck. It's possible that there may be changes in the terms and conditions in the near future to allow this.

So why didn't Linden Lab offer something like this earlier? A few residents in forum threads and article comments thought the Lab was genuinely surprised by how many expressed anger at the move and how many were dependent on the Third Party Exchanges. Other posters expressed suspicion that all this was really about FinCEN, feeling profit was their main motive, noting everyone would have to use LindeX, including the resellers, one poster on SL Universe commenting, "This is a brilliant plan to let Anshe stay in business … ACS and the other land barons have all this L$ they get directly they can sell. Everyone else has to buy it on the Lindex, mark it up, and resell it."

Residents are breathing a sigh of relief, but Linden Lab has once again shaken the confidence of Second Life's users.

The Podex Exchange (http://www.podex.info/) is a sponsor of Second Life Newser.

Links:  Official forums, SL Universe forums, Gwyneth Llewelyn,  Hypergrid Business, New World Notes,  Hamlet Au,

Bixyl Shuftan

Most Third-Party Linden Exchange Services Close, Only Podex and AnsheX Remain

By Bixyl Shuftan

In the aftermath of Linden Labs changing it's Terms of Service concerning Third Party exchangers of Linden dollars, just about all have closed their doors. A number gave statements saying they  were wary of the Lab's wrath, such as the DX Exchange, "the TOS gives us a 30 day period … However, we so realize that with blocking our avatars Linden Lab can disable our business within seconds. We also realize that we put our clients at risk to lose their Lindens in case we annoy Linden Lab." CrossWorlds stated that they would complete orders that had already been placed. But most were no longer making new transactions.

Two Third-Party exchange services remain. One is AnsheX, owned by noted Second Life baron Anshe Chung. Their only response from them on the matter was reportedly their support staff saying "nothing has changed" and they were buying and selling Lindens as before. The other is the Podex Exchange, owned and run by Jacek Shuftan. Jacek lives in Poland in real life, but has registered Podex as a business in Delaware USA. In a press statement over the weekend, Podex stated the following:

Despite the dark clouds over independent third party exchanges, Podex Exchange continues its normal work selling and buying L$. The only change is stricter security policy which can cause delays with some transactions. We are sorry for it. We also want to assure our clients that not only their real money and linden dollars are save with us but also their personal data. Our policy of not requiring any registration to use Podex services have always guaranteed maximum security. We just have nothing to be stolen. To remain in total compliance with Linden Lab regulations and The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) guidance our legal office started preparing application process to become officially registered money services business (MSB).

So why did Linden Lab change their terms of service? In his "Modern Payment Systems" blog, Alex Kadochnikov stated as an issuer of virtual currency, Linden Lab had to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The penalties of not registering, were listed as pretty steep.

(a) Whoever knowingly conducts, controls, manages, supervises, directs, or owns all or part of an unlicensed money transmitting business, shall be fined in accordance with this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

But would Linden Lab really have gotten in trouble because of unregistered Third-Party exchangers? It seems they're not taking chances. In the comments following his article, Kadochinikov didn't feel all the panic was necessary, "I really do not know why they (won't) just register and spend a few dollars in compliance with regulations." Hamlet Au expressed puzzlement as to why "the company hasn't specified this is the reason for it's policy change." A reader commented that the Lab doesn't normally explain things to the residents these days, "the company has abandoned any pretense at communicating with actual customers, so it may just be their usual stony silence."

Perhaps as time goes on, more Third-Party exchangers will register in compliance with FinCEN. But for now, two exchangers independent of Linden Lab remain open for business as an alternative to LindeX. So residents unable to get Lindens from the Lab still have two alternatives. And those reluctant to deal with Anshe Chung still have Podex.

The Podex Exchange (http://www.podex.info/) is a sponsor of Second Life Newser.

Sources: Google sites, Money Payment Systems,

Bixyl Shuftan

New Terms of Service Could End Third-Party Linden Exchange Services, Leave Many Non-US Residents Without Means To Buy Lindens

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Tuesday, Linden Lab announced in their blog they were updating their Terms of Service. Normally, it's just some small details. But the latest change could mean the biggest change to Second Life's economy since the gambling ban years ago.

To get Linden dollars, one could always get them from Linden Lab, the process done through it's Linden Exchange or LindeX. But they are far from the only means for residents to get Lindens. Other exchange services, or Third-Party exchange services, have sprung up over time, offering residents easier and quicker means to get virtual cash.

