Trade

Cancellation of a transaction upon a specific time limit

Q: I want to sell a piece of land. The total price is R1.5 million. The buyer will pay me a 33% deposit as an upfront payment and the rest within 6 months, and then only will I hand over the land papers and land to him. If the purchaser fails to give me 67% within these 6 months, the sale will be cancelled and the purchaser will lose the 33% deposit. Is this clause permissible (forfeiting the initial deposit)?

Selling sweets for a madrasah

Q: I am standing at a stall in a madrasah and selling things for the madrasah such as sweets, etc. The items do not belong to me but to the madrasah. Can I purchase items for myself from the stalls, or would this be impermissible since I would, in essence, be the buyer and the seller at the same time?

Selling ebooks on Amazon

Q: I want to write an ebook and to publish on Amazon Kindle. When somebody buy my book I get paid. Firstly the owners of Amazon are non Muslim so can I sell my book on Amazon Kindle. Secondly when a buyer buys my book I get paid. What if the buyer money is haram and mostly buyers are non-muslim and their money is involved with riba and other haram things. So this type of money will be halaal for me? When someone read my ebook ads are shown on their device sometime but I am paid royalties of my ebook not for ads so this is permissible?

Selling bricks which one does not own

Q: If I don’t have stock in my business, can I sell the goods? For example, a client comes and purchases a load of bricks and wants it delivered to his house. He pays us for the bricks and delivery, and though we don’t have it in stock, we accept the money. We then collect the bricks from the brick manufacturer and deliver it directly to the client’s house. Is this permissible?

Working out the price of the car after ascertaining how the client wishes to pay

Q: I am a car dealer. I am not involved in finance. However, I accept different forms of payment, such as cash, EFT and via a card machine. Is it permissible for me to decide the price of a vehicle depending on the customer’s form of payment? The bank charges me 3,25% (for a credit card) and 1,75% (for a debit card) of the total amount if the card machine is used. Can I add this percentage onto the original price of the vehicle? If so, does it have to be the exact amount the bank charges me or can I round off or add to the amount as I desire?