Minecraft rank stores and Tebex: what to sell

You may sell ranks on a Minecraft server, as long as nothing in the rank gives a competitive advantage or makes another player's game worse. That is the whole rule from the Minecraft Usage Guidelines in one sentence, and almost every argument about server stores is about applying it. Cosmetics are fine except capes. Virtual currency is fine if it cannot be cashed out or carried to another server. Random rewards are a grey area that needs published odds and contents that pass the same test. Tebex is the store most servers use: it takes the payment, queues the commands, and a plugin on your server runs them - typically a LuckPerms command that puts the buyer in a group.

This post is the Minecraft-specific deep version. The general picture - other games, chargebacks, tax and when a store becomes a business - is in monetising a game server within the rules, and is worth reading first.

What the guidelines say about server stores#

The relevant part of the Minecraft Usage Guidelines is short. Paraphrased closely, a server may:

• Charge for access to the server, provided the charge is the same for everyone.
• Accept donations, provided the donor is not given something only they can use (server-wide rewards for a donation goal are fine).
• Sell entitlements that affect gameplay, provided they do not give a competitive advantage or ruin other players' experience.
• Sell cosmetics, except capes or anything that imitates a cape.
• Use in-game virtual currency, provided it has no real-world value and cannot be cashed out, transferred to other servers, or converted to real money.
• Run in-game advertising and sponsorship within limits.

And a server must not:

• Use the Minecraft brand in a way that suggests it is official. Public pages need a disclaimer along the lines of "NOT AN OFFICIAL MINECRAFT SERVICE. NOT APPROVED BY OR ASSOCIATED WITH MOJANG OR MICROSOFT."
• Use blockchain or NFTs, or create scarce digital assets from in-game content.
• Offer anything unsuitable for children, which the guidelines spell out to include gambling.

Mojang does not name a payment platform. Tebex is common because it was built for exactly this, not because it is required. Enforcement is by report: a server that ignores the rules risks being asked to change, then removed from server lists and blocked. That is the realistic penalty, and for a public server it is fatal.

Designing ranks that pass the advantage test#

The rule is easy to state and hard to apply, because "competitive advantage" depends on the game mode. The same perk can be harmless on a creative server and plainly pay-to-win on a factions server. A useful test: imagine the perk printed on the join screen for every non-paying player to read. If that reads as unfair, it fails.

"Borderline" means you need to make a judgement your players would accept. Portable crafting saves a few seconds; on a peaceful SMP it is convenience, on a hardcore survival server it is an advantage. Write down your reasoning and apply it consistently.

Two practical points about rank design that keep a store sustainable:

• Sell status, not power. The best-selling item on most compliant stores is a supporter rank with a colour and a prefix. It costs nothing to deliver, never needs balancing, and never generates a complaint.
• Do not stack tiers to infinity. Five tiers of rank, each adding a colour and two homes, creates a ladder that new players read as "pay to be taken seriously". Two or three tiers with clear cosmetic differences sell better and are easier to defend.

The display side of ranks - prefixes in the tab list and above heads - is covered in holograms, scoreboards and TAB, and the permissions side in LuckPerms.

Crates, keys and random rewards#

Crate keys are the most profitable store item on many servers and the one most likely to get a server into trouble. The guidelines do not mention loot boxes by name; they do prohibit gambling, require content to be suitable for children, and apply the advantage test to whatever comes out of the box.

The interpretation that platforms enforcing the guidelines publish - Minehut's guidance is the clearest public example - comes down to:

• Every possible reward must be listed publicly.
• The odds of each reward must be published.
• A purchase must always give something; no empty or "nothing" outcome.
• Every reward must itself be something you could sell directly under the rules.

That last point is the one that matters most. A crate cannot launder an item that would fail on its own. If a netherite sword with Sharpness V would be pay-to-win as a store item, it is pay-to-win as a 2% chance in a crate. A cosmetic crate - particle effects, hats, pet skins, chat colours - is compliant if the odds are published. A crate of gear on a survival server is not, whatever the odds.

Free crates earned through play are a different matter entirely. Vote crates and playtime rewards are not sales, and the guidelines are not concerned with them. Many servers keep crates for gameplay rewards only and sell nothing random, which removes the question.

Currency, gems and the conversion rule#

Virtual currency is allowed if it has no real-world value and cannot be cashed out, transferred to other servers, or converted to real money. Two patterns come up constantly.

Selling the server's main economy currency. If the currency buys gear, blocks or anything that helps you win, selling it for money is selling advantage by another name. On a survival server with an economy plugin, real-money sales of /balance money fail the advantage test even though currency is allowed. The economy itself is fine - see EssentialsX, Vault and shops.

A separate premium currency. Gems, tokens or coins bought with money and spent in a cosmetic shop are fine, because they are just a unit of account for cosmetic purchases. What they buy must pass the same test as direct sales. Do not make premium currency tradeable between players for items or economy money, because that converts it back into advantage.

Never let currency leave the server. A gem balance that carries across a network of your own servers is a grey area; a balance tradeable on a Discord marketplace for real money is clearly outside the rules.

