QUESTION:
1. We are selling a device called “Shop2Shop”. It is a unit similar to a credit card machine where customers use it in their stores to swipe credit and debit cards. At the end of the month we get a small percentage of the total swipes made on the machines that we sold. Will this income be permissible? We also have an “Easypay” system where customers come into the store to pay their electricity bills, and from this we also get a small percentage of the total sales made on the machine. Will these form of incomes be permissible?
ANSWER:
1. A commission agent is generally a person who shows the purchaser the goods, or introduces him to the seller, or introduces the seller to the purchaser etc. In other words, he is actively involved in the transaction in some way or the other and is, therefore, entitled to a commission due to an agreement being in place. However, in the case where you sell the device to the shopkeeper, and he transacts on the device directly with his clients without you being involved in the transactions, then you will not be entitled to any commission on the sales concluded by him. Hence, it is incorrect for you take a commission on the sales concluded by him.
السمسرة اصطلاحا هي التوسط بين البائع والمشتري لإمضاء البيع وهو الذي يسميه الناس الدلال فإنه يدل المشتري على السلع ويدل البائع على الأثمان.(الموسوعة الفقهية 10/151)
2. Yes, in the case where clients pay their bills at your store, you are offering a service in lieu of a fee, hence you are entitled to charge a fee for every transaction concluded. This arrangement is therefore in order with your service provider, with the proviso that the fee being charged for every transaction is fixed and known to both parties.
ALLAH TA’ALA ALONE IN HIS INFINITE KNOWLEDGE KNOWS BEST!
ANSWERED BY:
Maulana Abdul Kader Fazlani
Date: – 23 Muharram 1444 / 11 July 2023
CHECKED AND APPROVED:
Mufti Mohammed Desai Saheb