Possible to Transfer L$ to USD Without Bank Account?

[MagikaUltima]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if it's possible to transfer my lindon dollars to USD on my account (WITHOUT withdrawing it) and then use that USD to pay for premium subscription, without having credit card or bank account information?

I signed up using the basic account, and I was hoping that after I earn around 2000 lindon dollars or so, I could transfer that amount into USD via the LindeX and pay for subscription. Please let me know if this is possible. Thanks

[Nyll Bergbahn]

No, you need to update to Premium using a credit card account or verified Paypal account. Once that is set up and paid the first time, you can then sell Lindens for USD and Linden Lab will take the USD first the next time your Premium fee is due as USD in your account has priority over debiting a credit card or Paypal.

[Smoothie Perl]

Who said so?

There isn't need of premium account to exchange L$ for real money!

The only thing you have to is a PAYPAL account you have to link with your SL account (if you don't want to link straight through your bank account ofcourse).

 

[Nyll Bergbahn]

The question related to converting Lindens to USD to use to upgrade to Premium membership instead of using a credit card or verified Paypal account, not a general question on converting Lindens to USD to withdraw.

[Void Singer]

not quite true....

you can make a one time purchase of L$ from an accepted funding source, then convert any L$ you have to cash balance and pay using that.

the secure way would be to set up pay pal or use one of the vanishingly rare prepaid credit cards to start, then disable either of them quietly (either by delinking your paypal account from any funding source, or emptying said prepaid card and not refilling it), and continue paying for your account through L$ exchanges.

 

I should know it's exactly how I set mine up.

 

PS
I don't recommend removing those dead funding sources from being listed on your LL account... people have had lots of problems with that in the past.

[Nyll Bergbahn]

Interesting. I can't actually check this myself as my alts have credit card info on file so all I get is this:

¤ If you choose to upgrade to a Premium membership you will be charged immediately for the full amount of the subscription plan specified. The amount due will be deducted from your credit card or the USD balance on your account.

That's fair enough, my alt already has CC info so LL are happy to take USD if there.

Clicking Choose Payment Method brings up the window below so If I wish I could choose Paypal (selecting New Payment Method just cancels the window and goes nowhere).

So, if someone is on Basic with out any credit card or verified Paypal information on file, what does the wording say and what payment options appear when you click Choose Payment Method? Does it allow for a USD payment without first setting up a CC or verified Paypal?

[Void Singer]

dunno, I used my now dead PP account to buy a few L$ (2.50$US) to get payment history started, waited a few days so my sell limit was high enough, then sold off a large chunck of L$ I had already accumulated, and then started yearly premium....

the PP info is still in LL's system, but I've disconnected paypal from any funding source. as long as I have a sufficient US$ balance on my LL acount when the charge comes in, the PP info is never used

each year I take a portion of my L$ and sell it off at a fixed rate to pay my yearlys up.... if I blow it, and miss the payment date I'll be screwed, because it'll be rejected, but I feel better about that than having someone elses hand in my pocket the whole time.

[Peewee Musytari]

In order to sell L$ you need a trading limit, which you can only get by at least buying L$ once.

To upgrade to premium membership, you need to have a payment method on file so that when your subscription becomes payable there is something to charge it to if you do not have funds in your account.

If you have a USD balance on your account, any fees payable to LL (including premium membership) will always be deducted from that first, before looking to your given payment info.

[Smoothie Perl]

This is from the knowledge base. So we can undestand what we talking about!
A basic account gives you full access to Second Life with no membership fees and does not require a credit card or PayPal account.
However without a credit card or a verified PayPal account you cannot:
    * Get a premium level account.
    * Own land.
    * Buy or sell Linden Dollars.
Often the initial agreement can't be set up due to an unverified PayPal account. To use your PayPal account with Linden Lab, it must be verified with a bank account.

 

So you can have PayPal and that should be verified with a bank account. You don't need to have a premium membership to do so.

Also you can work and get L$ and own your home in a private region, that giving you the freedom to keep your basic account.

 

But you can't change internal L$ with real $ to pay your subscription, the only way is to exchange 'em

[Void Singer]

addendum for clarity:
the course of action I took was to use valid information to trigger a payment history which allows for the conversion of L$. then I invalidated it as a payment source externally, and simply continue on using L$ conversion. the system never checks again to see that the original information is still valid so long as I keep L$ conversion up to pay any costs. if I ever fail to do so, then the system will attempt to use the old (and now invalid) information, fail and I'll lose access to that account if I a payment is required but I haven't funded it or removed anyservices requiring payment before they come due.

[Vladi Hazelnut]

As far as I know you don't need a premium account to take money out of sl. You can use different vendors inside sl that will do that. You would need somewhere to transfer the money to though. Either a bank acount with a routing number, a debit card, even a pre paid one, or a pay pal acount linked to a bank account or a pay pal debit card.

However in order to have a premium membership you will need payment info on file with linden labs. You can't simply transfer lindens to your LL account and upgrade. When you try to upgrade they will ask for payment info. But once you get that on there it doesn't need to be valid as long as you keep a balance on your LL acount. I used a debit card that is no longer good for mine and I am still listed as having payment info on file. So you could go to walmart or something and get one of those pre paid debit cards to start your membership if you wanted to. Then just never use it again. Just make sure you have enough money on your account to cover the monthly fees when they try to pull them.

 

[Void Singer]

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Vladi Hazelnut wrote:

As far as I know you don't need a premium account to take money out of sl.[...]

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correct, you don't, although you may run into trouble with risk API and 3rd party sites if you don't have PIOF (no longer valid payment info seems to work just fine though =X)

you may also run into problems if you've never payed anything to LL with some external cash source (it's a requirement for using lindex, and may factor into the risk api)