Best Way To Buy Lindens

[Bobbi Lundquist]

I noticed today that the exchange rate means 310 Linden Dollars = 1 USD, therefore if I brought 10,000 Lindens that would be $31.

I know there is a 10% transaction fee, so change that to $34.10, but the cheapest I can buy 10,000 Linden for is $42.56, a difference of $8.46.

They already charge a 10% fee, why do I also lose out on another $8.46 ?, land is expensive as it is, but it appears you have to pay about an extra 25% even after the transaction fee, just to purchase lindens.

Please can someone explain this to me

[Alwin Alcott]

4 minutes ago, Bobbi Lundquist said:

I noticed today that the exchange rate means 310 Linden Dollars = 1 USD, therefore if I brought 10,000 Lindens that would be $31.

I know there is a 10% transaction fee, so change that to $34.10, but the cheapest I can buy 10,000 Linden for is $42.56, a difference of $8.46.

They already charge a 10% fee, why do I also lose out on another $8.46 ?, land is expensive as it is, but it appears you have to pay about an extra 25% even after the transaction fee, just to purchase lindens.

Please can someone explain this to me

the current going exchange rate for limit buy at thís moment is 260/1 ... not sure where you get the 310 ?
The market buy has a little different rate, not much, but won't ever be better than the limit buy.

[Nalates Urriah]

There is a simple and quick way to buy L$: Instant Buy (Market Buy). If you are in a hurry, that is the best way. Still there are some gotchas in the process.

If you are quick, the numbers here should be what you pay for instant L$.

But there are 40 to 50 thousand people playing in SL at any given minute. Some number of them are buying and selling L$. So the 'market price' can change at any moment. So to figure out where the $8+/- came from go back and look in the transaction details to see what price was finally used for the exchange.

If you want a low cost exchange then the Best Rate Buy (Limit Buy) is best. But you may have to wait to get your Lindens. On the Linden Dollar purchase/sell page you can scroll down and see what price people are willing to sell their L$ and what prices people have offered to buy L$. Quantity gives you an idea of how many people want to buy or sell at a given price, which is an indicator of how many are ahead of you in a given line.

So, if you offer to buy at L$260 there are L$133 million in orders to be filled before you order fills. May be a long wait.

In the right hand column we see there are people willing to pay US$1 for L$258. On the left we see people willing to sell L$ only want to give L$246 for a $1. So... no transactions are happening.

The system is calculating the market price at L$245.77 per $1. I have no idea how they come up with that number.

Each time you refresh the page you'll see the numbers change.

You can make an offer... and it may get taken up. If I were in a hurry I would place a limit offer to buy at L$250/$1. That will almost be an instant transaction. If I didn't mind waiting 3 or 4 days I would offer to buy at L$260/$1. Those L$259 and L$259 offers will quickly be used up so I'll be with the majority of buyers offering L$260. Or I can jump ahead of that crowd and offer L$259. Only a little most costly but way likely to fill quickly.

So... best is a matter of what you want and how long you are willing to wait.

[Fauve Aeon]

I hop on the limit buy and count it one linden dollar at a time, it will jump from something ‘under 30 minutes’ to something like ‘2 days’, then I back it down one linden dollar and put in my order. Depending on how much you spend and how often you buy, the transaction fees are also capped at 14.99 iirc, so anything over $149 USD means a lower transaction fee percentage. When I was paying a more substantial rent in a private estate, buying a large buy but fewer times via limit buy also cut my transaction fees. 

[Madi Melodious]

I was wondering about different payment options and if one was better than the other.  Credit card, debit card, paypal, temporary cards, or whatever?

[brodiac90]

Premium and the stipend is a good option if you're not based in the US because you suffer less transaction fees overall. 

[Fauve Aeon]

4 minutes ago, Madi Melodious said:

I was wondering about different payment options and if one was better than the other.  Credit card, debit card, paypal, temporary cards, or whatever?

Well I like to use a good cash back card that we zero out monthly and bank points as well. But hard to recommend a specific card because many offers depend on a good/excellent credit rating and how your assets are structured. I think it’s worth looking into though, it doesn’t make me ‘spend more’ but I do like watching my savings and points rack up.