Sticky: Gaia Towns Lots Trades - Rules and Guidelines

[Wolfie]

Contents

1. Introduction & General Info (this post)
   
2. Rules & Guidelines
   
3. Suggestions
   
4. Walkthrough

Welcome to the Rules & Guidelines sticky for Gaia Towns Lots Trades.

In this sticky, we'll try to provide some rules for selling and buying Town lots and also give some basic information of Town lots and how to safely complete a trade, leaving both seller and buyer satisfied.

For sellers: to make sure you're not breaking any rules, please take the time to read through this sticky.

For buyers: reading this sticky might provide you with information that will make your Towns lots purchase easier and allow transactions to be completed without failure.

I know a lot of you dislike reading a lot of text, but please at least take the time to skim through it. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

General Info

• Please keep in mind that Towns lot trades are not trading houses, but the spot/location that the house can be placed on.
  
• If you're not familiar with Gaia Towns and how to use Gaia Towns, take some time to read B5's sticky - Gaia Towns Instructions. It includes navigation instructions and other helpful tips.
  
• The spot/location that the houses are on are usually refered to as "plot" or "lot". In this sticky, we'll be using "Towns lot".
  
• Make sure you have a house before you attempt to buy a Towns lot.
  
• There's no 100% safe method to complete a Towns lot trade. Payment and transfer of Towns lot are done separately, making it risky to do such a trade.
  
• Towns lots are originally free to accuire from the "Aekea Housing Commision", but all spots are currently taken. The admins will be adding new zipcodes, but there's no estimated time when it will happen. So it's up to you if you want to pay for it now or wait until more gets released and get it for free.
  

Credits: Ninina's thread was great help in putting together this sticky. She's given us permission to use materials from her thread in this sticky. Thank you! 3nodding
The walkthrough is also inspired by supRNurs step by step guide, also provided in Ninina's thread.

[Wolfie]

Rules & Guidelines

Sellers

• Mark your thread titles
  
  
  • Please mark your thread titles with indications of what your intention of the thread is. If you're trying to sell a Towns lot, put "S>" or "[SELL]".
    Suggested marks:
    
    
    • Selling: [SELL], S>
      
    • Auctioning: [AUCTION], A>
      
    • Trading: [TRADE], T>
    
    
  • If a trade has been completed, please mark your thread as [CLOSED] or [SOLD]
    
  • This is not the law, but we ask you to try to be clear with showing what you want in the thread title. 3nodding
    
  
  
  
• Price/price range
  
  
  • Provide the price you're looking for to sell. If you want to sell your lot for 5k, state that in your first post. If you're taking offers or having an auction, put up a price range.
    
  • Do you only accept gold or do you take item offers as well? State that in your first post.
  
  
  
• Complete refunds required
  
  
  • If the Towns lot trade was unsuccessful, regardless of why, the seller is REQUIRED to refund 100% of the price to the buyer. Please read the suggestions section for tips of how to make safer trades.
  
  
  
• Lot address
  
  
  • It's suggested to NOT provide the address of your Towns lot until you have come to an agreement with your buyer. This is to avoid someone else to come in to snag the lot from your buyer.
  
  
  
• Communication method
  
  
  • Please provide a way to communicate with your buyer privately after a price has been agreed on. Using Gaia PM or an IM service is suggested.
  
  

Buyers

• Mark your thread titles
  
  
  • Please mark your thread titles with indications of what your intention of the thread is. If you're trying to buy a Towns lot, put "B>" or "[BUY]".
    Suggested marks:
    
    
    • Buying: [BUY], B>
      
    • Trading: [TRADE], T>
    
    
  • If a trade has been completed, please mark your thread as [CLOSED] or [BOUGHT]
    
  • This is not the law, but we ask you to try to be clear with showing what you want in the thread title. 3nodding
  
  
  
• High risks
  
  
  • Attempting to buy a lot can be risky. If either part is unprepared or doesn't try to communicate well to ensure that the trade goes through well, you might end up not getting the lot you just paid for. See the suggestions section for tips on how to lower the risks.
    
  • Sellers need to refund 100% of your payment. If they refuse to refund, please use the Scamming Report form to report the seller.
  
  
  
• Price/price range
  
  
  • Specify the amount of gold you're willing to pay for the Towns lot.
    
  • Can you only offer gold or are there items you can put in as well? State that in your first post.
  
  
  
• Specific Requirements
  
  
  • Do you have specific requirements when it comes to which zip code you prefer? Or which spot on a map? Clearly state any of these kind of requirements to avoid misunderstandings.
  
