what is the basic difference between a basic account and a premium account

[tahunter471488303146]

What is the main difference between a basic account and a premium account?

[Nyll Bergbahn]

A premium account is paid monthly, quarterly or annually.  With a premium account, you get:

• A L$1000 bonus paid 45 days after signing up
• A L$250 bonus also paid in 45 days for adding payment information details
• A L$300 weekly stipend paid every Tuesday
• 512m free land tier that you can use to either buy land OR participate in the free Linden Homes program
• Access to Live Chat help
• Enhanced ticket support over a basic account
• Automatic adult account verification (not age verification but almost the same as few sim owners insist on age verification as well as adult account verification)

[Void Singer]

+ability to buy more mainland (although this will raise your tier fees)

+ability to bypass land restricted to payment info on file users

 

-account will be frozen if your payment method fails on renewal or you do not have sufficient $US on your account, until the balance is paid off

[Irene Muni]

Additional info to the great Nyll's answer: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:What_are_the_different_levels_of_account_membership%3F

[Peewee Musytari]

Also in addition to all the other great answers, if you intend on buying your own sim (private estate) you do not need to be a Premium member to get that sort of land & as an estate owner you will get Concierge level support, so you would still get Live Chat and access to all the tickets that basic accounts do not have.

 

EDIT: Fixed typo for Irene so she doesn`t tell me off lol

[Irene Muni]

"Concierge", not "Consierge" http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:What%27s_Concierge_service_and_how_do_I_get_it%3F

[Peewee Musytari]

LOL I only speak Typonese hehe I will edit it for you

Huggsxx

[Cabbage Acanthus]

The big difference between premium and basic membership is the ability to buy land.  There are a few extra perks that they include in a premium membership (stipends) but the trickle of lindens you get back does not even come close to the cost of the membership so I don't really consider them.

As a basic member you can buy and sell lindens. You can create buy and sell content.  You can age-verify and to to adult places if that is your desire.  You can do anything a premium member can do, except buy land.  As a basic member, you can rent land, shops, residences, pretty much anything you want to, but you can't "buy" it.  Do bear in mind that even if you "buy" land here in SL, you still have to pay a regular maintenance cost or "tier".  The "tier" costs of land ownership can be significant so be sure to look into them before you make any decisions.  I also recommend looking into what will happen if you fall short and don't pay your tier on time as opposed as to what will happen if you don't pay your inworld rent.

As a premium member, the first 512 square meters of land is free from tier costs.   You can also get a "linden home" which is one of those 512 squ meter parcels with a place already on it if you choose. 

I would recommend, especially if you are new, to look at the costs of a premium membership and compare that with what you can get if you used that same money to buy lindens.  Compare rental costs with the costs of purchasing land, paying tier, and maintiaining the premium membership. 

So, long story short, unless you want to buy land there is no difference between the two accounts except you pay for one and don't pay for the other.

I used to have a premium membership and scaled back to a basic membership and to be honest, I really don't miss the premium membership at all and wind up spending less on SL and I am every bit as happy with my experience as I was before.  If you are just starting out, I would not be in a hurry to get a premium membership.  Just play SL and have fun.  When (or if) you ever feel the need for a premium membership you can always get one later.

[Peewee Musytari]

Even though we both know what you mean by you "can`t buy land", just to clarify for those that don`t know, you only can`t buy "Mainland" land, without being Premium.

[Cabbage Acanthus]

Right, buying land on the mainland as opposed to private regions. But, aren't most sales of private region land essentially "leases" where the original "seller" can evict and recliam the "purchased" land if they so chose unless, of course, someone bought an entire region?

 

Thanks for the clarification. That was a distinction that I needed to make in my original post.

[Peewee Musytari]

True it is commonly thought of as leasing/renting, but technically so is mainland, you just have LL as a landlord there and its regarded as more "safe". But both appear in land sales search and are listed as sales & there are a lot that are no different in practice from mainland, in the sense that they allow resale in the same way....Though I do agree its grey area as far as general perceptions.

[Cabbage Acanthus]

You make an interesting point.

 

Grey areas are fun aren't they?

[Kadah Coba]

The L$1000 bonus was discontinued a while ago. It was at least 6 months ago from what I've been hearing. The L$250 bonus sounds like another that was discontinued as well, as its one I never saw or heard about when I went premium over 2 years ago.

 

I believe accounts are frozen at midnight the day the account has insufficient funds when any automatic billing occurs.

[Peewee Musytari]

@ Kadah The 1000L bonus is alive and well & still paid after 45 days.

[Nyll Bergbahn]

Yes, it still is in place per Linden Lab's Premium link http://secondlife.com/landing/premium