I have payment info on file but have free account

[Rolig Loon]

No.  You may have payment information on file, but your account is not active for trading until you have used it at least once to buy L$. The minimum amount, I believe, is L$500.  It's the final step that Linden Lab relies on to verify that your payment method is not only valid but functional.  As soon as you have made that first purchase, the clock starts on your account and your trading limits start to rise.

Notice from this table that on the first day that your account is active, you may buy no more than $30 worth of L$.  By the next day and for the rest of that week, your monthly limit has already risen to $100. You may not sell L$ at all until your account has been active for at least a week.

 

[Rolig Loon]

No.  You may have payment information on file, but your account is not active for trading until you have used it at least once to buy L$. The minimum amount, I believe, is L$500.  It's the final step that Linden Lab relies on to verify that your payment method is not only valid but functional.  As soon as you have made that first purchase, the clock starts on your account and your trading limits start to rise.

Notice from this table that on the first day that your account is active, you may buy no more than $30 worth of L$.  By the next day and for the rest of that week, your monthly limit has already risen to $100. You may not sell L$ at all until your account has been active for at least a week.

 

[ChinRey]

500 L$ is just two U.S. dollars and you can withdraw those Lindens again afterwards of course so all you actually have to pay is an even smaller transaction fee.

It's mainly for your safety, to confirm that the account info you've given is correct (not outdated, no typos and so on) so the money they send will reach you. As far as I know all serious online money transactions ervices have similar systems.