Trade

Q: Is charging more than the price on an item if it is bought on installments permissible or not?

Q: I am in need of money. If I buy something like a mobile phone on installments and then I sell it because I need the money, and pay the installments every month, is it permissible or does it come under interest?

Q: My mom does a private catering business from home and sells food from our house to the customers. Recently a food organisation has contacted my mom for her to sell weekly food to them so they can serve their customers this food. Is this allowed in Islam? Because the customers of that organisation don’t know who makes the food (if the organisation makes it or someone else) My mom is saying that it doesn’t matter where the food comes from because when you go to a restaurant no customer asks who cooks the food and where it comes from?

Q: Can I send emails to people who have provided their email ID's publicly to present them my company's services, they have the right to answer or not to answer?

Q: I have a general store where I sell a variety of different items. It often happens that a customer buys something, but later on has a change of heart and wants to return the item. The problem is that he has already damaged the packaging when opening the item e.g. he tore the plastic and box. This makes it difficult for me to resell the item because customers view the torn packaging as a defect in the item. What should I do in such situations? Can I inform customers that in the case where the packaging is damaged, a full refund will not be issued, instead 15% will be deducted from the refund?

Q: Is it permissible to sell gold and silver plated jewellery?

Q: In some restaurants, if a person orders a dish and wishes to share it with someone else at his table (e.g. a husband and wife order a dish and both wish to share it instead of ordering separate dishes), the restaurant will charge the second person a ‘plate sharing fee’. If the second person does not pay this fee, they will not be allowed to share in the dish of the first person. In Islam, is it permissible to charge a plate sharing fee?

Q: Can you work for a shop which shows their clients samples of blinds and thereafter they acquire it for them? I don't think the shop owners understand that it is not permissible for one to sell something which one does not possess.

Q: I would like to know if a restraint of trade agreement is permissible in an Islamic sale.

Example: I am selling my cellphone business to Zaid. In the sale agreement a clause is added that I, the seller, is not allowed to trade in the same field of business for a stipulated period (e.g. 5 years). Will such a clause be permissible? If not will the adding of such a clause nullify the entire sale? Or will the clause be impermissible and the rest of the sale be correct?

Q: I urgently need to know something before I fall into haraam dealings. Please tell me if my method of charging commission is permissible:

I have an online store where people can advertise their things on my website and I charge them on each successful transaction, so if something was sold for R100.00 I would charge R1.00 (1%)

According to the Hanafi mazhab we are allowed to take percentage based commissions from customers, I have collected numerous fataawaa on this Alhamdulillah. What I need to know is whether I can tell my customers this:

We charge 3% for any sales under R1 000, 2% for sales under R5 000 and %1 for sales under R10 000

Although no ambiguity remains and both I and the client knows how much will be charged at the end of the sale, I just need confirmation if is this permissible. See the case scenario below:

Sometimes the client will have something like "negotiable price" on his advert, so he would either sell it for R900 or R1 000 for example. Since I charge him 3% for sales under R1 000 and 2% for sales between R1 000 - R5 000, is this considered as ambiguity or is it permissible?

Another scenario:

Someone advertises an auction on my website. The price of the auction could be won at anything from R1 to R2 000 or more. Can I charge a fixed 3% on all auction listings so that no ambiguity remains as to what the seller will pay me? So that if the sale goes for R1 then I will get R0.03 and if it goes for R2 000 I will get R60

I am very cautious of falling into haraam activity and this is my income so I need it to be clean.