WAYS OF BUYING VIRTUAL LAND IN EARTH2

There are three main ways of buying land in Earth 2:

1. Through the 'BUY LAND' option in the main game menu

2. Through the 'MARKETPLACE' option in the main game menu

3. By making a ‘BID’ on another player’s land/tile(s)

For any of the above, you will need in-game credit to be able to buy land. In-game credit is known as E$.

• EXPERT TIP: you can receive 7.5% CREDIT ON ALL LAND PURCHASES by using a verified referral code during checkout (when buying land from the main game menu). Copy this code and add during the checkout stage to receive 7.5% credit on all your land purchases: E2COUPON

Currently E$1 = $1 USD. When you first start the game you will need to load credit into your account using a credit card. As you progress through the game, you may be able to spend E$ credits you have generated within the game.

BUYING LAND FROM THE EARTH2 MARKETPLACE

Another common way of buying land is through the Marketplace, using the ‘MARKETPLACE’ option in the main game menu. This is essentially a virtual real estate market, where other players are advertising their plots of land for sale. Once you have clicked the ‘MARKETPLACE’ option you will be presented with a list of plots for sale. You can use the filters towards the top of the screen to further refine your search. For example, you could use the ‘SORT BY’ filter to identify those listings with the lowest tile value. Once you see a listing of interest, select the ‘VIEW’ option to see more information about the plot or the ‘BUY’ option to proceed to checkout.

Here are some further expert tips you can use when buying land in this way:

• EXPERT TIP: The Marketplace can be a cheaper way of buying land than direct from Earth2 (particularly when supply is greater than demand). The downsides are that you may not be able to buy exactly where you want and the 7.5% credit on land purchases (using the code on this website: E2COUPON) is not available when buying land through the Marketplace

• ALWAYS review details of a plot before buying. Land titles can be misleading (for example, the Land Class quoted or number of tiles for sale) so always check the plot details to verify key information before proceeding to checkout

• In the ‘VIEW’ screen you will also see the ‘Purchased for’ price (i.e. the price paid by the Player selling the land), the ‘New Land Value’ (i.e. how much it would cost you to buy similar land direct from Earth2) and the ‘Current Market Value’ (i.e. how much similar land is currently selling for in the market). Reviewing these prices can help you determine whether the listed price (the ‘Buy Now For’ price) is a good deal

• Before completing a purchase in the Marketplace always check the ‘Buy Now’ price in the final checkout screen – before confirming the purchase – to ensure you are buying at the price you expect

• EXPERT TIP: if the player selling the land is already sitting on a good profit (i.e. the difference between the quoted ‘Buy Now For’ price and ‘Purchased For’ price) you may want to offer a bid for the land that is below the listed price. To do this, select the ‘BID’ option in the ‘VIEW’ screen (this option is just underneath the picture of the plot in question). 

BIDDING ON ANOTHER PLAYER'S LAND IN EARTH2

The final way of buying land is to bid directly on another player’s land. You can do this even if the land is not currently listed for sale on the Marketplace. This is most useful when you want to purchase a specific plot of land that has already been purchased by another player. You can do this directly from the Earth2 map by clicking on tile(s) that have already been purchased, i.e. that have country flag or dark red colour shading on the tile(s) in question. When you click on a tile within a larger plot of land, the whole plot will be highlighted. This shows how many tiles are part of the plot in question. At this phase of the game plots cannot be split (i.e. you can only buy entire plots of land, not individual tiles). Once the plot is highlighted click on the ‘DETAILS’ option. Once you have done this you can either select the ‘DETAILS’ option to see more information about the plot or the ‘BID’ option to send a bid to the owner of the land.

Here are some further expert tips you can use when buying land in this way:

• Be aware than when you place a bid you must have enough free E$ in your account balance to cover the bid price. You will also not receive the 7.5% credit on land purchases (when using the code on this website: E2COUPON) when buying land in this way

• EXPERT TIP: When you place a bid the equivalent number of E$ will be automatically deducted from your balance, temporarily, until the owner of the land has responded to your bid. It’s important to be aware of this as your E$ will be tied up as this process plays out. You can cancel the bid to refund your E$ if the player does not respond to your bid in good time

• ALWAYS review details of a plot before bidding. Land titles can be misleading (for example, the Land Class quoted or number of tiles for sale) so always check the plot details to verify key information before proceeding to checkout

• Through the ‘DETAILS’ option you can also see the ‘PROPERTY HISTORY’. This shows the number of times the plot of land has been bought and sold, including the price paid by the current owner. This can be really helpful when determining the level of bid to make. Players are more likely to sell a plot of land if you make a bid that enables them to make a good profit

