Since the Social Center was recently updated and I had to upgrade my VIP anyway I thought this would be a good to take some screen shots while I was at it. Although I've been using the Trader Account for my VIP for well over a year now it's not my invention. I learned it with help from my friends and the awesome people on this forum.
step
1. BEFORE your VIP runs out have the funds in your trader account. You need a little more than $20, I like to have around $22 just to be safe. Click "Buy/Sell Marketplace" on your main Social Center Page:
2. Once in the Marketplace you will need to sell at least 300 rays (although you'll get 20 back later) but like I said earlier its probably a good idea to sell more, I usually go with 314, which is around $22:
3. Return to your Social Center page and you'll see you now have $22 in your Trader Account. As the "$" sign indicates, this is real world money, which is what your Trader Account holds. NOTE: Everything upto and including step 3 MUST be done before your VIP expires, you can only sell rays while you are VIP.
4. Once you have the funds in your trader account you are safe. The rest can be done before, or after your VIP expires, its up to you. Now for the actual upgrade, to proceed, click "Buy/Sell Marketplace" on your main Social Center Page, same as step 1. Once there click "Withdraw":
5. This will bring you to the "Withdraw Funds From Your Trader Account" page click the "Buy VIP" button:
6. Once there you'll see options for standard or universal VIP, who its for, enter your PIN, make sure everything is ok, then when you're ready, click "Buy Now".
7. You should then get a screen saying thankyou...
8. Return to you main Home page of your social center and if all went well you'll see the yellow ribbon indicating you are now a VIP member.
Just to reiterate, you MUST perform steps 1, 2, and 3 BEFORE your current VIP runs out. This information was gotten from other forum members who were using the Trader Account long before me and who I'm very grateful too.
If there is anything wrong or you'd like to see please let me know in the comments below or drop me a line on my profile.