i have a big pb because i'm in belgium and no possible to buy lindens with my bancontact

[Rolig Loon]

You can also buy L$ with your PayPal or Skrill account. See https://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Billing/ta-p/700037#Section_.3

[Rolig Loon]

You can also buy L$ with your PayPal or Skrill account. See https://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Billing/ta-p/700037#Section_.3

[KarenMichelle Lane]

As an aside, the real thing everyone needs to understand the following:

a) The Linden Research Inc. organization is accepting the most well known credit card products that are supported by the major International Merchant Transaction Clearing Houses.

b) Also, PayPal and Skrill are the preferred methods to be able to Cash Out [Process Credit] your USD $ Balance once you sell your hard earned Lindens. [Yes you can request wire transfers but many of you don't have this option unless you want to Process a Credit [cash out] of $10,000 USD or more]

Note: Other minor Credit Products usually offered by banks in countries that are not members of the major International Transaction Clearing houses will probably never be accepted directly. The same goes for Gift Card Products, even those with a VISA/MC backing if the credit & debit processing is not scheduled as an immediate payment transaction on presentation. [Rolig Explains this in detail as follows] When you try to register a card with Linden Lab, they follow standard business practice by issuing a small charge against the card and then immediately refunding the amount to verify that the card is able to give and receive funds. This is the same procedure that PayPal and many other businesses use as you open an account. If the card fails the test, it cannot be registered.

This is why the push for a "verified" PayPal and Skrill account by Second Life.

This is also the same set of issues experienced in so many other MMO Class businesses with some form of paid account services

No one [small business or soft profit business] wants to "Finance" or "Risk" or deal directly with what is considered a less than major credit product. SecondLife needs a full Credit/Debit transaction authorized Credit Card and/or Debit Card in order to register a payment method. Gift Cards generally do not quality nor do those One Time Use "generated" VISA/MC transaction Credit Card numbers.

Because PayPal and Skrill are offerings by parent companies that like to do business in a wider international market and they have incredibly deep pockets [billions+] to minimise the exposure and risk, you really need to avail yourself of these products/services. Both are more likely to accept a back up payment method with other lesser known bankcards.

Skrill even mentions gaming as one of it's core business areas: https://www.skrill.com/en-us/personal/gaming/

 

Don't blame Linden Research for being Risk Averse.

Additional Reading:

PayPal

For a complete list of currencies accepted by PayPal, visit their official website and view the page on multiple currencies. To use your PayPal balance when making transactions with Second Life, it must be in USD. You can convert your balance to USD at paypal.com (PayPal may impose exchange fees).

Skrill

Skrill offers a variety of payment options including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, along with over 100 local payment options listed on their Payment Options page. For a complete list of currencies accepted by Skrill, visit their official website and view the page on Fees and Availability.

SecondLife Billing Page

https://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Billing/ta-p/700037

Wikipedia: PayPal  Skrill Mind you these articles are very biased in terms of any customer related issues encountered with both of these companies. Yet they offer a reasonably [iMHO] accurate history of their growth and business practices. I have first hand knowledge in regards the history of various Mainstream Bank-backed Credit products over the years and if an accurate article of each of them was presented, the issues chapters would fill volumes.

The majority of customers of Credit Cards and Money Transmission Services are usually happy with their transaction experiences.

P.S. I'm sure some heartless Accounting Analyst [i'm a retired one of these in RL for small Businesses] has measured the risk versus the manpower needed to keep track of doing business directly with these various products versus the losses and legal expenses in obtaining relief when something goes wrong with collections and advised the Owners of Linden Research to stick with the major Merchant Transaction Clearing houses including PayPal and Skrill.

After all, collections is not LL's core competency.