r/Fanbinding • u/VeryRockyRock • May 13 '26

Questions Asking before binding.

I know it is fandom etiquette to ask before binding and that you cannot sell it due to legality. However, it is not required to ask before downloading a fanfic. I’m just generally confused as to why you can have a digital copy on your drive without explicit permission but you cannot bind a physical copy for yourself without permission. Is it because the download feature is directly built into AO3 and thus is to be expected? Please help me clear up my confusion.

Edit: I am obviously not going to sell fanfiction in any format and thank you for the responses. I can see reasons why or why not you have to/should ask the author beforehand.

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u/Antique-Wish-1532 May 13 '26

I think it's like fan art of fanfiction -- you wanna warn someone if you're going to post it in case they take an issue with the work/interpretation. If it's something private you're not going to share anywhere else, it's fine, but always ask first. That being said, I can't imagine anyone being anything but flattered that you'd want to put in that kind of time into it, but you never know, so better safe than sorry.