US dollar balance
All Second Life® accounts have both a Linden dollar balance and a US dollar balance. You can see both balances in the Linden Dollar Summary on your Account page at secondlife.com.
When you have a new Second Life account, your US dollar balance is $0. You can increase your US dollar balance by adding to it from a payment method (like a credit card) or by selling L$ on the LindeX. You might also receive a US$ credit from Linden Lab under certain circumstances. The L$ can be used to make purchases inworld or on the Second Life Marketplace; the US$ can be used for other purposes related to your account.
Using your US dollar balance
You can put your US dollar balance to work in several ways, explained below.
Pay for Second Life expenses
When you pay your premium membership fee, land use fees, private estate fees, buy Linden dollars or buy a Private Region, Linden Lab charges your US dollar balance. If your US dollar balance does not cover your expenses, all available US$ credit is applied to the fee. Then we charge the remainder via your preferred payment method. (Bill the full amount to your payment method by clicking "DON'T USE" next to your USD balance.) If you make enough Linden dollars, you can sell them on the LindeX to increase your US dollar balance. Some Residents' premium accounts pay for themselves!
Process credit (withdrawal)
Net proceeds from your sales of Linden Dollars remain as credit on your Second Life account, and this credit is automatically applied to your account fees as described above. If you do not wish to apply your Linden Dollar sales proceeds to your fees, you may process this portion of your account credit to a payment to you (See Process Credit ). Note that you may only process credit due to net proceeds from sales of Linden Dollars. Purchases of account credits and credits due to gift codes or other promotional account credits are nonrefundable, and may not be processed as a payment to you.To view a full history of your process credit transactions, see the Process Credit History page.
You must be in full compliance with our Terms of Service to receive any payment through the credit payment process. This includes, without limitation, the requirement to have accurate and complete registration information, including verifiable billing information.
You may choose to withdraw your US dollar balance via PayPal or bank wire.
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Note: Use a bank wire only under the following circumstances:
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For instructions on setting up wire transfer payments, see Setting up process credit payments through a wire transfer.
Depending on which withdrawal option you choose, you may be subject to fees and minimum withdrawal amounts.
How long does it take to process credits?
LindeX processing can take 0-5 business days* if they're through Paypal.
We strive for quick turnaround; however, holidays and the volume of transactions can affect processing times.
Please be aware that LindeX processing through PayPal can take up to five business days (Monday-Friday, not including U.S. holidays).
Bank wire payout request processing time is fifteen business days. Holidays and high transaction volume can affect processing times.
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Important: You must be in full compliance with the Second Life Terms of Service to receive any payment through the credit payment process. This includes, without limitation, the requirement to have accurate and complete registration information, including verifiable billing information. |
Wire transfers
Anyone can put money on account by sending Linden Lab a bank wire. If you wish to set up a wire transfer, please read and follow the instructions below carefully.
If you are wiring money to pay for a Private Region (island), you should wire the money before ordering through the land store, or place a special order through our invoicing system. Delivery time for Private Regions ordered through our invoicing system is longer than through the land store. If you choose to use our invoicing system, you will need your invoice number in order to complete the wire transfer.
To wire funds into your Second Life account, you must transfer the funds to Linden Lab's bank. Once you submit a support case for a wire transfer (explained below), we provide you with the information necessary to complete the transfer. Initiate the transfer with your bank promptly to avoid delays in delivery of your funds and processing of any Private Region orders.
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Note: Because of the high fees we incur for wiring funds, there is a US$25.00 transfer fee. There is also a minimum amount (US$100.00) required to credit your account. If, for example, you want to put US$100.00 on account with us, you'll need to wire us US$125.00. |
Wires can take up to five business days to post to your account, possibly longer for international transfers. Funds transferred must be in US$ currency.
To submit a request for a wire transfer:
- Go to the Second Life Support Portal and make sure you're logged in.
- Click Submit a Support Case.
- Under What type of problem are you having? select Billing.
- From the Billing dropdown, select Other Billing Issues.
- Fill in the fields that appear and click Submit.
Voice-activated wires
To initiate a voice activated wire, call Wells Fargo Wire Transfer Services toll free at 1-888-384-8400 (within the US) or 001-800-964-4801 (from Mexico or Canada) or 001-303-384-8400 (all other international callers).
Required information
You will be asked for the following information:
- Your account number and any other identifying information.
- Your wire repetitive number (if applicable).
- The amount of the funds to be transferred.
- The currency type for international wire transfers.
- Contract number when foreign currency is equal to or over $15,000 US equivalent.
- Beneficiary bank information; this is Linden Lab's bank information, which we will supply to you after you've submitted a wire transfer request.
- Beneficiary bank routing instructions.
- Beneficiary account number.
- Beneficiary name and address.
- Any additional information for the receiving bank or beneficiary (i.e., invoice numbers, loan payment, etc.)
Department hours (Monday - Friday)
Same day wire initiation hours 7:30 A.M. to 4:30 PM Central Time (CT)
Future dated wire initiation hours 7:30 A.M. to 7:00 PM (CT)
Customer service hours 7:30 A.M. to 8:00 PM (CT)
Spanish language hours 7:30 A.M. to 7:00 PM (CT)
Wire transfer daily deadlines
Requests received after deadlines will be processed the next business day.
