Renegotiating a business deal
Q: Is it permissible to renegotiate a business deal that one had previously agreed to but had not considered the consequences thoroughly?
Valid & Invalid transactions
Confirming the sale upon delivery of the items
Q: A pharmacy takes orders, and then delivers the medication along with the invoice. At times the price of the items in the order is known to both the pharmacy and the seller.
1. At times the purchaser just orders certain items, and receives the goods with the invoice. The price was not known till receiving the goods. With small items that they keep in stock, there is no issue with returns.
1.1. Is this sale correct?
1.2. If there was no issue with the item, but the purchaser is not happy with the price (since he only saw the price upon delivery), then what should he do?
2. At times the pharmacy does not stock a certain item and has to order it. Again, the buyer sometimes doesn't know the price till he recieves the order. The pharmacy cannot take returns on specially ordered items.
2.1. Is this sale correct without knowing the price before ordering?
2.2 If the purchaser is not happy with the price (since he only saw the price upon delivery), what should be done? The pharmacy is not happy to take returns since they specially arranged for this item at their delivery cost etc.
2.3 What type of sale is this classified as?
3. The pharmacy supplied a medication/cream etc. that is close to expiry, expiring within 2 weeks. The buyer will not use that much of the item to complete it within that time period. Is the buyer entitled to return the item based on the expiry date? If the pharmacy says there's no issue with using the item past its delivery date, does this statement absolve them of taking the item back?
Informing the customers regarding the approximate thickness of the commodity
Q: I wanted to find out a fatwa regarding weights and measures in my business.
We are steel traders. We buy steel a certain thickness say 0.2mm but the factories that produce it can’t get the exact thickness due to the production process. So the thickness varies from 0.195 to 0.205mm, sometimes more sometimes less.
What is the ruling on this because we sell the product as 0.2mm. We sell as per the thickness that we order. We don’t order a lower thickness and sell as a higher thickness. This is purely a production tolerance level as the machines can never get it exact.
Confirming with the supplier the payment term for early payment discount
Q: I was receiving a 2.5% early payment discount. I contacted my Sales Representative and explained regarding the 2,5% discount not being allowed for me and to amend my pricing structure.
1. I wanted to know if I should continue to make payment deducting that amount and then paying it over to the poor or some other institute that takes interest monies while my pricing structure is being amended?
Bypassing the estate agent when purchasing a property
Q: Is it permissible to bypass an estate agent in purchasing a property?
Example, I see a property for sale on their website/see their board outside the property. I then go directly to the seller and do a private deal with them, to avoid getting the estate agent involved and to avoid paying them commission. Is this permissible?
Taking a non-refundable deposit to special order an item for a customer
Q: In some businesses it is common practice to special order an item for a customer, when it is not in stock, by taking a non-refundable deposit, e.g., 25% or 50%. At times the following situations arise after the item is purchased from the supplier and it arrives:
1. The customer pays the balance and the sale is concluded.
2. The customer changes their mind and then wants a refund, which is refused because the item was specially ordered.
Is it permissible to conduct business in this manner?
Selling extended warranty included in the sale amount
Q: I have seen previous questions, about whether purchasing extended warranties which are a separate line item at the time of purchasing a product, are haraam.
Please advise if it is permissible to sell the same item, at different price points but the higher price point has a longer warranty? The warranty is not a separate line item.
Charging the customer a fee for paying by card due to bank charges
Q: I run a business where I offer a service to clients. Some pay in cash and others pay by card. The bank charges me a commission for every transaction processed through the card machine which cuts into my service fees. Am I allowed to charge a base fee of eg. R5 for any clients that wish to use the card payment option to offset this commission charge?
Stores rounding off the price when selling the product
Q: Some stores mark products at a certain price but round off the amount. For example, the item is marked at R12.99 or R12.95, but they then round off the amount and sell the product at R13. There's no question of change. Is this permissible?
Purchasing the land of a farm without mention of the animals
Q: I purchased a 50 hectare farm which is not fenced off. I did not know that there are some animals on the farm. Am I the owner of those animals?