9 days now Still no Money (Process Credit Rant)

[Artorius Constantine]

9 days ago I sent money into the process credit process.

I've been in business in SL for over 7 years now and this is just getting worse and worse.

I send almost exactly the same amount out every month for years now.

I guess if I want my money by the first I have to start sending it out on the 15th?

Paypal will take another week when it finally gets there. This is just incompetance.

They can take it instantly but take over a week to send it out. Wake up LL!

Holidays or not, this is business. I count on that money to pay my phone and internet bills.

It says 3 to 5 days. Not 9 or more. I'm going to have to skip a month and change my Process dates. That will be 2 months I have to cover thanks to LL's inability to do what they say they will. Schmucks.

End Rant. I now return you to your regular forum threads.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

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Artorius Constantine wrote:

9 days ago I sent money into the process credit process.

I've been in business in SL for over 7 years now and this is just getting worse and worse.

I send almost exactly the same amount out every month for years now.

I guess if I want my money by the first I have to start sending it out on the 15th?

Paypal will take another week when it finally gets there. This is just incompetance.

They can take it instantly but take over a week to send it out. Wake up LL!

Holidays or not, this is business. I count on that money to pay my phone and internet bills.

It says 3 to 5 days. Not 9 or more. I'm going to have to skip a month and change my Process dates. That will be 2 months I have to cover thanks to LL's inability to do what they say they will. Schmucks.

End Rant. I now return you to your regular forum threads.

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9 days ago... Christmas?!?!? You expect them t process your imaginary money into RL money over the Christmas break?!!? You must be joking.

Seriously though... I would never count on SL sales for my RL bills. What happens when they pull the plug? or sales die off?

[Tari Landar]

Are you including weekends and holidays in your 9 days?

I've used sl income for rl bills, even as my primary income, and one thing I learned in doing so, is to properly plan ahead. If you want money on the first, you need to take into account all weekends, all holidays, and all processing times associated with cashing out. If you don't, you can't really blame any other entity besides yourself for improper planning. You picked a really bad week to try and cash out swiftly. You have christmas, new year's, and weekends to account for here.

 

I'm not necessarily a fan of LL's cashing out process, either, by any means, but saying things like "holdiays or not", doesn't exactly absolve you from responsibility. Most businesses that do not operate(even if only speaking in financial terms) on holidays and weekends, would laugh at you if you came at them with that type of argument. Business days are just that, business days. Some people beleive LL should not have "business days", and that is an opinion I will never understand. Many, many, businesses have what is referred to as business days and they nearly always exclude all federal holidays and weekends.

[Artorius Constantine]

Thanks for the well worded reply Tari, let me clear up a couple things.

I did take out for the Holiday and weekend, it's actually been 12 days, today is 13. I should have said 9 Business days.

However Christmas is only 1 day, New Years is not a holiday. It's a party at Midnight. That shouldn't double the promised time for the process.

I am changing my cash out date to the 15th. I just can't trust LL to do what they say they will. This shouldn't surprise me after all these years. My original account (Joined like 9 years ago I think) is premium and I am amazed at the differance between Concierge support and basic account support. I don't know if it would affect cash outs but I may start transferring money to him and then out. Couldn't hurt to try.

I am one of those with the opinion LL should keep weekend hours. They are, after all, an International business that is open 24/7 and our weekend is not the entire worlds weekend. If you have a business with Tens of Thousands of people "in world" at all times and from all different Countries you need to have people manning the machines. But that's just my opinion and counts for squat. =)

In RL I am an Entertainer. When the Producer says showtimes are 9, 2 and 5 you can bet my butt is on stage at 9, 2 and 5. If I showed up at 5 minutes after I wouldn't get hired. A business is only as good as it's promise & performance. If they want to take 14 business days they should say so. At least then I'd know what to expect. It's still ridiculous (IMHO) that it takes so long to process credit. and that was the point of my rant.

I suppose if my account got hacked and ripped off I would appreciate that delay, as it may save my money. But they still should say something like "Up to 2 weeks" instead of "3 to 5 business days".

[Drake1 Nightfire]

I have looked all over the lindex page, the manage funds pages and the ToS.. Where are you seeing this "3-5 business days"?

