The Land Auctions page is now part of Place Pages.  Here you can find a list of Open Auctions, Scheduled Auctions and Recently Closed Auctions.  You may browse as much as you'd like without signing up for Second Life.

Auction requirements

To participate in an auction, you must be a Premium Member (because you must be Premium to own the Mainland that is bought and sold through Auctions).  Your account must also have a verified email address and a Linden dollar (L$) balance sufficient to make a bid. Please log into your account on the Second Life website to verify your email address and upgrade your account to Premium.

Finding a parcel for auction

You can click the top of each column of auction results to sort by Name, Size, Start Time, End Time or Leading Bid. Sort by your desired parameters to help you find a parcel that meets your needs.  

Once you find a parcel you are interested in, click the listing to visit the parcel’s Place Page.  Here you can see additional information, such as the parcel’s maturity rating and region location.  

• It is important to check the parcel’s maturity rating, since this determines who can access your parcel and the types of content that can be located there.
• You can also click the Visit This Location button to go inworld and check it out.  Do you like the location?  Does the terrain match your needs?  How’s the neighborhood?  Just like buying a property in the real world, details matter and may be the key to your happiness!

The bidding process

Bidding uses an auto-bidding process similar to that used on other auction sites. When an auction is created, the seller sets a minimum bid, a bid increment (a multiple of L$10 between L$10 and L$100), and an end time for the auction.

To bid, you must specify the maximum amount of Linden dollars you are willing to bid. If your bid is higher than the current leading bid (or the minimum, if there have not been any bids yet), then the auto-bidding system adds the bid increment amount to the current leading bid until either you or the current leader exceeds their maximum bid; the bidder that remains becomes the new leading bidder at that amount. This is repeated for each new bidder until the auction reaches its end time - at which point the current leading bidder wins the auction.

• Before you place a bid on a parcel, you must have sufficient Linden dollars (L$) already in your account.  You can see your current available account balance shown as Your Balance under the “Place your bid” section.  Once you place a successful bid, your maximum bid is immediately taken from your balance and held in escrow until you either win the auction or you are outbid.
• If you win an auction, the land counts against your land allocation and tier fees.  Before you bid, be sure you are comfortable with paying any additional monthly fee ("tiering up") that might be triggered. You can review your land allotment by going to Your Second Life Account.  You may bid on land that would put you in a higher tier.  The system informs you if winning the auction would modify your tier requirement (note that each auction evaluates this based on your current land holdings; if you are bidding in multiple auctions, the land amounts from the other auctions will not be used in the tier calculation).
• Groups may not participate in auctions either as buyers or sellers. You must bid as an individual, and the land ownership is set to the winner as an individual. Once the auction is over and the land ownership has changed, you may deed it to a Group like any other parcel, but note that your tier obligation may be affected by even the brief period of individual ownership. 

Bidding on a parcel

Choose the maximum amount of Linden dollars (L$) you are comfortable bidding, then enter your bid and press Submit Bid.  Once you place your bid, you’ll see a bid confirmation page:

Quote

You are about to submit a maximum bid of L$ NNN.
Upon bidding, your maximum bid amount will be deducted from your account. You will automatically place the lowest-possible winning bid on this auction, up to your maximum L$ amount. If you win the auction with a bid below your maximum, we will refund the difference.

If this is not what you intended to bid or you’ve changed your mind, do not click the Submit button.  Close the browser window, go Back in your browser, or click Cancel.  If you agree and want to move forward, click Submit to submit your bid.  You can now see the Auction Place Page and your bidding status.  

To view your auctions activity, return to the main auctions page and click View my auction activity.  Here you can see any open auctions in which you’re participating and any past auction bids (If some entries appear to be missing, you may be viewing an old version of the page; try clicking your browser's Refresh or Reload button). 

Once you have bid, you cannot decrease your bid amount.  The only way to exit an auction where you are the leading bidder is for someone to outbid you.  

What happens next

During the bidding process you receive email updates when you place a bid, when you are outbid, when someone unsuccessfully bids against you, and (if you are fortunate) when you have won. There can be unpredictable delays in email transmission, so you may want to occasionally visit View my auction activity to check the status of your auctions.

• If you are the leading bidder, all you have to do is wait for the auction to close.  If you placed a maximum winning bid and win the auction for a lower amount, the difference is refunded.
• If you are outbid, we send you an email and return the escrowed funds to your balance. If you would like to bid again to increase your bid, you can do that through View my auction activity. If that really was the most you were willing to spend, there’s nothing more you need to do.
• “I’m a winner!”  Congratulations, you’ve successfully won your auction!  Ownership of the parcel is set to you, the auction winner, within an hour after the end of the auction. If there is a problem with the ownership, contact Second Life Support.  You can use the Visit This Location button on your closed auction page to get back to your new parcel.

Creating your own auctions

Soon it will be possible for you to create auctions to sell mainland parcels you own, as long as the parcel is owned individually and not by a group. You will be able to set the parameters of the auction: start and end times, minimum bid, and bid increment. If the auction attracts bidders, at the end time the winner gets the land automatically and the winning bid amount less the Auction Commission fee (15%) is automatically transferred to your balance.

For more information about land auctions in Second Life, please read our Auctions FAQ.