Minecraft server store: choosing a platform, pricing it, and staying out of trouble

A Minecraft server store is two decisions: which platform takes the money, and what you sell. The platform decision is mostly about who is the merchant. On Tebex, Tebex is the merchant of record: it charges the player, collects sales tax or VAT, handles refunds and chargebacks, and pays you a trade price, for a 5% platform fee plus processing. On CraftingStore, you are the merchant: it takes no cut on the free plan, but every payment lands in your own PayPal, Stripe or Mollie account, and so does every dispute. Self-hosted store software puts you in the same position with more work.

The what-to-sell decision is bounded by Mojang's usage guidelines, which our EULA guide covers item by item; this guide doesn't repeat that list. It covers the platform comparison with current fees, how to price, store ideas that don't turn your server pay-to-win, what to do about chargebacks, the tax basics, and how the store fits your listing.

Tebex vs CraftingStore vs self-hosted

Sources: Tebex's plans page and platform fee page, and CraftingStore's help center, all read in September 2026. Fees change; check the pages before you decide.

The way to read this: if you sell more than a few hundred dollars a month, or you sell to players outside your own country, the 5% buys you out of tax filings and dispute handling, which is worth more than 5%. If you sell $40 a month to friends of the server in one country, CraftingStore's zero commission and your own PayPal is simpler and cheaper.

The fee math on a $10 rank

The same $10 through your own PayPal on CraftingStore at the standard 3.49% + $0.49 leaves $9.16, but that is before any chargeback and before whatever tax you owe on it. Two consequences for pricing: fixed fees make anything under about $3 a bad product (a $2 item loses a fifth of its price to the $0.40 fee alone), and subscriptions beat one-off purchases because the fee is paid on a steady amount rather than on rushes.

What to sell and how to price it

A pricing ladder, not a list

Players buy the middle option. Give them a ladder with a clear cheap entry, a middle tier that is the "real" one, and a top tier that makes the middle look reasonable. A common shape for a small server:

• $5: a one-time supporter pack. A chat tag, a cosmetic, a Discord role. The point is a first purchase with zero regret.
• $10 a month: the rank most people pick. Cosmetics bundle, a colored name, a pet or particle set, priority in the support queue, a monthly cosmetic crate key.
• $25 a month: the top rank. Everything below plus exclusive cosmetics and a vote on what gets built next.
• $3 to $8 one-offs. Cosmetic crate keys, a custom pet, a name-change token.
• Server-wide boosts. A player buys a double-XP or double-drops hour for everyone online. It benefits the whole server, which is what makes it acceptable, and it creates a moment in chat.

Use temporary ranks (Tebex calls it Remove After; a rank that expires in 30 days) instead of "lifetime" for anything above $10. Lifetime ranks are a sugar rush that leaves you with a server full of top-rank players and no income. The ranks guide has names and perk sets for each tier.

Store ideas that are not pay-to-win

Chargebacks and refunds

A chargeback is the buyer asking their card company or PayPal to reverse the payment. On Tebex, that is Tebex's problem: it manages the dispute and, if the buyer wins, pays out of its own pocket. Through your own gateway, you get the dispute, the evidence request and, if you lose, the reversal plus a fee. Either way the practical steps are the same:

1. Write a refund policy and put it on the store. Digital goods delivered instantly, refunds within 48 hours if the item was not delivered, no refunds for bans. Short, visible, linked from the checkout.
2. Deliver automatically and log it. Most "I never got it" disputes are a command that didn't run because the player was offline. Tebex queues commands until the player is online by default; make sure your rewards plugin logs what it gave.
3. Refund fast when you are wrong. A refund costs the price; a lost chargeback costs the price, a fee and a mark against your account.
4. Don't rely on "chargeback = ban". Many servers do it, and it deters some fraud, but it also punishes a parent who saw a charge they didn't recognize. Ban for fraud patterns, not for one dispute.
5. Keep the store separate from the game's logins. A store account is an email and a Minecraft username. Never ask for a Minecraft password anywhere in the store.

Sales tax basics (not legal advice)

Selling digital items to players is a sale, and many places tax it: VAT in the EU and UK, GST in some countries, and sales tax in a growing number of US states. With Tebex as merchant of record, Tebex is the seller to the player: it calculates and collects the tax at checkout, files it with the relevant authorities (it is registered for EU VAT through the non-resident scheme, per its own documentation), and your income is the trade price it pays you. You still declare that income where you live, but you don't run a tax registration for every place your players are.

With your own gateway, you are the seller, and the question of what you owe depends on where you are, where the buyer is and how much you sell. Small volumes often fall under thresholds; big ones do not. If the store makes real money, ask an accountant once. Tebex publishes a page for accountants that explains its model, which is a useful thing to hand over.

Putting the store on your listing

Three places. First, the website field on your listing: a store address counts, and it shows on your page next to Discord and the vote button (worth 0.25 of 12 listing strength; claim the listing from its server page to edit it). Second, one line in your description saying what the store is for: "Cosmetics and supporter ranks only, nothing that affects gameplay" is a sentence that earns trust from the players who read listings carefully. Third, a /store or /buy command in game that prints the link, and a pinned message in Discord.

What not to do: put the store in the server name or the MOTD's first line, or run store promotions in the listing's summary. Players are choosing a server there, not a checkout. The website guide explains how the store can double as your public site if you don't want to build one.

Quick questions