[Tari Landar]

I can understand why some would think LL should have business hours on the weekend, I just don't share the opinion that it should apply to cashouts, mostly because it never has. LL has always had a mon-fri work week. Most banks, ok, many banks, don't have weekend hours either, as do a great many merchants when it comes to shipping or providing services on Saturday and Sunday. It doesn't apply to all, but it does apply to many. Even businesses that are actually open on weekends, regardless of how long, don't necessarily consider them business days, but context is important in that area, and mileage can vary greatly.

New Year's day is actually a federal holiday, well, it is considered a federal holiday in the US. Although LL has customers internationally, it is still considered a US business.

As for where to find the 3-5 business day thing it can be found in a few places, but the one I see most refer to is this..

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Account-balance/ta-p/700015#Section_.2.2

It's about halfway down the page I think, under "how long does it take to process credits"

"For processing a credit to a Paypal account, requests generally take up to 5 business days (Monday-Friday, not including U.S. holidays) to be completed."

Personally, when it comes to cashing out, I've always considered being overly cautious and prepared as the best solution. Just in case something happens, you'd rather have the money early, than late, I suppose. There was a time, when the new tax regulations came into play in Sl being the most recent I can think of, when cashouts were taking even longer due to the influx of, well, cashouts, and extra manpower needed to process everything, including the tax forms and information. Even automated systems have manpower behind them. But, around the holidays, especially, things can easily take longer than normal. Whether they should or not, I won't debate, but they do. So, I think making your cashout day the 15th instead, is a good option, especially if your cashouts are needed to pay rl bills.

 

[Perrie Juran]

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

I have looked all over the lindex page, the manage funds pages and the ToS.. Where are you seeing this "3-5 business days"?

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How long does it take to process credits?

Credit processing can take three (3) to five (5) business days* for PayPal. We strive for quick turnaround, however holidays and transaction volumes can adversely affect processing times.

https://accounts.secondlife.com/process_credit/

[Drake1 Nightfire]

OK.. looking over what you and Tari both posted, I am seeing estimates, not rock solid definitive times.. So.. complaining that it's taking more time over the busiest holiday season when they aren't even doing server maintenance till the 14th is a tad silly, no?

[Perrie Juran]

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

OK.. looking over what you and Tari both posted, I am seeing estimates, not rock solid definitive times.. So.. complaining that it's taking more time over the busiest holiday season when they aren't even doing server maintenance till the 14th is a tad silly, no?

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At what point you call it "overly adverse" I don't know.  I might consider nine days pushing it but maybe not enough to blow a fuse.  I don't think this is something they can hire temp workers for to pick up the extra load during the Holidays.  As fas as I understand it these transactions are all processed by hand.

[Bobbie Faulds]

As far as I know, Jan 1 is an international banking holiday...no banks are open, no stock markets are trading. Same for Dec 25. Any business that is transacted at your local bank on a Sat, at least in the US, is credited as Monday's business. So...If you sent it on the 23rd...you had the 24th, 26th,29, 30, 31 and Jan 2,, that's 6 or 7 business days, depending on the time your started on the 23rd.

That's not an outrageous amount of time. Just be patient. Remember, too, the slowdown was placed because of the phishers that have been active in SL to allow LL time to retrieve players' money.

You do have one other option to decrease time....get a PayPal debit card. You'll have access to your money as soon as it hits Paypal that way. Spend what you need to and sent the rest to your regular bank account.

Good luck.

[Medhue Simoni]

Well, I'll just say this. LL is the ONLY company that I have dealt with in the last 8 years that can't make their own, self set, deadlines on paying me. Personally, I don't give a crap what their said reasons are. The only real reason is pure incompetence.

[Artorius Constantine]

11 Business days to get funds to Paypal.

All I'm trying to say/ rant about is exactly what I've said all along, and exactly what Medhue said just above.

If they (LL) says 3 to 5 days, then 11 days is far to long. if you can't do it in 5 days then don't promise 5 days.

if they said "Up to 2 weeks", I'd think 11 days was fast.

Just do what you say LL. If you can't, then change what you promise.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

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Artorius Constantine wrote:

11 Business days to get funds to Paypal.

All I'm trying to say/ rant about is exactly what I've said all along, and exactly what Medhue said just above.

If they (LL) says 3 to 5 days, then 11 days is far to long. if you can't do it in 5 days then don't promise 5 days.

if they said "Up to 2 weeks", I'd think 11 days was fast.

