Purchased L$4,500 - Balance Still Shows L$0

[Jminx]

Yesterday I purchased L$4,500 but my available balance is still showing L$0. This is not helpful and is a little worrying although I did receive an email receipt. So why isn't it showing?

I'm having a hard time purchasing as I'm not seeing a balance in world or on the Marketplace.

I need to be able to assess how much I'm going to be able to spend on certain items as money doesn't come easy.

Please can someone help me to be able to see my balance?

Thank you in advance.

[Lindal Kidd]

There are a couple of possibilities.

First, maybe you THOUGHT you bought $L, but the payment method you used was not accepted by Linden Lab.  LL only accepts major credit cards, or a verified PayPal or Skrill account.  You can check to see if the transaction went through by checking with your credit card company or with PayPal or Skrill.  If you tried to use a debit card or a prepaid card, it almost certainly didn't work.

Second, you may have a valid payment method, but you placed a "Best Rate" or "Limit Buy", using the right hand box in the Buy $L page.  This is not a purchase.  It's an OFFER to buy X amount of $L at a specified exchange rate.  The money is taken from your payment method immediately, and held "in escrow" by LL, but your order won't be filled until a) the market hits your specified exchange rate, and b) all the orders at that rate ahead of yours are filled.  This can take several days.  If the exchange rate you chose is unrealistic, the market may never get there, and your order will never be filled.

You can check on this.  In the LindEx section of your Dashboard page, click "Manage" and then "LindEx Order History".  Look for open orders.  You can cancel an open order.   The money will then be placed in your $USD Balance, and you can use that to make another purchase, either a "Market Buy" which will be filled immediately, or another Limit Buy at a more realistic exchange rate.

[Rolig Loon]

At the heart of it, the problem is that many people who are new to SL think of the LindeX as a store or a bank of some kind. They think that they can just walk in, hand LindeX some USD, and walk out with L$.  The LindeX does work that way if you are willing to use the Market Buy option, because you are essentially telling the system to buy L$ at whatever the current price is.  The LindeX is a currency exchange, though, not a shop or a bank. You are trading USD for L$ with other SL residents.  If you use the Limit Buy (Best Buy) option, you are offering to buy L$ at a specific price and asking other residents to sell them to you.  If your offer is better than anyone else's, the sale will go through rather quickly.  If not, you have to get in line and wait until there's nobody with a better offer ahead of you.  Even when your offer is finally reasonable, you still have to wait until residents who made that same offer before you  get their L$.  

So, as Lindal says, your best strategy is to make an offer that is better than the price you would pay with the Market Buy option, but not so low that you'll have to wait until the end of time for it to fill. That's generally a price that is one of the top two in the chart at the bottom of the screen when you have the Buy L$ page open:

 

In this case, L$253/US$1.00 is probably your best bet, although you could get an even faster purchase at L$252/US$1.00. The few orders currently open at that rate will have to fill before yours, but you'll be ahead of the huge crowd wanting to buy at L$254/US$1.00 and still getting your L$ for a much better price than people using the Market Buy rate, which is about L$244/US$1.00.

[Jminx]

Thank you for your reply to my query.

You appear to be right in your second possibility. After checking the LindEx section of my Dashboard I found that I had a valid payment method and had placed a "Best Rate" or

Quote

There are a couple of possibilities.

First, maybe you THOUGHT you bought $L, but the payment method you used was not accepted by Linden Lab.  LL only accepts major credit cards, or a verified PayPal or Skrill account.  You can check to see if the transaction went through by checking with your credit card company or with PayPal or Skrill.  If you tried to use a debit card or a prepaid card, it almost certainly didn't work.

Second, you may have a valid payment method, but you placed a "Best Rate" or "Limit Buy", using the right hand box in the Buy $L page.  This is not a purchase.  It's an OFFER to buy X amount of $L at a specified exchange rate.  The money is taken from your payment method immediately, and held "in escrow" by LL, but your order won't be filled until a) the market hits your specified exchange rate, and b) all the orders at that rate ahead of yours are filled.  This can take several days.  If the exchange rate you chose is unrealistic, the market may never get there, and your order will never be filled.

You can check on this.  In the LindEx section of your Dashboard page, click "Manage" and then "LindEx Order History".  Look for open orders.  You can cancel an open order.   The money will then be placed in your $USD Balance, and you can use that to make another purchase, either a "Market Buy" which will be filled immediately, or another Limit Buy at a more realistic exchange rate.

