It’s been a very busy and productive 2023 for Second Life and our team is hard at work to make Second Life even better. The past year has seen several significant new features and improvements and we have quite a few more in the works (such as the PBR viewer, avatar customization ease including inventory thumbnails, a new mesh starter avatar, new LSL functions that improve the quality of life for scripters, and - yes! - a world and avatar-centered mobile-first Viewer). 

One of our goals is to make virtual land ever more accessible to empower our Residents to create and build amazing virtual communities and experiences. That’s why over the past five years, we’ve lowered land costs several times, slashed setup fees, and introduced initiatives to further help reduce land costs (such as introducing Plus, lowering price of Mainland for easier entry into Mainland ownership and making a Homestead available for purchase with no restrictions for Premium Plus members).

In recognition of our upcoming 20th anniversary, we are making additional changes to land ownership to enable Second Life communities - great and small:

• Dropping the monthly price of Full Regions by $20 for our 20th anniversary – effective immediately, Full Regions are now $209/mo.  
• Accepting Linden Dollars for land payments - a convenient new option for Premium Plus members. If you are a creator earning L$ inworld, you now won’t have to sell on the LindeX to pay for your region! 

Pictured: This chart shows Full Region price reductions over the past 5 years including today’s new pricing in USD. Upgrade to 30K Land Impact is available for all Full Regions for an additional $30 USD monthly. 

This latest land price reduction, increased development of Second Life features, improvements, and an unfortunate combination of world-wide economic factors including inflation, all bring additional costs to our operations. We’ve spent time considering ways to manage these costs to minimize the overall burden on our Residents. We decided to absorb many of the costs and distribute some by making a change to Linden Dollar buy and sell fees. Effective today, we are changing LindeX fees as follows:

• Increasing the buy fee to 10% with a minimum fee of $1.49 and a maximum fee of $14.99USD per transaction
• Increasing the sell fee to 5%

We know that many community members may have questions about these changes, so please see the FAQ below for more information and context. For further questions, please join the conversation in our community forums. We’ll also be discussing these changes and sharing more from our 2023 roadmap on a special edition of “Lab Gab” this Friday. Stay tuned for a “first look” preview of the work we’ve been doing on Mobile in the next few days, too.

FEE CHANGES FAQ

Q: Which types of land does the new pricing apply to?
A: Full regions now cost $209. Full regions with 30K upgrade cost $239. EDU prices are still 50% off.

Q: What about Buydown / Grandfather pricing? Homesteads? Open spaces? Mainland?
A: All other land pricing is unchanged. However, we did just recently roll out a Homestead benefit for Premium Plus and a Mainland discount. 

Q: How much land can I pay for in L$? How do I pay for Land in L$?
A:  You can pay for up to one private region (some restrictions apply) in L$ as long as you maintain a Premium Plus subscription. See this article for details.

Q: How will the fee changes impact the cost of my Linden Dollar purchases and sales?
A: It depends on the size of your Linden Dollar purchase in each transaction.

For example, smaller Linden Dollar purchases (roughly equivalent to about $15 USD or less*) will see no change in cost as the $1.49 minimum charge is equivalent to the cost of the existing flat fee. 

For larger Linden Dollar purchases (approximately $149 or higher*), the 10% fee will cap out at $14.99 maximum in a single transaction.

Sell fees will always be at 5% per transaction regardless of the size of the transaction. 

Q: How will I know the exact transaction fee that I’m charged before I make the purchase?
A: The transaction fee will be clearly visible at the point of sale on the Buy L$ page on the Secondlife.com website. The image below shows you an example of where to see the transaction fee before the purchase transaction is completed:

You will see the 10% transaction fee auto-calculate as you increase or decrease the amount of Linden Dollars you wish to purchase.

Q: Will the fee show up clearly on my transaction log or invoice?
A: Yes! You will see a dedicated line on both your invoice and transaction log for your “LindeX Buy/Sell Fee.”

Here is how it will look on your transaction log:

Here is how it will look on your invoice:

Q: When does the new fee rate take effect?
A: The new fee rate is effective today March 6, 2023.

Q: If I placed an order to buy or sell L$ before the March 6 change, but it has not yet been filled, will I be charged the old fee or the new fee? 
A: Buy Orders placed before the change will be charged at the old rate. Sell orders will be charged at the rate effective at time of L$ sell order fulfillment.

* Disclaimer: The actual dollar value may vary depending on the LindeX exchange rate, which automatically matches your order with the market rate at the time of the transaction. These estimates are accurate at the time of this blog post but are subject to change.

Our Support Team stands ready to answer any questions you may have about these changes.  Please log into your dashboard at https://support.secondlife.com to contact us.