Question on Legal Issues

[some]

I don't really know if this is the correct place for submitting this kind of question, but I couldn't really find a good place, any better than this.

Anyways, onto my question:

I just finished making a new site called SNIP My site works like this:

- It is a forum in which people sign up and do sign up for referrals I have set up on the forum. Thereafter, they email with some info and I give them money.

My question is, is this allowed. I know other sites like points2shop and swagbucks and a number of other sites do this, but is it allowed, though.

And my other question was, does it look professional and will people actually do it? And, does it look legit or does it look fake?

Lastly, my question was because I am going to be dealing with money should I have a TOS (Terms of Service) and Copyright on the website and if so, how should I make one?
Will I need a lawyer to make it or can I look at other sites like mine and work with that?

Thanks and I look forward to the responses. Thanks.

If you're setting up a business and promising to pay people for something, I'd make sure that I was protected.

WRT looks - SimpleMachines is not the prettiest forum implementation - very few of them look good - unless you pay for a smart template or design one yourself. Does it look fake? I don't know. Is it legal? I couldn't work out what you're trying to do. Something about referrals? You give them 5c for every site they sign up to? Are you encouraging users to 'shop' their contacts to third parties?

Sometimes, it's not a matter of legality, but a matter of courtesy. If you wouldn't do it yourself or have something had done to you, should you be getting involved in it? I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I haven't the faintest idea of your business model.

[some]

I think I have not explained the forum quite well. If you know sites like points2shop and swagbucks and others like them then you'll know how my site works.
Basically people sign up through my referral link and the money I get from the site I refer to, I give some to the people who signed up for them. I will put other ways of earning money, but I am still testing the whole idea. You know beta version. Anyways, basically that is what the idea of my site is at this point. That does seem to hard does it? I am seriously asking...

Also, what kind of forum do you think is good for what I am trying to do. Forums are pretty hard to setup and configure so could you tell me one that would be good for what I am trying to do, so I won't have to waste time trying. Thanks.

As for the protection, I don't understand. How would I do protect myself? Would I need to get a lawyer to do the legal stuff?

About that courtesy thing, I don't think we are on the same page, on that matter. I, myself, used to be a member of sites like points2shop, but I decided to make my own version because I thought that those sites were giving too less to others, I mean some sites offered $0.0002 or something like that for clicking on their ads. Anyways so I decided to make my own version, with the aim to give more.
Anyways, what I am offering money for does not require money to do, you just have to sign up.

I look forward to your response. Thanks, Ardav.

EDIT

Also, could you give me more advice on this, I am pretty new at this stuff. I am also looking for a partner who can help with website.

OK, makes more sense. I was thinking along the lines of a spam-fest. Perhaps this is more legit.

With regard to legalities - it depends on which country you're in - or perhaps which country your server is in! If you promise to pay somebody something for doing X,Y,Z - what happens if you don't pay (on purpose/by accident)? If you are running a business, I'm sure that you'll need to register and declare your earnings (depends on the country I suppose).

I'm not in the game myself, so I couldn't possible advise you. Good luck though.

[some]

where would I go to register my earnings?

[karol33]

to your tax office, btw how can i check your site?

[some]

you can visit it at iease.co.cc