Limit Buy" (can't remember which) but, I do remember thinking that I was buying $L at a cheaper rate. I don't understand anything about LindEx or exchange rates.

I'm going to attempt canceling the open order and then hopefully I can have it placed in my $USD Balance as I originally intended.

Thanks again for your help. 

Edited June 26, 2020 by Jminx
typo

[Lindal Kidd]

Best rate and Limit buy are just two different terms for the same thing.  By using this option, you CAN save a little money over just paying the current market price.  The downside is that you have to wait for the order to be filled.  I generally use this method, and pick the first or second rate shown in the Open Orders, the data table below the Buy $L boxes.  But it can take from a few hours to a week or more to fill the order.  I think I save about 2 to 6 per cent over the market rate.

[Jminx]

1 hour ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Best rate and Limit buy are just two different terms for the same thing.  By using this option, you CAN save a little money over just paying the current market price.  The downside is that you have to wait for the order to be filled.  I generally use this method, and pick the first or second rate shown in the Open Orders, the data table below the Buy $L boxes.  But it can take from a few hours to a week or more to fill the order.  I think I save about 2 to 6 per cent over the market rate.

That's good to know, I appreciate your time and great advice. I'll most certainly have to give this a try.

[Jminx]

54 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

At the heart of it, the problem is that many people who are new to SL think of the LindeX as a store or a bank of some kind. They think that they can just walk in, hand LindeX some USD, and walk out with L$.  The LindeX does work that way if you are willing to use the Market Buy option, because you are essentially telling the system to buy L$ at whatever the current price is.  The LindeX is a currency exchange, though, not a shop or a bank. You are trading USD for L$ with other SL residents.  If you use the Limit Buy (Best Buy) option, you are offering to buy L$ at a specific price and asking other residents to sell them to you.  If your offer is better than anyone else's, the sale will go through rather quickly.  If not, you have to get in line and wait until there's nobody with a better offer ahead of you.  Even when your offer is finally reasonable, you still have to wait until residents who made that same offer before you  get their L$.  

So, as Lindal says, your best strategy is to make an offer that is better than the price you would pay with the Market Buy option, but not so low that you'll have to wait until the end of time for it to fill. That's generally a price that is one of the top two in the chart at the bottom of the screen when you have the Buy L$ page open:

 

In this case, L$253/US$1.00 is probably your best bet, although you could get an even faster purchase at L$252/US$1.00. The few orders currently open at that rate will have to fill before yours, but you'll be ahead of the huge crowd wanting to buy at L$254/US$1.00 and still getting your L$ for a much better price than people using the Market Buy rate, which is about L$244/US$1.00.

Wow, I a truly grateful for your explanation, this makes a lot more sense to me now.

Thank you so much Rolig.

[Adumelial Rothstein]

I was in live chat last week as my exchange for LindeX $L did not go through. I was told if I cancel it from their site, my account will still have the credit but from where? I went ahead and used the quick buy for a week - as I had rent due. I like to pay mine monthly?

This has never happened before. LindeX always delivered the amount at said time. They stated a day...well it has been 4 day now. I am at a loss as what to do? Is the market slow and is this happening to others?

 

[Alwin Alcott]

22 minutes ago, Adumelial Rothstein said:

They stated a day...well it has been 4 day now. I am at a loss as what to do? Is the market slow and is this happening to others?

 

read the post by Rolig above, it's explained there. Don't just jump in a money exchange, it's not difficult, but read what it is first.
Yes it does happen to others too, the same happened to the OP who;s thread you posted in, not because the market is slow, but by offering to buy at a non acceptable rate,

Edited June 28, 2020 by Alwin Alcott

[Rolig Loon]

53 minutes ago, Adumelial Rothstein said:

I was in live chat last week as my exchange for LindeX $L did not go through. I was told if I cancel it from their site, my account will still have the credit but from where?

From where?   From the USD balance in your account.  When you place an order with the Limit Buy option, the LindeX immediately charges your payment method for the amount of the potential purchase.  That amount is placed in escrow, waiting for the order to fill.  If you cancel the order, the amount simply goes into your USD balance.  It's available if you want to place another LindeX order later, or if you need it to pay for another obligation like your monthly land use fees.  In fact, some people use that as a sneaky way to "pay" for their land use fees early.  They place a Limit Buy order at a ridiculously high rate ( like L$1000/USD$1.00 ) that will never be filled in a million years. Then they cancel the order to force the escrow amount to remain as USD in their account, ready for when Linden Lab asks for the month's land fees, maybe a week or two later.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Rolig Loon
Cleaner wording

[Adumelial Rothstein]

What if I told my CC to cancel the payment? And counteracted through PayPal where I pay? I was not aware of this nonsense.

