Second Life aka SecondLife Buyers Guide to buying Linden safe on Ebay.  Good for virtual avatar account owners who buy Linden and do not want to run the risk of getting their account frozen resulting in a loss of US dollars.

Hello, I am writing this guide because of the fact that so many are being ripped off by heartless sellers of fraudulent Linden.  Let me first explain what Second Life is and Linden.  Second Life is an online virtual world community where people are represented by Avatar characters and can walk, talk, fly, own land, and change their clothing and appearance, and most of all make real money.  Linden is the currency that is used in the virtual world to buy goods from land to the cloths you wear.  I really like Second Life because I can sit in my virtual living room and watch a movie with my sister who lives many states away.  I also sell virtual cloths that makes me a good amount of Linden which I can then sell for USD, 1000 Linden which equals roughly 4.85 USD.

Where there is a demand there is a need.  Naturally people want more Linden to buy more stuff and thus they come on Ebay or other online virtual currency sales sites.  Linden is virtual currency and requires only a digital delivery of the Linden from one avatar to the other in the virtual world and so no shipping is involved making it by paypal standards non-tangible and as a buyer you are not covered.

Second Life has taken extra measures and security to help prevent 3rd party Linden sellers from just taking a person's money for the Linden and running as well as selling fraudulent Linden.  Second Life has an API system which every 3rd party seller must run their Linden through to get API approved.  You run your Second Life account key and get a pass or fail result.  If passed you are allow to sell your Linden to other people outside the Lindex and the buyer can rest assure the Linden is safe.  If you fail that means if you sell your linden the buyer who receives it may have their whole Second Life account frozen and/or the Linden taken from their account.

What is fraudulent Linden?  Fraudulent Linden starts when a person hacks/steals another person's paypal, credit card, and/or bank info.  They then use this info to buy Linden from other people in Second Life.  Naturally the stolen payment accounts are discovered and the person reports this to their bank or credit institution and it then is reported to Second Life but by then the buyer has moved the Linden from account to account and sold it on Ebay.

What can you do if this happens to you:  If your account was frozen call up Second Life and/or submit a support ticket and explain in detail the situation.  Their team is well aware of this type of fraud and so they can help.  You might get your account back but the Linden will most likely be gone.  If you know who you bought from then you can do something, but if you bought or received Linden from multiple people there is no way of knowing who it came from.

How can I avoid this and know I am buying safe Linden?  Make sure they are established, meaning how long have they been selling Linden and do they run their Linden through the API security check.  Once you receive the Linden LOOK at the age of the account that is delivering the Linden.  If it is a fairly new account that is a huge red flag.

I will add more to this guide as I time goes.  Feel free to contact me with suggestions, comments, and/or concerns.  I hope this guide helps to make Second Life a more secure and safe community for everyone.