• Some plots of land will show an ‘Improvement Fee’ in the ‘PROPERTY HISTORY’ section. This is a surcharge from Earth2 that is applied to land owners when they sell property in the secondary market, i.e. through the Marketplace or when trading directly with other players. This surcharge is not applied to buyers in the secondary market

• EXPERT TIP: Avoid sending very low/unrealistic bids – even if your intent is to gauge interest from another player. Some players have used this tactic to ‘trick’ other players into selling land for well below market value. Earth2 have made it clear that such behaviour will not be tolerated and may result in a ban from the game. Avoid such questions by only sending realistic bids

• Some users will have enabled a function that forces minimum property bids. This has been introduced to avoid players accidentally accepting low bids

• Before confirming a bid always check the ‘Bid Amount’ in the final bidding screen, before hitting ‘Place Bid’

VALUING LAND IN EARTH2

Here are some basic facts that are important to know before you try to sell your virtual land (property) in Earth2:

• Property value is volatile so it’s worth keeping a close eye on your properties as the game develops, particularly any listed on the marketplace

• Quoted property value is driven through the Earth2 tile pricing algorithm (for new tiles) and supply and demand (for existing properties)

• The exact formula of the Earth2 tile pricing algorithm is unknown

• Supply and demand reflects the amount of Earth2 property available to buy and the number of players wanting this particular type of property. High supply of Earth2 property and low demand will lower values. Conversely, low supply of Earth2 property and high demand will increase values

• You can value your property in a number of ways, i.e. (i) price of similar tiles in the same location on the map, (ii) price of new tiles in the same Country on the map (through ‘COUNTRIES’ option), (iii) price of similar properties that are listed for sale in the Marketplace, (iv) your own view of value based on less tangible factors (e.g. Land Class, famous location, landmark, likely resources etc.). There is no ‘perfect’ measure of property value

• Ultimately, the true value of your property is the price point at which you are happy to sell and at which another player is happy to buy. All profits are theoretical until you have actually sold land

• Currently, there are many examples of properties being listed on the Marketplace at a discount (often substantial) to new tile value

• Land with promised Essence and/or confirmed Resources can attract a premium

WAYS OF SELLING LAND IN EARTH2

There are two main ways of selling property in Earth2:

1. Through the ‘MARKETPLACE’ by listing property for sale

2. By accepting a direct ‘BID’ made by another player

You can only sell property that you own and you should only sell directly through the Earth2 website. Any attempt to sell property outside of the Earth2 website may result in your account being suspended (or at worst, you being scammed).

At this stage in the game you cannot ‘split’ properties for sale, i.e. if you bought 20 tiles you have to sell all 20 tiles (not 5, 10 etc.). In future phases of the game, the developers have hinted that you may be able to split (and combine) properties for sale.

SELLING LAND THROUGH THE EARTH2 MARKETPLACE

The easiest way of selling land is directly through the Marketplace. To do this, locate the property you wish to sell and click ‘SELL’ option. You will see a text box pop-up with the description and location of the property. Enter the total price you wish to sell at and confirm the listing to add to the Marketplace. Once this is complete it’s a case of waiting until your property is sold or until you withdraw the listing. Here are some further expert tips you can use when selling property through the MarketPlace:

• Earth2 takes a 5% ‘Improvement Fee’ from the seller on the profit from each Marketplace sale (i.e. the difference between the price you paid for the land and the price at which you sell the property). This is mandatory, deducted at the time of sale, and is designed to help fund ongoing development of the game. You should consider this when setting your selling price

• EXPERT TIP. If your property has unique selling points (e.g. landmark, location, land class etc.) you may want to update the Property Description before listing the property in the Marketplace. Think of this like selling real estate in Earth1 – you would always create a listing to entice buyers! You can update Property Descriptions using the ‘EDIT’ option underneath each property tile in the ‘PROFILE’ section

• You can only update Property Descriptions once every 10 minutes in the game

• EXPERT TIP. Do your research thoroughly before you list properties for sale in the Marketplace; values fluctuate. Also, be aware that buyers can see how much you paid for a property, so they will be aware of how much profit you are seeking to make

• In the ‘PROFILE’ section, you can easily see all properties you have listed for sale by changing the filter from ‘All Owned’ to ‘For Sale’

• EXPERT TIP. To remove a property from sale in the Marketplace go to the property in the ‘PROFILE’ section, click ‘EDIT’ (at the bottom of the property tile), uncheck the ‘Advertise in Marketplace’ option in the text box that appears, and click ‘SAVE’. Voilà! Your property will no longer be for sale on the Marketplace

• You will be notified by email/notification once a property is sold and your E$ balance will be updated with the sale proceeds less the ‘Improvement Fee’

• EXPERT TIP. Earth2Expert would advise you NOT to click links in any email notifications you receive about Earth2 property sales; these may be scams designed to steal your account details. Rather, if you receive such notifications, login to the Earth2 website separately to check your account and transactions.

