Giving customer medium size instead of large
Question
I have a clothing shop and we sell online too. Sometimes we receive a customer order for a certain T-shirt in size Medium, for example. However, there is no Medium left, therefore we take a Large, whose size is very similar to the Medium as the sizing is not exact, and change the tags into Medium. Because the sizes are very similar, we hardly receive complaints from the customers, and if there is a complaint, they can return it to us. This is only done when we are confident that the next size up will still fit the customer. Is this permissible?
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
Answer
This is incorrect. If a customer places an order for a particular size and you do not have the size available, you should inform them accordingly and give them the choice if they wish to proceed. This is irrespective of whether the available size fits them or not. In addition, you mention that you also sell online, so how can you be confident that it will fit the customer when you also acknowledge that sometimes albeit hardly you do receive complaints. This is not the correct way of doing business. Honesty and integrity are keys to success in this world and the hereafter. Allah Almighty will bless you based on your honesty. The Prophet ﷺ said:
التاجر الصدوق الأمين مع النبيين والصديقين والشهداء
“The truthful trustworthy merchant is with the Prophets, the truthful and the martyrs” (Categorised as ḥasan in Sunan al-Tirmidhī, 1209)
The Prophet ﷺ said in another ḥadīth:
فإن صدقا وبينا بورك لهما في بيعهما، وإن كتما وكذبا محقت بركة بيعهما
“If they (the buyer and seller) tell the truth and make everything clear, they will be blessed in their transaction, and if they conceal and lie, the blessing of their transaction will be erased” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 2079)
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
5 Jumādā al-Thāniyah 1442 / 19 January 2021
Approved by: Mufti Shabbir Ahmed and Mufti Muhammad Tahir