Commerce

More L$ Exchange Information 2013-20A

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Gwyneth Llewelyn has published her take on the new More Options announcement by the Lab. See: Financial crisis in Second Life ended? There are some details and gotcha’s worth knowing.

Gwyneth speculates on whether the Lab will turn off the cash out feature of the LindeX. As it is now the More Options change means other exchanges CANNOT convert L$ to RL currencies.

If FinCEN is forcing the Lab to move that direction, it will happen. But, that would be a huge hit for the Lab. There are people making a RL living from their SL businesses. Preventing any outward cash flow would kill those businesses.

For instance the motion capture company just covered in The Drax Files would likely drop their efforts in SL and move on to something else.

Personally I think stopping the outward cash flow will kill Second Life. As things are now SL provides entertainment and income. I’ll have to look to see how many private islands/regions are a shop of some kind. Tier is paid by sales. That tier payment thing could continue. But, some significant portion of those people are taking money out of SL. I suspect that significant portion is likely to give up their land.

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Lab Makes L$ Exchange Announcement

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There is a new post on the Second Life™ blog announcing: More Options for Buying Linden Dollars.

Quoting:

With a credit card, you can purchase L$ on the LindeX using 27 different currencies, including EUR, GBP, JPY, and AUD. If you don’t have a credit card, you can also use PayPal, which can be connected directly to a bank account in more than 193 countries and regions.

OK… most of us know that. Then they go to say:

Now, to give users more options and make it easier to purchase L$, we’re launching a pilot program of Authorized Resellers of L$. These sites are authorized by Linden Lab to purchase L$ on the LindeX and then resell those L$ using a variety of international currencies and payment methods. To be clear: per the Terms of Service, these resellers will not be allowed to purchase L$ outside of the LindeX (i.e. they will not be able to buy L$ back from users and cash people out). The list of Authorized Resellers participating in the pilot program is available here.

They also acknowledge there is a problem with cash out time via the LindeX saying:

We know that users are also concerned about the length of the LindeX’s cashout process and the limited choice of currencies when selling L$. We’re currently investigating ways to improve that experience for users while still providing superior fraud protections, and hope to hasten the cash out process and offer new currency options in the future.

So, something is at least in the works. I expect to hear more as the day wears on.

L$ Exchange news 2013-20

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The Linden Dollar Exchanges were demanding the ToS 30 day grace period and staying open. Now the Lab is kicking them out and closing them down. So, much for ToS and the 30-day grace.

ToS: This Agreement may be changed by Linden Lab effective immediately by notifying you as provided in Section 13.4 below; provided that Material Changes will become effective thirty (30) days after such notification. By continuing to access or use Second Life after the effective date of any such change, you agree to be bound by the modified Terms of Service. A “Material Change” is a change to this Agreement which reduces your contractual rights or increases your responsibilities under this Agreement in a significant manner.

13.4 We agree to provide each other with notices in a specified manner.
Linden Lab may give notice to and obtain consent from you by one or more of the following means: through the website at http://secondlife.com, through the Second Life Viewer at or after log-in to your Account, by electronic mail to your e-mail address in our records, or by written mail communication to the address on record for your Account. All notices given by you or required under this Agreement shall be faxed to Linden Lab Legal Department at: (415) 243-9045; or mailed to us at: Linden Lab Legal Department, 945 Battery Street, San Francisco, CA 94111.

So, does this leave room for a lawsuit? Ask an attorney.

Podex CEO Jacek Shuftan told Hypergrid Business reporter Maria Korolov:

“I really believed that the new Terms of Service is meant to protect avatars from the risk of fraud. That was my goal as well so I was looking forward to cooperate with Linden Lab. I could not imagine that over one night they would want to destroy our cooperation and everything what I built for 6 years of my virtual life. They did. I believed that they would answer my requests to start discussion. They did not.”

Even the AnsheX is closed.

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ToS L$ Change Update #2

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Maria Korolov over on Hypergrid Business is doing an excellent job of tracking events related to the changes in the Linden Dollar exchanges due to the Linden change in ToS. If you need the latest information, I suggest you follow her blog.

The point has come up that the Linden ToS provides for a 30 day window from the time of a change until the day it is enforced. The Lab is telling third party exchanges they must be shut down by Monday morning (5/13).  If they enforce the Monday Morning shut down, that would seem to leave the Lab liable to lawsuits for damages. So, this Monday morning’s shut downs may be a costly mistake.

However, the Lindens do have the capability to shut down non-compliant exchanges. On the Linden side it is just a matter of deciding to and doing it, some clicks on the Linden computer screens.

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