That is essentially what any transaction is, whether on a free market or not; so yes, that would count as a purchase. You walk into a store and offer to donate $5.00 to the store's cash fund in order to receive a product in return. In a legal sense the advertised price of any product is simply an invitation to treat, meaning an invitation to you to pay X amount for the product in question. The advertised price - being an invitation to treat - is therefore open to a counter-invitation to treat for a lower price etc. Calling the price paid for a product you receive a "donation" does not change the fact that you are engaging in a trade, namely that you have offered the owner of the product an invitation to treat by stating that you will "donate" (read: 'pay') X amount if he/she will give you the product, or the owner of the product has offered you an invitation to treat if you will "donate" (read: 'pay') X amount for it. The scenario that you mentioned is the underlying principle of any trade on any market. Libertas