How to reduce land holdings, tier down in Second Life

After Friday’s radio show where I announced my decision to tier down, I went and reduced my land holdings in Second Life. This was the first time in the nearly year I’ve been a resident that I’ve reduced land holdings.

For most of 2006 I was at the $25/month tier. At no time did I ever hold the maximum amount of land for this tier, but I held more than the minimum and thus was paying the full $25/month. It was a little like paying for a web hosting plan that you don’t use to the full potential. That’s how the SL tier structure works: you pay for the highest peak point during the month.

I’ve not deposited any money into SL since my initial investment of around $200 USD. All tier fees were paid by my virtual business income, including weekly stipend.

I owned two adjacent 512m parcels that we used for our weekly meetings in the same sim as my TD Scripts business parcel. Those would be the first to go, reducing my holdings by 1024m.

The first step was to remove the items from the land I intended to sell from these two 512m parcels. This was a fast, easy process. Click on the land title and then navigate to the objects tab. From there, you return the objects on your land. When I was done returning the objects I set a very, very reasonable sale price of L$4,000 for each 512m parcel. Literally within seconds both 512m parcels were sold. Someone rezzed in, bought the parcel and then put a L$8,000+ price tag on each 512m parcel. That’s virtual capitalism for you.

Next I needed to get down the size of my TD Scripts business parcel from 2202 to 1536 so I could be at the $8/month tier. I went in the backyard of the parcel and using the land editing tools carved up a 512m parcel (using “subdivide” and “join” functions) and sold that for L$1 to my alt avatar. I then shaved off a corner section behind the store big enough to put me down to 1,536 and put that for sale for L$2,000. More expensive than the other 512m land and not a very good location. I figured selling this sliver parcel would take much longer.

Nope. Gone in under a minute. Guess I should have set the sale price much higher, huh?

Down to 1,536 in land holdings and my alt had 512m which doesn’t require any tier fee. What next? I visited the Second Life land use fee account page. Using their calculator, I was able to select the new $8/month tier with 1536m of land and submited the form. It changed the figures to what shows above.

That’s all there is to reducing land holdings. You could also abandon the property if you don’t want to sell it, but that doesn’t make any sense. The two 512m plots I sold were in the middle of a sim. If/when I ever decide to sell my business plot it will be much more expensive. I once had an offer of L$70,000 but the buyer who offered me that price didn’t deliver. My business land is not for sale currently, but I’m willing to listen to serious six plus digit offers in Linden. In fact, I’d seriously consider cashing out of my current business in world for a million plus Lindens (that’s $3,400+ USD at current exchange rates), which would include my shop, land and active products for sale (my dice cube games) with the only requirement being that name “TD” must be changed. Again, I’m not looking to sell my virtual business, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t entertain serious offers.

I don’t think it would be so bad starting my virtual business over but would want to keep my business name, of course. I don’t expect my IM list to flood with offers at this price, but if someone reading is serious, especially if they are in the programming business, hit me up inside SL and we can talk.

Advice for business owners wanting to expand a presence into SL
For those looking to setup shop inside Second Life new, try and get yourself a roadside (like I have) or waterfront location. Land prices from what I’ve seen are more expensive than when I bought land in early 2006, but the prime locations in my opinion are near the road or near the water preferably in a low lag sim.

Sure, if you want to spend $300/month you can get your own island and be in more control of the lag around you, but that’s a bit grandiose for most small businesses. You can setup and run a small business presence in Second Life on an $8/month tier — or less — like I’ll be doing.

Part of the reason Linden Labs is losing $17/month from me is because I didn’t see the extra land as necessary at this phase in my business. I might tier up again in the future as the business expands but in the beginning I bought too much land for my business needs. Our group still has a place with 512m for our meetings that will work for our weekly get togethers.

I did like the ability to offer members in our group some free space for object building but I suspect those who want to establish their own businesses inside SL already have their own land. If they don’t they can get 512m without tier fee and do some development there or use one of the sandboxes inside SL.

Looking forward to doing more virtual business in 2007.