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If the seller claims that he made a mistake about the price of the item, does the purchaser have to pay the difference?

05-04-2015

Question 171944

I went to a store where I usually buy what I need, and I asked for some item and the seller said to me: Its price is such and such, and the price was different from what it had been previously. I said to him: I used to pay such and such for it – and the price that I used to pay was less than the new price. He said to me: If what you are saying is true – meaning that he sold it to me for the lower price because he forgot – then you owe me the difference.
Is it permissible for him to take the difference from me? Please note that I have purchased this item many times, and I cannot remember all of them.

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

Once the transaction has been completed between the seller and purchaser, and the meeting in which the transaction takes place has come to an end, then later on the seller claims that he made a mistake in the price he gave to the purchaser, because he usually sells the item for a higher price, in that case the purchaser does not have to give him anything (extra), because the transaction has been completed and all its conditions have been met in full, and it is the seller who must bear the consequences of his mistake. 

Moreover it is very unlikely that the seller would make this mistake repeatedly with you for so many times that you cannot remember them, as you said, and not notice it himself until you were the one who noticed it on this occasion. 

And Allah knows best.

Business and Financial Transactions
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