Just do what you say LL. If you can't, then change what you promise.

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ok.. I will quote LL here..

"Credit processing can take three (3) to five (5) business days* for PayPal. We strive for quick turnaround, however holidays and transaction volumes can adversely affect processing times.  "

It says "can" that means it could take 3 it could take 5 or it could take more.. It also says Holidays and transaction volumes can affect times... Holiday.. Like Christmas.. I would bet more people are cashing out over the Xmas season than any other time of the year.

They also state..

"The following table provides an estimate for when you should receive your USD in your PayPal account based on the day of the week you submit your request."

Key word there... Estimate. They have never set in stone. "YOU WILL GET YOUR MONEY IN 3 TO 5 DAYS."

You know what they did set in stone though? This..

"4.5 “Linden Dollars” are virtual tokens that we license. Each Linden Dollar is a virtual token representing contractual permission from Linden Lab to access features of the Service. Linden Dollars are available for Purchase or distribution at Linden Lab's discretion, and are not redeemable for monetary value from Linden Lab."

Yeah, they don't have to let you cash out at all. Personally, I would say thank you to them for providing this platform that allows you to make money selling your creations and be done with it.

[Chic Aeon]

Is there a possibility that this is because you need to send in an IRS form (Like a W-4)?   I know that many folks never got the notice about this that was supposedly sent. If you are reaching or going over $600 for last year, then that might be the issue. If so check your ticket area in the backend for more info. There may be an open ticket. If you don't complete the steps within a month it can get pretty dire, so check IF THAT IS THE CASE.

[Medhue Simoni]

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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Yeah, they don't have to let you cash out at all. Personally, I would say thank you to them for providing this platform that allows you to make money selling your creations and be done with it.

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Yes, Masta!

Here's a revelation for ya!

People can make money anywhere! We choose where we want to make money. If LL can't fullfill it's obligations, then more of us will choose to make money somewhere else. As a business person, I understand that LL's missed steps affect the whole SL market. For each merchant that stops activity, the SL economy becomes smaller and smaller. As a long time merchant, I'm always looking ahead, and LL continuing to struggle to make payouts on time, is not a good sign for the future.

When I hire people to help me with project, whether SL or other platforms, they are the most important people to me, besides the customer or client. I make sure they are paid well, and on time, even if that money has to come out of my own pocket. I want to make sure, that the next time I call them, they'll have no hesitation in responding. LL doesn't care, as to them, we are a dime a dozen. It's that kind of attitude that turns successful ventures into a struggling company.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

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Medhue Simoni wrote:

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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Yeah, they don't have to let you cash out at all. Personally, I would say thank you to them for providing this platform that allows you to make money selling your creations and be done with it.

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Yes, Masta!

Really, was that called for?

Here's a revelation for ya!

People can make money anywhere! We choose where we want to make money. If LL can't fullfill it's obligations, then more of us will choose to make money somewhere else. As a business person, I understand that LL's missed steps affect the whole SL market. For each merchant that stops activity, the SL economy becomes smaller and smaller. As a long time merchant, I'm always looking ahead, and LL continuing to struggle to make payouts on time, is not a good sign for the future.

That's just it.. There is no set in stone time payout. It is all an estimate.

When I hire people to help me with project, whether SL or other platforms, they are the most important people to me, besides the customer or client. I make sure they are paid well, and on time, even if that money has to come out of my own pocket. I want to make sure, that the next time I call them, they'll have no hesitation in responding. LL doesn't care, as to them, we are a dime a dozen. It's that kind of attitude that turns successful ventures into a struggling company.

You are NOT in a partnership with LL. At all. They are NOT paying you. That is a bad analogy. They are allowing others to purchase your $L. Now, over the Christmas/New Years weeks, less people spend in SL. The employees of LL take their vacations then, as is shown by the 4 week Server hiatus. Hence it willl take longer to cash out. 

LL makes a pittance, if any, RL money on any project done in SL, unless it pretains to the land rental. Scripts, textures, mesh uploads, hell you could make a fullly functional Death Star for someone and sell it to them for millions of $L and LL would see less than 1% of that money. LL makes their money on land sales and monthy teir.

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[Medhue Simoni]

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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That's just it.. There is no set in stone time payout. It is all an estimate.

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Semantics!

