Fatwa ID: 06833
Answered by: Maulana Ubaidur Rahman
Question:
I am interested in selling on Amazon but I have a few questions related to it.
Before that let me brief you about how selling on Amazon works. So I will buy inventory from a manufacturer wholesale and either Amazon or some other service would deliver it to Amazon’s warehouse. When I receive any order my inventory would be delivered to the buyer from Amazon’s warehouse.
Is this business model Halal? Please note that I cannot specify the exact date of delivery to the buyer I can just give them the approximate date
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
There are specified times for selling and buying. This means that the transaction should take place after the selling has been proposed, the buying has been agreed and the sale hence concluded after been agreed upon.
ولا تصح حتى تكون المنافع معلومة والأجرة معلومة وما جاز أن يكون ثمنا في البيع جاز أن يكون أجرة في الإجارة
والمنافع تارة تصير معلومة بالمدة كاستئجار الدور للسكنى والأرضين للزراعة فيصح العقد على مدة معلومة أي مدة كانت وتارة تصير معلومة بالعمل والتسمية[1]
When the commodity has been agreed and the price has been agreed the sale has become concluded. The above-mentioned business model is halaal as it pertains to presenting an item for sale on Amazon and then the price is set or presented for the product. This then will lead to the interested buyer submitting and transferring the desired amount via electronic transaction online[2].
The money is transferred, and the product is sent to the intended buyer through means of post or parcel delivery. This buying and selling transaction is complete and concluded. The people who carry the items between the two places are carriers working for another company, for example, postal or parcel services who work on their own accord – they are employed by a third party to pass on your item as a third company as that is their general rule.
Only Allah Knows best.
Written by Maulana Ubaidur Rahman.
Checked and Approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah.
Darul Ifta Birmingham
[1] Mukhtasar al-Quduri, page 101, Maktabata Shamila.
[2] Azeez ul Fataawa, Fataawa Darul Uloom Deobend, page 599, volume 2.