I will never buy through LindeX again.

I like the simplicity of paying my parcel rent per month. I do not want anything nagging my financial brain like this?

Edited June 29, 2020 by Adumelial Rothstein

[Alwin Alcott]

12 minutes ago, Adumelial Rothstein said:

 I do not want anything nagging my financial brain like this?

.. you didn't read the procedures .. not something we can change. It's pretty transparant.
If you block or cancel the payment by your CC after the buy order you will loose your account. You agreed to a transaction and got the product you asked: a buy order
If you ever want to buy L$ you need to use the Lindex, all other sources, except earned L$ are not allowed.

Edited June 29, 2020 by Alwin Alcott

[Lindal Kidd]

7 hours ago, Adumelial Rothstein said:

What if I told my CC to cancel the payment? And counteracted through PayPal where I pay? I was not aware of this nonsense.

I will never buy through LindeX again.

I like the simplicity of paying my parcel rent per month. I do not want anything nagging my financial brain like this?

Please don't dispute the charge with your credit card company.  You could do so, but it will cause you, and everyone, far more hassle.  The simplest thing to do is to go to your Dashboard, click the LindEx "Manage" link, then check your $L Purchase History, and cancel the open order.  The money will then go into the USD Balance side of your account.  You can make another purchase of $L, at the market price.  LL will always use money in your USD Balance first.  They will only charge your CC if more money is needed to cover your purchase.

The $L purchase system is actually very straightforward, especially if you use the "Market Buy" option.  You order $L, you're credited with the amount of $L you ordered, and the charge to your payment method is calculated based on the dollars-to-$Linden exchange rate at the time of your purchase.

It's more complicated, but not much, if you choose the Best Rate (Limit Buy) option.  This is an OFFER to buy X amount of $L at an exchange rate of Y.  The order won't be filled until a) the exchange rate falls to your offer and b) all the orders ahead of you at that rate are filled.  This means you can wait for quite some time before your order is filled, especially if the rate you offered is far off from the current market price.

Oh...and as for "never buying through the LindEx again"....you don't have a choice.  The LindEx is the ONLY authorized place for buying and selling Linden Dollars.  If you buy $L anywhere else, for example on eBay, you are in violation of the Terms of Service.  Even worse, all of the off-market places that offer to sell $L are full of thieves and scammers.  You'll be lucky if you get any $L at all, and even if you do, they're likely to have been purchased with a stolen credit card.  When LL finds that out, and they always do, they'll take the $L from your account and permanently ban you from SL.

Edited June 29, 2020 by Lindal Kidd

[Adumelial Rothstein]

I cannot find on my account where to cancel the LindeX purchase. It shows in my emails and my paypal statement but I cannot see where to cancel the LindeX purchase.

When the 1 day promised fulfillment did not go through I even went to live chat ( I am premium) and they were not much help to direct me where to cancel?

The support person said I can go back to my chat session and it is not there.

So I imagine I will be going to live chat again today and\or calling support on this. Yes, I will cancel, so it can go to the purchase now.

 

Editing: I just now found where to cancel. So glad so what happens now?

Edited July 3, 2020 by Adumelial Rothstein
I found where to cancel and now have other questions.

[Alwin Alcott]

4 hours ago, Adumelial Rothstein said:

 So glad so what happens now?

read the posts above? This question is already answered

[Rolig Loon]

4 hours ago, Adumelial Rothstein said:

Editing: I just now found where to cancel. So glad so what happens now?

Hooray!  So now you are essentially back to Square One.  You have the US$ that was to have been used for your original order again.  It is now in the USD balance in your account in SL, available for buying L$ or for paying any other obligations (like monthly land fees, if you own land).  So, if you want to place a new LindeX order, go right ahead.  If you think that you have figured out how to use the Limit Buy option now, you could use that option, but I think it might be less nerve-wracking to p[lace this next order with the Market Buy option.  It won't be as much of a bargain, but it will go through instantly.  Linden Lab will use money in your USD balance first.  If there isn't enough to cover the cost of your purchase, they will charge your payment method for the remainder. 

I'm sorry that this was such an unsettling experience.  To be honest, I think a lot of people are a bit intimidated by the process at first. It's a common process that you'd find if you were using any RL currency exchange, like the Forex, but that's not something that most of us do every day. Once you've made a few transactions, though, it will all seem quite natural.  Then you can explain it to the next person.