Setting up Tebex for a Minecraft server#

The setup is the same on any Paper server.

1. Create a webstore on Tebex and choose Minecraft Java Edition as the game. You get a store site on a Tebex subdomain, or your own domain if you configure one.
2. Add a game server in the Tebex control panel. It gives you a secret key for that server.
3. Install the Tebex plugin. Download the current plugin for your platform from Tebex's documentation and put the jar in plugins/. Restart.
4. Link the server by running tebex secret <key> from the console. Running it in the console rather than in chat keeps the key out of chat logs.
5. Create packages with a price, a description and the commands to run.
6. Make a real test purchase at the smallest price you can, then refund it.

tebex secret 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdeftebex infotebex forcecheck

tebex info confirms the store the server is linked to. tebex forcecheck makes the plugin poll for pending commands immediately rather than waiting for its next check, which is what you want while testing. The plugin polls Tebex outbound over HTTPS; no port needs to be opened.

Package commands with LuckPerms#

A package is a list of commands that run in the server console when the purchase is processed. Tebex substitutes variables before running them; {username} is the buyer's name and {id} the game-specific ID (the UUID on Minecraft). Check the Tebex documentation for the full list your store supports.

A permanent rank:

lp user {username} parent add supportersay Thanks to {username} for supporting the server

A thirty-day rank, using LuckPerms' temporary groups so it expires by itself:

lp user {username} parent addtemp supporter 30d accumulate

The accumulate modifier adds thirty days to any time already remaining instead of replacing it, which is what someone renewing early expects. Temporary groups in LuckPerms are the safest way to sell time-limited ranks, because expiry happens inside LuckPerms whether or not the store reaches the server on the right day.

For subscriptions, Tebex can also run commands when a package expires or is refunded or charged back. A matching removal command keeps things tidy:

lp user {username} parent remove supporter

Three settings deserve attention on every command:

• Require the customer to be online. Tebex commands default to waiting until the player is online. That is right for anything that touches an inventory. LuckPerms group changes work offline, so switching this off for them means the rank is ready before the player logs in.
• Idempotency. A command that is safe to run twice is a command that cannot duplicate anything when a retry happens. parent add is idempotent; give {username} diamond 64 is not. Prefer the former.
• Server targeting. On a network, choose which servers a command runs on. A LuckPerms group change on a shared database only needs to run once; running it on every backend is harmless, while a give on every backend is a duplication bug.

On a proxy network, store LuckPerms data in a shared database so a rank bought on one server applies everywhere. A Velocity proxy network covers the layout, and MySQL for plugins the database side.

Testing, delivery problems and the console#

Most "my purchase didn't arrive" tickets are one of four things, and the console tells you which.

Test every package before announcing it, with the buyer online and offline, and watch the console as it runs. Then write the delivery promise on the store page - "within a few minutes of logging in, while the server is online" - so the fourteen-year-old with a receipt knows what to expect. Reading the console is the habit that makes these tickets quick.

On RE:NODE the plugin goes in through the file manager or SFTP like any other, and the panel console is unfiltered with a command line, so tebex secret never has to touch in-game chat and you can watch a delivery command succeed or fail live. If someone else runs the store, give them a subuser with console access only, which keeps billing and file permissions out of their hands - subusers and least privilege explains the arrangement.

Store page, disclaimer and branding#

The store page is a public page about your server, and the branding rules apply to it.

• Put the disclaimer in the footer: not an official Minecraft service, not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft.
• Do not use the Minecraft logo or anything designed to look like it. Your server's own name and art are fine.
• Do not call anything "official", "partnered" or "Mojang-approved".
• List what each package contains in plain words, including duration for anything temporary.
• Publish crate odds and contents on the store if you sell crates at all.
• State your refund and chargeback policy before purchase.

Do the same on your website and Discord. A server that looks compliant in-game but advertises "OP kits" on its store page has given anyone who wants to report it everything they need.

FAQ#

Can I sell /fly on my Minecraft server?

On a survival server, no: flying while others walk is a clear competitive advantage. On a creative or build server where flight is part of building and gives nobody an edge over anyone else, it is defensible. The test is the game mode, not the command.

Are crate keys allowed under the Minecraft rules?

Treat them as allowed only with published odds, a full public list of contents, no empty outcomes, and contents that would each be acceptable to sell directly. Crates full of gear on a survival server fail regardless of the odds. Cosmetic crates are the safe version.

Do I have to use Tebex?

No. Mojang names no payment provider. Tebex is popular because it handles checkout, tax and command delivery for game servers. Any store that keeps to the guidelines is acceptable.

What happens if someone reports my server for pay-to-win?

Typically a request to change, then removal from server lists and being blocked from Mojang services. It is not a fine; it is the end of being found by new players, which is worse for a public server.

Can I sell ranks that expire?

Yes. Use LuckPerms temporary groups (parent addtemp) so expiry happens on your server whether or not the store reaches it on time, and state the duration clearly on the package.