  

[Wolfie]

Suggestions

This section covers advice from moderators and other users with experience in Towns lots trading. Take your time to read through this, it might save you the trouble of having to report someone to a moderator, or losing a Towns lot! 3nodding

General

Safe lot trade


There's no 100% safe way to make sure a Towns lot trade can be completed, but there are methods to make it more safe.
Make sure that both of you - Seller and Buyer - are at the spot during before the Towns lot transfer. When one moves out, the other moves in and take over the lot. Please try to arrange a time when both are free to complete the trade. Having some patience to work this out will reduce the risk of losing the Towns lot. 3nodding
Sellers: Please do not move out until your buyer is ready to move in.

Communication


To make the trade go smoother, please try to contact each other through either PMs or IM service (MSN, YIM, AIM, etc.). Be sure to be clear with each other when to meet up and when to send the trade with gold. Keep up the communication to avoid losing the Towns lot, talk to each other and if there's something either part is unsure or don't understand, please try to explain.

Reserving spots - by Ninina


Many people are saying that in order to make sure the buyer gets the land, the seller will uproot, put the buyer on his friendlist and then reserve the spot. There is one big problem about this idea: Gaia allows you to reserve an entire area, that is 6 houses, not a single one.
So unless you mean that you will be able to reserve the whole area and then hand in the desired spot, do not use this argument, because it is FALSE.

Agreements finalized in thread


It's recommended that all agreements should be public and finalized in the thread, rather than suddenly adding special requirements through PM.
Example: Buyer agrees to buy lot for 10k gold, Seller give OK. In PM, Buyer suddenly says: "I'm giving you a Cat Band and 5k gold instead."
For extra security, you can also quote one another in the thread so that a record exists even if the posts are edited.

Sellers

Undisclosed address, mule accounts


Please do not tell where your address is in your thread, since the /locate command allows anyone to trace where your house is located, it's possible that someone else than your buyer can take the Towns lot when you move out.
A way to prevent someone else from tracing your account and then lurking and snagging the Towns lot before your buyer is to use 2 different accounts. One for setting up the thread for the lot sale, a second one that actually keeps the Towns lot and not expose the name of the account that holds the Towns lot, but to your buyer privately.

2,000 gold fee


Remember that there's a 2,000 gold (2k gold) fee for moving out from your Towns lot. You'll be the one charging for that, so when you set your price, that fee should be part of what you're requesting. Please do not demand the 2k fee after you've recieved your buyer's full payment.

Buyers

Towns lot, not the house


It might not be that obvious to everyone, but I'd want to clearify that you're trading the Towns lot - the spot where the house is - and not the house.

High Risks


As mentioned in the Rules and Guidelines section, these trades are risky, since there's no official and completely safe way to trade Towns lots. But try to use the methods mentioned above to reduce the risky of not being able to get your Towns lot.

Failed trade, run-away seller


Sellers are the ones responsible for a failed trade. If the seller refuses to refund you the payment you've paid in advance, please report this through the Scamming Report Form. Make sure to include the thread where the seller was auctioning/selling the Towns lot. Include conversation logs as well.

Serious seller, planning ahead


Regardless of if it's reportable if transaction fails, what you really want is the Towns lot. Prior to transfering any payment, make a judgement of whether your seller seems to know what they're doing. See if the seller states how they plan to finish the transaction. Communicate with the seller before sending your payment.

[Wolfie]

Walkthrough

To make things more clear and simple, here's a little walkthrough of how to complete a Towns lot trade, after you've come to an agreement in a thread.

1. Contact each other through PM and decide for a time to meet up in Towns at the map that the lot will be traded. Using an IM service will make this easier to communicate, since PM and posting have their limits.
   
   
2. Go to the location of where the Towns lot is, then go one block/neighbourhood away from the current one, in the direction that will make you closest to the lot that your seller will vacate. For Towns navigations, check out B5's sticky. There's a "About Zip Code and Home Address" section (open sticky, hit Ctrl+F and enter that title and you'll get to the section).
   
   
3. Seller: Open up the Housing Commision in a new window or tab. Prepare to relocate and leave your Towns lot empty (this is the step that you as seller will pay 2,000 gold).
   
   
4. Seller: Tell your buyer before you relocate. Ask your buyer to count down from 5 to 1 and you hit the button for confirming the relocation (relocate --> buy).
   
   
5. Buyer: Enter the block when your seller has moved out and move in to the Towns lot. It should have a Vacant sign:
   
   
   
   Mind that if you as buyer enter too early, the house will still be there. Go back to the previous block/neighbourhood and then re-enter the block that the Towns lot should be.
   
   
6. Seller: You should confirm that your buyer has gotten the Towns lot by checking the house after you've relocated.