Clarification on mainland tier and premium

[MegaRose]

Okay, so I know that if you're a premium member you get that 1024sq of free tier.  But then if you're NOT premium you can still have 512sq for $4/month.  I'm aware that premium also comes with the weekly stipend and a handful of other perks.  I also know the thing where you get a bunch of alts into a group and give them all premium and turn their free tier into one big land.  And you can cash out the stipend to pay a significant portion of the next year's premium and all that.  I've been researching my options.

But you can't buy mainland if you're not premium, right?  Am I getting that part right?  Or is it that you can't buy mainland direct from LL if I'm not premium?  Can I buy directly from another user?  And then I can just pay the $4/month for 512sq and not do the commitment of a yearly premium.

If I'm doing my figuring right, a month-by-month premium is $9, and the L$300 per week stipend costs just under $5, so the $4/month 512sq mainland tier boils down to basically the cost of a Linden Home without any of the premium perks.  If I'm not ready to commit to a year (I could get bored of, banned from, or burned out on Second Life, for whatever reason) then that seems to be the best way to do a low-commitment land ownership.  If I decide I want 1024sq or find myself buying L$ a lot I can make the jump to premium, but I might end up not needing that.

I bought a month of premium when it went on sale on April 1st.  So I have until the end of this month to buy land, if only premium members can buy land.  If that's how it works.  If any basic member can buy land from some other user then I don't have to decide within a week.

So basically what I'm asking is, 'can a basic user buy mainland,' but if anyone has some advice or clarification on my current planning it would also be greatly appreciated!

[Lindal Kidd]

Ethan's given you good answers, but it's pretty simple, really:

• You must be a Premium member to own Mainland.  If you aren't Premium, you can still RENT Mainland from another resident.
• You can pay for a Premium membership on three plans: $9.50 per month, $22.50 per quarter, or $72 per year.  The yearly plan is the best deal, but there is a catch.  If you decide you don't want to be a Premium member any more, you will NOT get a refund for any unused time.  I suggest trying it for a month or two on the monthly plan and if you like it, switch to the annual plan.
• Your Premium membership will renew automatically, and your payment method will be charged for it, unless you specifically take steps to cancel it.
• One of your Premium benefits is the ability to own up to 1,024 m2 of Mainland and not have to pay any monthly tier fees on it.  If you own MORE than 1,024 m2, you will pay a monthly fee, based on how much land you own beyond your "free" 1,024.  If, for example, you own between 1,025 to 1,536 sq m., you'll pay $4.00 per month for it ($4 per month for up to 512 sq. m.)  [There's a trick to own more land via group ownership, but we'll ignore that for the present.]
• There are several ways to acquire Mainland.
  • Apply for a free Linden Home.  These are on 512 m2 parcels, so you will still be able to buy another 512 m2 somewhere else, and not be charged tier.
  • Buy a Mainland parcel from another resident.  You can find parcels for sale in Search, or use the world Map with "Land Sale" checked in the map legend.  Asking prices for land vary greatly...from less than $L1 per square meter to over $L100 per square meter.  Remember that this is a different thing from "tier".  The purchase price is a one time fee, usually paid in $L.  Tier is an ongoing monthly charge, billed by LL in $USD to your payment method.
  • Bid on a land parcel in an auction.  Most parcels are sold directly resident to resident, but some are auctioned by LL.  Find the auctions here: https://usd.auctions.secondlife.com/  Be sure to read the FAQs before bidding!
• You mentioned the $L300 per week stipend for Premium members.  You're quite right...there are several benefits to a Premium membership, not just tier-free land.  Taken all together, the benefits are (to me, anyway) worth the price of a membership.  See my blog post: http://acrossthegridwithlindal.blogspot.com/2018/01/premium-benefits-creep.html

I teach a weekly class on land ownership, on Saturdays at 12 noon SL Time at Caledon Oxbridge University.  It's free to attend!

[Ethan Paslong]

1 hour ago, MegaRose said:

  But then if you're NOT premium you can still have 512sq for $4/month.

no mainland, only rent from others

1 hour ago, MegaRose said:

But you can't buy mainland if you're not premium, right?

indeed

1 hour ago, MegaRose said:

If I'm doing my figuring right, a month-by-month premium is $9, and the L$300 per week stipend costs just under $5, so the $4/month 512sq mainland tier boils down to basically the cost of a Linden Home without any of the premium perks.

there is no 512 tier level in your pemiumsubscription, only 1024

1 hour ago, MegaRose said:

 If I'm not ready to commit to a year (I could get bored of, banned from, or burned out on Second Life, for whatever reason) then that seems to be the best way to do a low-commitment land ownership.

premium is available in monthly, quarterly or yearly

1 hour ago, MegaRose said:

I bought a month of premium when it went on sale on April 1st.  So I have until the end of this month to buy land, if only premium members can buy land.  If that's how it works.  If any basic member can buy land from some other user then I don't have to decide within a week.

in that case you can only hold your land for that month, and loose it, in fact, you can NOT stop your premium if you own mainland. Also you did not just buy one month premium, you gave LL permission to renew that till you get rid of your land and downgtade manually.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Ethan Paslong

[So Whimsy]

Ethan has explained it well, I would just like to put emphasis on the misconception you have here. Non-premium members cannot buy and own mainland. If at any point you decide to downgrade back to a basic membership you will first need to sell/abandon your land before you can do that. There is also no way to buy mainland off another person if you are not a premium user.

Landownership is exclusive to premium users as far as mainland goes.

You can however buy an entire private estate (no less!) and own it as a non premium user. That costs $295 a month + initial cost of buying a sim off someone/paying LL to set it up for you.

[MegaRose]

Thanks to everyone on clarification.  I think I've got a good clear picture of my options now!  On April 30th I'm going to either abandon my Linden Home and cancel my Premium, OR switch from the monthly membership to a year.  Which one I do might be influenced over the next six days, but even if I go back to basic membership I know that LL plans to add more premium benefits so I'm paying attention.  When we get a clearer picture of what it means I might take the yearly.

[Ethan Paslong]

8 hours ago, MegaRose said:

On April 30th I'm going to either abandon my Linden Home and cancel my Premium

just be sure to abandon first and than downgrade or it won't work to downgrade.

also, don't do it one second too late or you be stuck for another month, if you try to go around that and remove your billing method your account will get locked if LL can't get their money. (Check the billing date on your accountpage, and do it the day before)

and... if you have other additional tier costs, those are always billed for the past period not the comming one (rent is paid upfront, tier afterwards for the max land you owned in that month)

Edited April 25, 2018 by Ethan Paslong