ACCEPTING BIDS FROM OTHER PLAYERS IN EARTH2

From time to time, you may also receive unsolicited bids on your land from other players. If this happens, Earth2 will notify you directly by email/notification. You can choose to accept, counter, or decline such bids. If you accept the bid you will receive the proceeds more or less immediately. If you counter the bid your revised price will be sent to the other player for their consideration. If you decline the bid the other player will be notified.

Remember, you are under no obligation whatsoever to sell your properties.

Here are some further expert tips to be aware of when considering bids from other players:

• EXPERT TIP: Always research your property value thoroughly before accepting a bid. Land values may have increased substantially since you bought the property, or there may be other factors that are causing the player to bid. Only sell when you are sure that the bid price is a price that works for you

• Remember, sales are binding (non-reversible) once you have accepted a bid

• Earth2 takes a 5% ‘Improvement Fee’ from the seller on the profit from each sale (i.e. the difference between the price you paid for the land and the price at which you sell the property). This is mandatory, deducted at the time of sale, and is designed to help fund ongoing development of the game. You should consider this when decided whether or not to accept the bid

• EXPERT TIP: Before accepting a bid always check the ‘BID AMOUNT’ very carefully. In the early stages of the game there have been many reports of players updating their usernames to try and scam other players into selling properties at rock bottom prices. In particular, if you receive a bid that is worded similar to the following - ‘UserX submitted a bid for E$XXX – previous user submitted a bid for E$XXX’ – beware that it IS a scam and you should decline immediately

• You will be notified by email/notification once a property is sold and your E$ balance will be updated with the sale proceeds less the ‘Improvement Fee’

• EXPERT TIP: Earth2Expert would advise you NOT to click links in any email notifications you receive about Earth2 property bids; these may be scams designed to steal your account details. Rather, if you receive such notifications, login to the Earth2 website separately to check your account. Bids will appear in the Notification section

BUYING LAND FROM THE EARTH2 MAP

The easiest way of buying land is directly from the map (i.e. Earth2), using the ‘BUY LAND’ option in the main game menu. The buying process is pretty intuitive. Once you have clicked the ‘BUY LAND’ option you will be presented with a map of the world. Either navigate the map manually to find the location you want to buy, or using the ‘Search’ option to key in a particular location (for example; Sandbanks, UK).

Here are some further expert tips you can use when buying land in this way:

• You can choose ‘Satellite’, ‘Map’, 'Heatmap' or other overlays when viewing the map.

• The ‘Satellite’ view (akin to Google Earth) shows you the equivalent 'real world' view, including all structures.

• The ‘Map’ view is a 'flat view' and helps visualise what the map will look like when the ‘real world’ structures are deleted from the game in future phases

• The 'Heatmap' view shows various Heatmaps that you can use to further pinpoint the land you want to buy, e.g. popularity, resources etc. It therefore provides some indication of popular locations and trends

• Other views are also available and are being added to all the time by the Earth2 development team

• EXPERT TIP: On a PC you can also manually zoom in and out from your internet browser by holding the Shift key and (+) or (-). This is a great way of viewing larger areas.

• When you click on a tile in your chosen location you will see the ‘price per tile’ displayed (e.g. E$1.34). This is how much one tile in this particular location will cost you when buying direct from Earth1

• Only squares without a country flag or dark red colour shading are available for purchase this way

• You can select multiple tiles for each purchase. These tiles do not have to be adjacent to one another but will need to be close by (or you will receive an error message when trying to buy)

• Minimum purchase for one land plot is 1 tile and maximum purchase is 750 tiles

• If you select multiple tiles you will see a ‘total’ value displayed (in addition to the ‘price per tile’). This shows you how much the multiple tiles you have selected will cost you

• Once you have selected the tiles to buy, choose the ‘Buy Now’ option to proceed to the checkout screen (which then works in a similar way to all online purchases)

• EXPERT TIP: during this phase of the game you can receive 7.5% CREDIT ON ALL LAND PURCHASES by using a verified referral code during checkout. Copy this code and add during the checkout stage to receive 7.5% credit on all your land purchases: E2COUPON