if i sell on ebay, am i allowed to refuse to accept items to be returned back to me for a refund, especially that i’m selling online to people whom i don’t know if i can trust? there is an option on ebay where i can select that i will not accept returns
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
If the sale transaction was concluded in a valid manner, and the option of choosing to invalidate the contract came to end [i.e. before the two parties departed from the meeting], then it is not valid to withdraw from it without the consent of both parties of the contract, unless they set a condition between them, when conducting the contract, that the seller or the buyer has the option (to invalidate the contract); in this case, the one who has the option may act according to it even if he did not notice a defect.
If there is no condition between them about the option of invalidating the contract, then it is not valid to withdraw from the sale unless both parties agree to it [which is called in Arabic Iqaalah]. It is recommended that one of the parties honors the request of the other party if they ask for Iqaalah, because the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “If anyone allows Iqaalah [i.e. agrees to cancel it] with a Muslim, Allah will forgive his sins on the Day of Resurrection.” [Abu Daawood]
The principle is that the contract of sale is binding and implies the transfer of the ownership of the sold item to the buyer, and the transfer of ownership of the price to the seller. None of the parties of the contract is not entitled to withdraw from the sale except with the consent of the other party, as the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “The buyer and seller have the option to invalidate the contract as long as they do not depart (separate) from the meeting of the contract.” [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]
Based on this, the seller does not need to condition [on the buyer] not to return the goods, and in case there is a need to return the goods due to a defect, for example, then the one who notices a defect that affects the transaction, may return the item.
Ibn Qudaamah, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said:
“Whenever the buyer finds a defect in the purchased item of which he had not been aware, then he has the choice either to keep it or to cancel the sale contract regardless of whether the seller knew of that defect and did not disclose it or was not aware of it in the first place. We do not know of any difference of opinion among the scholars in this regard.” [End of quote]
Allah knows best.