Is this permissable?
Question
Assalamu alaikum. I would like to ask about the permissibility of a business arrangement I use to sell digital Roblox items on Eldorado. I list a specific type of item with its exact characteristics, quantity, price, and a specific delivery deadline, which is usually either 20 minutes or 12 hours depending on the listing. The item is not one unique item; there are hundreds of equivalent items available on the market that satisfy the same specifications. When a buyer purchases my listing, Eldorado concludes the sale on my behalf and collects the payment as my commercial agent. According to Eldorado's terms, including clauses 6.4 and 6.5 (see https://www.eldorado.gg/terms-of-service), the payment remains the property of the seller even while it is held by Eldorado, and I receive it after completing the delivery. At the time the buyer purchases the item, I do not yet own or possess the item. After receiving the order, I purchase an equivalent item from another seller. I then take actual possession/control of the item before transferring it to my buyer within the specified delivery time. If I cannot obtain and deliver the item within the deadline, the buyer can receive a refund. My question is: would this transaction be permissible under Islamic law as a valid bayʿ al-salam (salam) transaction, or would it fall under the prohibition of selling something that I do not own or possess at the time of the sale? In particular, does the fact that the item is fully specified, fungible/equivalent to many other items, has a predetermined price and delivery deadline, and that I take possession of the item before delivering it to the buyer affect the ruling? If this arrangement can qualify as salam, is the profit I earn by purchasing the item at one price and selling it to the buyer at a higher predetermined price halal? I would also appreciate clarification on whether Eldorado holding the buyer's payment as my commercial agent, while the payment remains legally the seller's property according to its terms, affects whether the transaction can be considered a valid salam contract.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salamu alaykum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuh.
Brother in Islam,
You have asked whether selling a fully specified digital item that you do not yet own, with the price collected by the marketplace on your behalf and delivery within a fixed short period, is a valid advance sale.
In principle, a person may not sell what he does not own. The exception is the advance sale, in which the seller receives the full price at the time of contract and undertakes to deliver a described and standardized item at a fixed later time. Its conditions are that the item be of a kind that can be fully specified so that no dispute arises over what is owed, that the price be received by the seller at the sitting of the contract, and that the time of delivery be fixed. The Hanafi jurists held that the delivery term should be a meaningful period, which they set at no less than about a month. Other Hanafi jurists permitted a shorter term, including delivery within a short time, where the item is available in the market and the term is what the custom of that trade uses. Since the trade in these items runs on delivery within minutes or hours as its established custom, and equivalent items are readily available, that position applies to your case and the short delivery term does not invalidate the contract.
Accordingly, your arrangement satisfies the conditions of an advance sale. The item is fully specified by type, characteristics, and quantity, and it is not a unique item but one of many equivalents on the market, so it is a described commodity and not a specific object. The price is fixed at the time of contract. As for receipt of the price, Eldorado collects the payment as your commercial agent, and under its terms the payment is your property from the moment it is collected even though it is held by the platform until delivery. Receipt by a seller's agent is receipt by the seller, so the condition that the price be received at the time of contract is fulfilled. The delivery term is fixed and is in accordance with the custom of this trade. The buyer's right to a refund if you fail to deliver is consistent with the rules of an advance sale, in which the buyer recovers his price if the seller cannot deliver.
In light of the above, the sale is permissible, and the profit you earn by purchasing the equivalent item at a lower price and delivering it against the higher fixed price you contracted is lawful, provided that you deliver exactly what was specified and within the time stated, and that you do not list an item you have no realistic means of sourcing within the term. Eldorado holding the price as your agent does not harm the contract for the reason given above.
Allah knows best
Mufti Mirza-Zain Baig
Canadian Centre for Islamic Research and Iftaa · This answer is provided for general guidance.