 

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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You are NOT in a partnership with LL. At all. They are NOT paying you. That is a bad analogy. They are allowing others to purchase your $L. Now, over the Christmas/New Years weeks, less people spend in SL. The employees of LL take their vacations then, as is shown by the 4 week Server hiatus. Hence it willl take longer to cash out. 

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I beg to differ. The money tranfers say different, and so does the W9 that I'll have to file. Occording to the government, LL and I are definitely partners. Literally, thousands of companies are able to pay people on time during holidays, without delays. Do you think the LL employees ever get their checks late?

 

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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LL makes a pittance, if any, RL money on any project done in SL, unless it pretains to the land rental. Scripts, textures, mesh uploads, hell you could make a fullly functional Death Star for someone and sell it to them for millions of $L and LL would see less than 1% of that money. LL makes their money on land sales and monthy teir.

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Really, does that pittance count all the sims we pay for monthly to display our products? So, what you are saying is, that if LL stopped all content creation, or stopped paying out, SL would still be profitable? If not, then content is a bit more important than you make it out to be. Heck, it might even be the whole engine that makes this world go.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

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Medhue Simoni wrote:

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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That's just it.. There is no set in stone time payout. It is all an estimate.

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Semantics!

 Not semantics.. They are very very clear not to make set in stone rules about payouts. This is to cover their asses in case of something going wrong.

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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You are NOT in a partnership with LL. At all. They are NOT paying you. That is a bad analogy. They are allowing others to purchase your $L. Now, over the Christmas/New Years weeks, less people spend in SL. The employees of LL take their vacations then, as is shown by the 4 week Server hiatus. Hence it willl take longer to cash out. 

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I beg to differ. The money tranfers say different, and so does the W9 that I'll have to file. Occording to the government, LL and I are definitely partners. Literally, thousands of companies are able to pay people on time during holidays, without delays. Do you think the LL employees ever get their checks late?

 

You are NOT in a partnership with LL. They are nothing more than a middleman handling the transactions. You are earning $L selling things to other users of Second Life. You are then converting those $L to USD by selling them to other users of SL through the Lindex.

LL does not employ you. Yes they get their checks on time, those checks are set amounts that dont change from month to month. You could decide to cash out 5000 USD or 500 USD this month, how are they supposed to know?

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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LL makes a pittance, if any, RL money on any project done in SL, unless it pretains to the land rental. Scripts, textures, mesh uploads, hell you could make a fullly functional Death Star for someone and sell it to them for millions of $L and LL would see less than 1% of that money. LL makes their money on land sales and monthy teir.

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Really, does that pittance count all the sims we pay for monthly to display our products? So, what you are saying is, that if LL stopped all content creation, or stopped paying out, SL would still be profitable? If not, then content is a bit more important than you make it out to be. Heck, it might even be the whole engine that makes this world go.

I did say not counting land rental.. And yes, I do think many people would stay and continue to pay into SL to use it. Not everyone is a merchant in SL, most users pay into SL. Not take out of SL. This is evident by the fact that LL make a profit each month. If everyone only cashed out, no one would make any money.

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[Medhue Simoni]

Seriously Drake, I'm not sure you understand how an economy works. Most of the land in SL, generates more money than the owner pays for it, or they make alot more than they pay for it, in the case of merchants. If this was not the case, there would be no SL. If there were no payouts, then the owners could not make a return on that investment, and LL could never charge $295 for a sim. Well, they could, but they wouldn't sell many. Without payouts, SL is not even possible.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

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Medhue Simoni wrote:

Seriously Drake, I'm not sure you understand how an economy works. Most of the land in SL, generates more money than the owner pays for it, or they make alot more than they pay for it, in the case of merchants. If this was not the case, there would be no SL. If there were no payouts, then the owners could not make a return on that investment, and LL could never charge $295 for a sim. Well, they could, but they wouldn't sell many. Without payouts, SL is not even possible.

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I know quite well how an economy works, I don't think you do. If all those people who buy you $L stopped doing so, SL would vanish. Who do you think is buying the most $L every month? Land Barons or regular users? You keep talking about land, I keep saying "aside from land sales and rentals". I am talking about Merchants, not land renters. Merchants who USE SL, not the merchants who actually explore and are a part of SL. The merchants who do nothing but make goods, sell them and cash out. Who cares if they rent land. They are not contributing to SL.

The amount LL makes on upload fees is a pittance. More and more merchants are doing away with inworld stores and selling just on the MP.

