Is it legal to give users priorities in my webpage if they are donated

[auriaks]

hi,
I have paypal donation working button in my webpage. Is it legal to give users prioritaires in my webpage if they are donated? [my webpage is non-comercial]

[djr33]

The legal issues about "donations" can be complex-- for example, you can "allow" users to "donate" on a site that has "free" content, in some cases even "free" copyrighted content. So if starts to border on "buying" rather than "donating", that is not necessarily legal like donations would be.

HOWEVER, assuming you are not worried about that kind of legal issue, then donations OR payments are just fine, if you want to offer some sort of "paid area", etc.

You can normally make users buy an account, or upgrade their account by paying. You can call it "donations" if you want, but that is basically the same.

If you explain a little bit more, maybe there are some unusual reasons it would not be legal, but in general it should be.

[auriaks]

normal users havent got permission to look at other users information. AND i offer them: "if you want to see this information you must be honoured member"
And there is only one way to be a honoured member - by donating to us.

[Schmoopy]

I think it's fair enough.
As long as being an honoured member doesn't give you exclusive access to copyrighted material then I don't see why it should be a problem.

[auriaks]

and what if i have store of self-created word files? can i use honouring to give access to that?

[Schmoopy]

Sure, if they're files that you created and not just copying someone elses work then I can't see a problem with it.
It gives people an incentive to donate.

[auriaks]

Thanks :)

[traq]

Are you talking about allowing users to view files, content, etc. that belongs to other users? If so, I assume that all users know that whatever they post is going to be shared...?

[djr33]

Again, you are just making them pay. It's not a "donation" if they have to do it (for a certain reward... that's called buying).

You can call it whatever you want, but there is no reason to hide this: you are selling a membership to your site. Basically you have premium accounts. That is totally legal, regardless of what you do.

Anything that might be illegal would be illegal for both normal and honoured members, but that is not an issue related to money or no money. (But don't think that honoured members are special, that they can do illegal things.... they've just paid and you can give them more legal stuff.)

[auriaks]

i think it is illegal to collect money without paying bills.... Or there isn't any laws for that?

[bluewalrus]

You mean tax laws? Depends where you are.

[auriaks]

yes... lithuania. You will not know :)

[djr33]

Ok, I see.
Yes, if you have a business and you make money then you do need to follow any laws with taxes. I do not know anything about Lithuania, but in most countries any sort of money you make with a business must be reported.

Here, you are asking for "donations" and not for "payments", so it is uncertain.
I think that you should ignore the word, and think about what is happening: are these REALLY donations, or are they payments? Then use the right word, and then decide if you need to report it to the government.

Also, usually there are laws about the amount of money you must report to the government. In America, if you make less than $5,000 a year (or something like that; it may vary by area), then you do not need to report it. Anything over that, then you need to tell the government.
So if you are getting hundreds of "donations" for $10 each, then you probably should report it. If you are only getting 5 people who donate $10, then that is not very much money and it is probably not important.
But check YOUR laws, because I do not know.

I hope this helps.

In general, laws ignore what you call something. If the government thinks what you are doing is asking for a "paid account", not a "donated account", then they will ignore what you call it and you will be responsible for the actions, not for the names.
It might be possible to get around this by careful phrasing, but that is a big risk if you don't have a lawyer telling you it is ok (and how to explain it if someone asks).

[auriaks]

Thanks for info :) :)