why wont you guys use prepaid cards?! argh!

[Alwin Alcott]

simple: SL needs the name of the source of the money. They have to keep track of all financial transactions and report it to the IRS and other TAX offices. So they have to know it is you..

If you would pump thousends of dollars in SL by gift and prepaids, cash it out on a normal account... LL would be in serious trouble explaining that without being able to link that to you.

And i think they prefer loosing one, than closing their business for being accused of money laundering

 

[Alwin Alcott]

simple: SL needs the name of the source of the money. They have to keep track of all financial transactions and report it to the IRS and other TAX offices. So they have to know it is you..

If you would pump thousends of dollars in SL by gift and prepaids, cash it out on a normal account... LL would be in serious trouble explaining that without being able to link that to you.

And i think they prefer loosing one, than closing their business for being accused of money laundering

 

[Lindal Kidd]

Sweetie, if you don't have either a bank account or a credit card, you shouldn't be playing Second Life.  You should be out looking for a real job.  

Point two:  I infer from your post that you paid someone in China to sell you $L.  Don't do that!  You are right, it can very well get you banned.

Point three:  You can look cute, and you don't have to spend money doing it.  It just takes a bit more time and effort.  There are several ways to go about this:

• Look for freebies and group gifts
• Get a job in world and earn some $L.  (Note:  Most jobs in SL don't pay all that well, so go back and read my very first paragraph again!)
• Learn to make your own cute things.  Use free software like GIMP and Blender.  If you get really good at it, you can sell your creations to others, and make some serious money.  However, this path takes a LOT of time and effort...well, Second Life IS a lot like Real Life that way!

[Rolig Loon]

No, you can't use a prepaid Mastercard or whatever.  That used to be possible, but LL changed their credit processing system a while ago and tightened up the rules, partly because there's no way to verify and trace ownership of money that comes from a prepaid card.  The word is that they have been weeding out accounts that had prepaid cards in the past, so if you have one now its days are probably numbered. (You can use a prepaid card with PayPal, though.) Online businesses try hard to avoid getting burned by scam artists or getting zapped by the Feds for making money laundering possible, so they tend to be very cautious.  Linden Lab isn't a giant business like Amazon that can afford a super-sophisticated accounting system, so they have to offer us fewer options.

[pandakitty240]

thats makes sense ugh.... so ill never be bale to buy lidens? sad face

[Gayngel]

As Rolig said you can get a Paypal account and use your prepaid card to add funds to your Paypal account, then you can purchase L$ with Paypal.

[Sepia Larnia]

you can use prepaid master-cards, or whatever avalaible in you country. Depends lot of the country you'r in what will work and what not.

But with a prepaid-card, no trouble loosing your rl-money, or that your bank-account may get capped. You can also link it to paypal if realy you want this as add.

The worst thing is more the exchange-rate you may get...