Refunds

Q: Is it Islamically permissible to:

1. To charge a general 15% handling fee for all returns for admin & transportation costs. Example, the seller is in Durban and the buyer is in Johannesburg or Cape Town. The seller incurred admin & transport costs to get the goods delivered & will incur costs to get the goods returned. There could be various reasons for the returns - incorrect goods supplied, excess stock bought, damaged goods received, buyer cannot sell the goods etc. 

2. If there is a price dispute between the seller & the buyer for goods supplied, can the seller write off the disputed amount as a donation? 

Note: The sales rep quoted the buyer a price and the admin office charged a higher price. When the buyer received the invoice, he queried the price & refused to make payment until he is charged the quoted price.

Q: I have ordered online. The courier delivered the item to the security or maid. I then asked the sender where is my items as it was not delivered to me and the proof of delivery has the maid or security name. They then offered a refund or replacement. I did this a few times with a few companies. I wanted to know if this is haraam

Q: If a person sells a certain item and a discount was given to the customer and thereafter the customer wants to exchange the item or be refunded for it, will it be permissible to subtract the discount given (proportionally)? If the discount is not reversed will it be regarded as interest?

Q: I have done an agreement for sale of property with a person and got X amount as advance payment. Remaining have to paid within 3 months. There was a clause in the agreement that if the buyer is unable to pay the remaining amount or backs off from the deal, I will keep the advance payment as a penalty. (There was another clause for the seller also if he backs off, he will give double of advance taken to buyer).

Now the buyer is backing off and wants to cancel the deal due to unavailability of remaining payment. Is the penalty amount of advance payment halaal for me to keep?

Q: If someone buys a load of timber, and then comes back and says that the size is wrong and he needs a bigger size, can one charge a 10% handling fee on the timber returned?

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 for a shop to put up a sign saying “no exchange/refunds on sale items”? The sale items are not defective. They are merely marked down to promote them and make them sell quicker. Is such a condition valid?

Q: I've bought an item on eBay and after receiving the item, I requested a refund for the money because it was not as stated. The money was returned and according to eBay policy, the seller is to pay the shipping fee for the return. I've been trying to get in touch with the seller for almost two months now but they have not responded. I would like to know what I am to do with the item I had previously bought?

Q: A diamond was purchased from one Muslim diamond dealer by another Muslim diamond dealer without a diamond certificate based on both diamond dealers judgments. The seller offered to send the diamond for grading and agree on a price afterwards but the buyer chose to buy it based on his judgment rather then a grading. If the diamond grading came better the seller wouldn't receive any additional cash and vice versa. On a value of 18000 the diamond dealer then viewed the diamond thoroughly and stated a slight flaw in the diamond which both parties agreed to reduce the price of the diamond to 15000. The 15000 was paid in cash to the seller. The diamond was then sent in for grading which took a period of time. The diamond came out as a treated diamond and an enhanced colour which was not known by the buyer nor seller. Based on the certification, the diamond value is only one 3rd of the price paid. Therefore the dealer that bought the diamond would like a refund on the diamond. What should be done and who should take the loss?

Q: I've a question which keeps disturbing me. Before traveling to another city where my mom lives, I bought an abaya from a local shop in Jeddah for my mother. Unfortunately that abaya was not my mom's size. After 2 weeks my husband and I went to the shop and returned it but the shopkeeper was reluctant to take it back and when he got to know that it's been weeks he refused to take it back because he didn't want to give us the cash back. When my husband persuaded him he said okay if you bring back the box in which the abaya came I'd take it back. the box was of almost no monetary value and he had tons of it in his shop and usually people don't take boxes with them they just take the abaya in a bag. We had the abaya in the bag and the abaya was never worn but he wouldn't agree. He just didn't want to take it back. My husband was very polite in the beginning but then he got angry and with some argument the shopkeeper cut 10% from the original cost and gave us the cash back very rudely. My husband said to his face that bengalis are bad people, I tried to stop my husband but he was way too angry. The shopkeeper said that I'll see you on the judgment day and take my money. It's been 2-3 months but I still feel guilty. I dunno if we were at right or wrong? Should We return the shopkeeper his money or should we let it go? Usually there no conditions on return or exchange. And abayas are sold too quickly so even if you got an abaya on order you can return and it and get another. I dunno law of shariah here. I just want to know that if the money was not haram for us because my husband forced the shopkeeper.