Let me try and explain my viewpoint.. If , as a merchant, you do nothing but make goods, sell them and cash out, how are you contributing to the SL economy? Even if you are renting land, you are still not a contributing member of SL. I have seen so many shops with bot models that have white skin, no hair and the creators clothing on. They don't even bother buying a single thing from other merchants. How do they help any other member of SL?

[Perrie Juran]

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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Medhue Simoni wrote:

Seriously Drake, I'm not sure you understand how an economy works. Most of the land in SL, generates more money than the owner pays for it, or they make alot more than they pay for it, in the case of merchants. If this was not the case, there would be no SL. If there were no payouts, then the owners could not make a return on that investment, and LL could never charge $295 for a sim. Well, they could, but they wouldn't sell many. Without payouts, SL is not even possible.

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I know quite well how an economy works, I don't think you do. If all those people who buy you $L stopped doing so, SL would vanish. Who do you think is buying the most $L every month? Land Barons or regular users? You keep talking about land, I keep saying "aside from land sales and rentals". I am talking about Merchants, not land renters. Merchants who USE SL, not the merchants who actually explore and are a part of SL. The merchants who do nothing but make goods, sell them and cash out. Who cares if they rent land. They are not contributing to SL.

The amount LL makes on upload fees is a pittance. More and more merchants are doing away with inworld stores and selling just on the MP.

Let me try and explain my viewpoint.. If , as a merchant, you do nothing but make goods, sell them and cash out, how are you contributing to the SL economy? Even if you are renting land, you are still not a contributing member of SL. I have seen so many shops with bot models that have white skin, no hair and the creators clothing on. They don't even bother buying a single thing from other merchants. How do they help any other member of SL?

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I could postulate that the Market Place is doing more to hurt LL's bottom line than helping it.  Because their income is based on Land.  But I have no way of knowing what percentage of Land was/is Commercial verses Residential.  But we do know that Merchant after Merchant have closed their InWorld stores and with the advent of Mesh it opened the door for a whole knew class of Sellers, people who essentially don't need to step a foot into SL other than to upload their models. 

I found LL's response to the Land Petition interesting.

"They would consider reducing land tier if there would be an increase in volume to cover the reduction, but there is no guarantee of that and they must keep that economy stable.  They are considering a new model for the new product that is less reliant on  land tier so it is more accessible to residents."

But aside from that what is getting lost is the symbiotic relationship between Merchants and the Community.  It's been a huge problem in RL too. 

We gave the Merchants our money and they gave us things to do.  Clubs, parks, etc.  Sure the Clubs, etc were there to get us to the Malls, but it was a two way relationship.  Now it is becoming more and more one sided and it is bad for a community.  And it's bad for an Economy also.  In RL we call it "downtown blight."

 

[Theresa Tennyson]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

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I could postulate that the Market Place is doing more to hurt LL's bottom line than helping it.  Because their income is based on Land.  But I have no way of knowing what percentage of Land was/is Commercial verses Residential.  But we do know that Merchant after Merchant have closed their InWorld stores and with the advent of Mesh it opened the door for a whole knew class of Sellers, people who essentially don't need to step a foot into SL other than to upload their models. 

 

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It's very possible that their current model is far less dependent on commercial land than you think. The maximum gross income a region would have is a little under $10 a day. The Lab takes 5% of the Lindens in any marketplace transaction, meaning that for those transactions there would need to be 5% more Lindens bought (income to Linden Lab) than could be cashed out (expenses for Linden Lab.) My math says that every 50,000 Lindens spent on the Marketplace per day will replace the income from a full region for that day, and this is actually an underestimate because (1) the average region would bring in less than $10 a day due to homesteads, favored landlord discounts, Mainland regions, etc. and (2) these are gross numbers; the cost to the Lab of supporting L$50000 per day of Marketplace transactions is almost undoubtedly far less than the daily cost of keeping a region running.

[Perrie Juran]

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Theresa Tennyson wrote:

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Perrie Juran wrote:

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I could postulate that the Market Place is doing more to hurt LL's bottom line than helping it.  Because their income is based on Land.  But I have no way of knowing what percentage of Land was/is Commercial verses Residential.  But we do know that Merchant after Merchant have closed their InWorld stores and with the advent of Mesh it opened the door for a whole knew class of Sellers, people who essentially don't need to step a foot into SL other than to upload their models. 

