Buying sealed product that might be defective

2-1-2018 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh, In the markets, the products are wrapped in plastic or sealed in boxes, and we cannot check them without breaking the seal. Do we have the right to break the seal, or do we need permission? Sometimes, one of the products is open, and people buy a product similar to it based on that, but the similar product might be defective. What is the Islamic ruling on this issue?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

It is not permissible for you to remove the seal of sealed products without permission. It is enough in selling similar products to see a sample of the product as a model for the rest of the products. In case it turns out that the product is unlike the displayed sample, then the buyer has the right to return it if he so wishes.

Article no 325 of the "Magazine of Justice Rulings" reads, “What is sold based on a sample, if it appears unlike the sample, then the buyer has the choice, if he wishes he accepts it, and if he wishes he returns it.”

Also, Durar Al-Hukkaam when explaining this provision, reads, “In this case, the buyer has the choice if the sold product is inferior (in quality) to the sample or to some other similar goods which the buyer has seen. So the buyer has the right of choice due to the defect in what he has seen as a model and in what he has not seen, and he has the right to accept the product with the specified price or to return the product and invalidate the sale.”

Therefore, you do not have the right to break the seal or wrapping of the products without the permission of the seller because doing so is transgressing against his property and causing damage to it.

Allah knows best.