Linden Lab have officially launched their latest subscription plan for users – and announced both updates to their across-the-board subscription plans that will benefit those liable for VAT, and new fees for holding Mainland parcels of 8,192 sq metres or more.
Details below.
Plus
As outlined by by Reed Linden at the November Web User Group meeting, the new subscription offer is called simply “Plus” (nothing else, just “Plus”), and is designed to sit “between” Basic and the Premium option.
Given this positioning, Plus obviously offers less than Premium in terms of benefits, and is being combined with the reductions in Mainland fees (see below) as an incentive for those who might want to get onto the Mainland property ladder but do not wish to pay Premium subscription rates in order to do so.
Plus Pricing and Benefits
Fees are in US dollars.
| Fees | |
| Monthly: $5.99 | |
| Annual: $65.99 | |
| Benefits | L$150 weekly stipend; 50 Groups; 512 sq m free Mainland tier |
Note there is no Linden Home or other benefits associated with Plus.
VAT Removed From ALL Subscription Payment Plans
As from Thursday, November 17th, 2022, Linden Lab has removed VAT from all subscription payment plans.
Annual payment plans (Premium or Premium Plus) have been VAT-free for some time. With this change, those paying on either a Monthly or Quarterly payment plan will also no longer have to pay VAT, if it is applicable to them.
Mainland Fee Changes
As from Thursday, November 17th, 2022, Linden Lab has reduced the cost of monthly Mainland fees for holding 8,192 square metres and above, per the table below (all prices US dollars – fees for additional parcel sizes of 512, 1024, 2048 and 4096 sq m remains unchanged):
| Additional Land (sq m) | Monthly Fee (USD) Now | Old Fee |
| 8192 | $31.00 | $35.00 |
| 16,384 (1/4 region) | $60.00 | $67.00 |
| 32,768 (1/2 a region) | $103.00 | $112.00 |
| 49,152 | $142.00 | $150.00 |
| 65,536 (Full Region) | $166.00 | $175.00 |
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
How does this “VAT-Free” apply to anyone who is *not* in the USA?
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Not sure what you mean precisely, but short history (which may not be required): Premium subscriptions were once VAT-free in countries where VAT is charged (LL essentially absorbed the cost). However, LL found the burden to be more than they were willing to carry, and started passing the VAT charges for ALL Premium payment plans (Monthly, Quarterly and Annual) to users within VAT-paying countries.
This was later again revised such that VAT on Annual payment plans was no longer passed on to users living in VAT-charging countries (so LL absorbed/paid the charges once more) – BUT, VAT fees for Quarterly and Monthly payment plans was still passed on to users in those countries, and approach to VAT which had remained true for both Premium and Premium Plus through until November 17th, 2022.
However, with the launch of Plus, we’ve essentially come full circle: no VAT charges are being passed on to subscribers in VAT-paying countries for any of the available payment plans (Monthly, Quarterly or Annual) on any of the subscription options (Plus, Premium and Premium Plus) – LL are again carrying the load.
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So now it’s Basic, Plus, Premium and Premium Plus. Yeah, that’s not confusing at all.
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This possible confusion (“Plus” and “Premium Plus”) was raised at the November Web User Group meeting, and acknowledged by LL (the suggestion was event to make it “Basic Plus” to try to offer some form of additional differentiator). However, it appears that the direction LL is going in is to reduction all of the subscription plans to single-word names – so we can probably anticipated Premium Plus having a change of name at some point (and possibly Premium as well).
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It just doesn’t come across as very well thought-through: “Hey we’ll do a thing – somebody give it a name!” and then later, after realising their mistake, they have to go back and paper over the bits they could have sent five more minutes on getting right the first time. Did someone too important to say ‘no’ to come up with it, or what?
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They claim that the reduced tier rates are “over 10%” but my math shows only a 5% reduction on all mainland 8192 tiers and up. Do you know why this might be the case ?
(old full region =175 / new full region =166. That’s 5% difference)
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