Linden Lab have engaged in a weekend sale whereby you can pick up a shiny new estate region for a record low price of just USD$295.00 (excluding VAT). The USD$295.00 fee will be due upon delivery, which pays tier for the first month, this is how private region tier works, you pay tier in advance. The fee for the first month is usually included in the setup fee, which runs at USD$1,000 (excluding VAT) so you can make a saving of around USD$705.00 on this deal.
Homesteads are also available on this deal, although you need to own a full region to purchase a homestead, the fee is usually USD$375.00 (excluding VAT), with this deal it will be USD$125.00 (excluding VAT). Personally I don’t feel Homesteads offer good value at that price, but for those who want to add a Homestead to their portfolio, this is a good time to do that, I don’t see many Homesteads being sold second hand. the best use for second hand Homesteads is, I imagine, combining three and turning them into a full region.
For those whom were considering a private region but were put off by the whopping setup fee, this is a great deal, although it should be noted that there is a second hand sim market in Second Life, one which Linden Lab support very well and have over the years improved greatly to make much more secure, Linden Lab charge a transfer fee of USD$100.00 in these cases, so they make money on the deal but they also help facilitate it too. Inworld groups such as For Sale By Owner are quite active in this market, the problem is the transfer time eats into the value of the sale price as the next tier date moves closer. Having said that, sims can be purchased there for a lot less than USD$1,000 and even a lot less than USD$705.oo, so there is better value to be had for those who seek it.
However, in terms of this weekend’s sale, I have never seen a better deal than this, if you’re fortunate enough to want a sim this weekend, this is a wonderful deal.
The problem with deals like this weekend’s sale is that it’s going to rub some people up the wrong way, someone will be trying to sell a sim this weekend, someone else will have just purchased one, in Linden Lab’s defence, the deal is for this weekend only, so it’s a minor inconvenience to the second hand sim sales market and a sign that Linden Lab are a getting a bit more creative in thinking up ways of trying to entice new business, which is a welcome development.
I would like to see Linden Lab getting more creative on tier, but let’s give them some time on that. We don’t see stats on the amount of Islands sold by Linden Lab and I can’t ever recall seeing such stats, although Tyche Shepherd has been tracking grid growth and shrinkage since at least March 2008, which gives us a rough idea of additions and reductions, but doesn’t really indicate how many sims are purchased from Linden Lab as opposed to the second hand market, it’s hard to even try and guess how buoyant the market is for Linden Lab. Anyway, back to the weekend special.
The basic details:
- Orders need to be received by Linden Lab between 12:01am (pacific) 21/10/11 and 11:59pm 23/10/11 (pacific).
- First month’s tier is due when the region is delivered (VAT will be added where applicable).
- You must have valid billing payment on file when placing the order.
- To purchase a Homestead in this deal, you must already own a full sim… although I don’t know if you can buy one of each in this deal as a new customer.
I’m not sure how long delivery takes these days, the blurb on the sale suggests twenty four hours, in which case you’d be billed within twenty four hours of placing the order. As I said at the start, if you were considering a sim but were put off by the whopping fee, now is a good time to dip your toes into the water, but make sure you go in with your eyes wide open regarding monthly tier fees, that’s the real pain barrier.