In the old Terms of Service, Section 5.3 read as the following:

There are other Linden dollar exchanges that are operated by third parties. Linden dollars are occasionally Bought and Sold on third party exchanges, which are wholly distinct from the LindeX exchange. Unless specified by Linden Lab, these exchanges have no affiliation with Linden Lab. We do not guarantee the legitimacy of the Linden dollar transfers offered on them, and we are not liable for purchases of such Linden dollars. You purchase Linden dollars from such sites at your own risk. If you Buy Linden dollars that are traced to unauthorized credit card activity or other fraudulent activity, we will recoup these Linden dollars from your Account.

In the new Terms of Service. Section 5.3 deals with new rules concerning third-party exchange services.

Third party exchanges are not authorized by Linden Lab and Buying or Selling Linden dollars on third party exchanges are not authorized transactions. Third party exchanges are wholly distinct from both the LindeX exchange and Linden Lab and they have no affiliation with Linden Lab. We do not endorse or otherwise guarantee the legitimacy of the Linden dollar transfers offered on them, and we are not liable for purchases of such Linden dollars. Buying or Selling Linden dollars anywhere other than the LindeX is done so solely at your own risk. If you Buy Linden dollars that are traced to unauthorized credit card activity or other fraudulent activity, we will recoup these Linden dollars from your Account. The only authorized exchange is the LindeX.

There were numerous comments from the articles on New World Notes and Vaki Zenova's Blog, in addition to the SL Universe Forum and the official forums. The response was virtually 100% negative, with many residents expressing anger. Some were confused at first wondering if the Lab was just not accepting further responsibility for Third-Party Exchanges, then word began going around that they would be clearly not allowed. There were two issues of complaint. One was that LindeX didn't give you your Lindens instantly, but could take a week or more to pay up. But the bigger issue was the ability to get Lindens at all. A number of residents outside the United States complained using the LindeX was difficult or just couldn't be done. The end of Third Party Exchangers would mean the end of their buying Lindens. For those with no job on the Grid, no more shopping beyond freebies, and no more paying tier or rent for land.

The reaction by the Third-Party Exchange Services varied. Many of them have shut down trading in Second Life. VirWoX, popular among Europeans, stated the following:

Linden Lab has recently changed their Terms of Service. Under the new rules, we will no longer be able to offer our service to Second Life residents. Linden Lab insists that our in-world terminals (ATMs) have to be removed. This means that we can currently not accept Linden Dollars from Second Life or pay Linden Dollars to Second Life. Other virtual currencies are not affected. We will post updates here as the situation develops. Please refrain from sending us support messages about this issue, at the moment we will not be able to give you more information.

Other Exchanges are still operating. This includes the Podex Exchange, Jacek Shuftan told Hypergrid Business, he intended to continue trading for the thirty days until the new Terms of Service go in effect, "We find it not fair to stop our activity in one day without prior notice to our customers. … Podex Exchange has built trust and reputation for many years, and we are not going to destroy it in one day."


I met up with Jacek, who had more to say on the matter, "Really strange move of LL. … I really do not understand (their) motives. We are all waiting for (the) official statement as (the) ToS does not forbid Ls exchange, but (the) post on (the) blog does." He stated As first the blog post didn't ban them, but it was soon edited so it stated there was a ban.

Jacek felt Linden Lab would lose a *lot* of income over their move, "my clients, mainly from Europe, tell me if they cannot buy from me or other exchanges, they will not be able to buy at all. They use prepaid cards, or just send money to bank accounts, or by SMS." Jacek felt if profit was the main motive of the Lab, they could still have allowed alternative payment methods that weren't competitive with Lindex. He was wondering if another reason, if not the main one, was pressure by the US Department of the Treasury with their issuing of "guidelines" about virtual currency, "We just do not know, and we are all waiting for an explanation, and a way to find a sensible solution."

The following day, Gemma Cleanslate reported that a Podex ATM at a multi-exchange hub wasn't working.  The ones in the Podex main office at Coda worked normally.

More to come on what is clearly a major change to the Second Life economy.

The Podex Exchange (http://www.podex.info/) is a sponsor of Second Life Newser.

Sources and other articles, Inkline Media, Hypergrid Business, SL Universe, New World Notes, Official Linden Forum (LindeX Has No Instant Cashout), Ciaran Laval (ToS) (3rd Party Fallout), Modem World,

Bixyl Shuftan