 

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It's very possible that their current model is far less dependent on commercial land than you think. The maximum gross income a region would have is a little under $10 a day. The Lab takes 5% of the Lindens in any marketplace transaction, meaning that for those transactions there would need to be 5% more Lindens bought (income to Linden Lab) than could be cashed out (expenses for Linden Lab.) My math says that every 50,000 Lindens spent on the Marketplace per day will replace the income from a full region for that day, and this is actually an underestimate because (1) the average region would bring in less than $10 a day due to homesteads, favored landlord discounts, Mainland regions, etc. and (2) these are gross numbers; the cost to the Lab of supporting L$50000 per day of Marketplace transactions is almost undoubtedly far less than the daily cost of keeping a region running.

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That presumes that LL is selling all of those $L's. They do sell but how much we don't know.  You need to also remember that there are sinks to keep the Lindex stable, stipends, etc.

This is an old article but at the time transactions on the Lindex accounted for less than 10% of revenue.  Some one better versed in economics than me might be able to calculate current numbers but LL stopped posting a lot of economic numbers. 

[Perrie Juran]

I forgot about this chart.  SOURCE

Concurency could be a factor in why accross the board since 2009 the earnings from the Lindex have remained essentially flat.  And because there is less land today then th epercentage of Gross Income for the lab from the Lindex could be greater.

As I said, I'm postulating.  There are a lot of numbers we dont know.  Income from land and Premium Accounts. 

[Medhue Simoni]

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

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Medhue Simoni wrote:

Seriously Drake, I'm not sure you understand how an economy works. Most of the land in SL, generates more money than the owner pays for it, or they make alot more than they pay for it, in the case of merchants. If this was not the case, there would be no SL. If there were no payouts, then the owners could not make a return on that investment, and LL could never charge $295 for a sim. Well, they could, but they wouldn't sell many. Without payouts, SL is not even possible.

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I know quite well how an economy works, I don't think you do. If all those people who buy you $L stopped doing so, SL would vanish. Who do you think is buying the most $L every month? Land Barons or regular users? You keep talking about land, I keep saying "aside from land sales and rentals". I am talking about Merchants, not land renters. Merchants who USE SL, not the merchants who actually explore and are a part of SL. The merchants who do nothing but make goods, sell them and cash out. Who cares if they rent land. They are not contributing to SL.

The amount LL makes on upload fees is a pittance. More and more merchants are doing away with inworld stores and selling just on the MP.

Let me try and explain my viewpoint.. If , as a merchant, you do nothing but make goods, sell them and cash out, how are you contributing to the SL economy? Even if you are renting land, you are still not a contributing member of SL. I have seen so many shops with bot models that have white skin, no hair and the creators clothing on. They don't even bother buying a single thing from other merchants. How do they help any other member of SL?

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2 words to start. OMG & WTF!

Let's look at this in RL first. When a person makes something in RL to sell, that is his contribution to society, which is why the free market works, because every merchant is contributing to society. If every single person in the world did this, then we would seriously have a utopian world. It is not the merchant that is controlling the process or society, because they can only sell what people are willing to buy. If the merchant can't sustain themself because they make products nobody needs, then he/she will soon become a drain on society, not a positive. So, it is the market that drive individuals to make the things that society wants or needs. It is the merchant that should be praised for supplying the society with the things they need or want. No more needs to be done by the merchant to help society, as they are doing more with their products than any charity or government could ever do, because those charities and governments produce nothing.

This works similarly in SL. It is the products that make SL appealing, and that drive the economy. SL is unique, in that it is very similar to RL, but without the NEEDs. So, it is the wants that drive SL. It can be seen as a future world where society has taken care of people's needs, and people only need to think about their wants. In a world where the wants drive everything, who do you think are the most important people in that society? It's the merchants.

Yep, it's not the merchants, or the land barons that flood SL with real money, it's everyone else. The point is, that those people would not be bringing any money into SL, unless there were things to buy. Nothing to buy, then nobody brings money in. So, now that we have established the BASIC facts about how the economy works. It should be obvious, that the merchant is the MOST important people in SL as it pertain to wealth creation, either by the merchants, or by LL. So, each merchant, by creating products, is doing more for SL than almost any other resident in SL, and they need not do more to contribute.