- 12:00 PM (CT) Same day wires to Mexico in pesos and wires to Canada in Canadian dollars
- 3:00 PM (CT) Tax payments
- 4:30 PM (CT) Outgoing domestic and international wire transfers and outgoing drawdowns
- 5:00 PM (CT) Bank settlement sransfers (correspondent banks only)
- 5:30 PM (CT) Incoming wires
- 7:00 PM (CT) Same day wire transfers between two Wells Fargo accounts (book transfers and internal transfers)
To avoid delays or additional fees on outgoing wires
Provide Linden Lab's complete information, including account name, account number, and SWIFT code, which we will supply to you after you've submitted a wire transfer request. When initiating Same Day Canadian Dollar and Mexican Peso wires prior to the deadline of 12:00 PM CT, please be sure to indicate that it is a same day transfer.
Information for international wires
Please ensure Linden Lab's account accepts the foreign currency you are wiring. International foreign currency wires are generally less expensive as compared with international US$ wires. (The Wells Fargo wire fee is always less when the wire is sent in foreign currency, and Wells Fargo does not charge a converting fee. They also offer competitive exchange rates.) For international wires in foreign currency of US$15,000 equivalent or more, please call your local foreign exchange specialist to obtain a contract number.
For wires from European Union VAT jurisdictions, please include the applicable VAT amount in addition to the net wire amount and fees if you are or will be conducting any revenue-generating activity with this purchase. Please also kindly provide us with your VAT registration number.
How to cancel a request to process credit
If you think you've made a mistake in requesting account credits to be processed:
- Log into our website at secondlife.com.
- At the top of the page, click your Second Life name next to Welcome. Your Dashboard opens.
- Under the Linden Exchange heading on the left side of your Dashboard, select Manage > Process Credit History. Your Process Credit History page opens.
- Verify the transaction information.
- If the email, mailing address, or amounts are incorrect and the transaction needs to be cancelled, please contact us through any of the following methods:
- Residents with premium account or Concierge status can initiate a Live Chat session.
- Residents with a premium account or Concierge status can submit support tickets related to billing and L$.
- Concierge level Residents may call the Concierge Support Line listed on our Support Portal.
- Any Resident can contact us by phone. Please use the phone numbers on the Billing support page.
Setting up process credit payments through a wire transfer
Under certain circumstances, you can request payment from Linden Lab to your bank via wire transfer. Please see the section on Process credit (withdrawal), above.
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Note: Use a bank wire only under the following circumstances:
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To set up Process Credit payments through bank wire transfer:
- Go to the Second Life Support Portal and make sure you're logged in.
- Click Submit a Support Case.
- Under What type of problem are you having? select Billing.
- From the Billing dropdown, select Request Payout via Wire Transfer.
- Fill in the fields that appear and click Submit.
In order to send you a bank wire, we require some additional information about you. We are aware that this information is sensitive and confidential, and we protect it with the utmost confidence according to our Terms of Service and Community Standards.
When you create your support case, please provide the following:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Avatar Name
- Mailing Address
- Phone
- Requested amount
- Tax ID/SSN
- Bank account Number
- Bank name
- Bank address
- Bank contact
- ABA number
- IBAN number
- SWIFT number
- Special notes
- Please also send a legible scan of a photo ID and (if applicable) your business license or tax certificate
When the case is complete and submitted, we will conduct a review to determine your eligibility to receive a wire. All requests are processed in the order received.
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Note: The decision to send a wire is at our sole discretion, and we make no guarantee that we will issue a wire to you. Incomplete submissions will be rejected. |
Associated costs
There are some costs associated with payments via wire transfer:
- Linden Lab will deduct a $100 processing fee for a bank wire over $10,000, in addition to any fees charged by your financial institution.
- In cases where PayPal does not allow payments to be sent to your location, we will deduct a 1% fee for wires sent.
How to view statements of account activity
After you've logged into your Dashboard on secondlife.com, click the Account section on the left to expand it, then click the Account Statements link. You can download statements for every month of your account's existence, up to and including the last complete month (for example, if you check in the middle of December 2011, your latest statement will be for November 2011). These statements are permanently available and can be downloaded as many times as you like.
For Residents who need to claim Value Added Tax (VAT) back from their tax office, the Summary section of the statement groups all VAT charges into a single total; this serves as a summary of VAT invoices for each month.
Transaction history
Your Transaction History, found in your Account section on http://secondlife.com, shows your Linden dollar (L$) transactions for the previous 30 days. You can filter by date range and export your transactions for record-keeping purposes.
"MKT" v. "MKT2"
"MKT Item Purchase" refers to items purchased on the now defunct XStreet. "MKT2 Item Purchase" refers to items purchased from the Second Life Marketplace, which has replaced Xstreet.
To see exactly which items were purchased, go to the Marketplace and select My Marketplace > My Account > Order History.
Here's an example of what it looks like:
