Entry fees for a car auction

A question about buying a car at an auction that requires a refundable deposit, a fee on its refund and charges taken by the organising company, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that auction sales are permitted within their limits, that entry fees are allowed up to the actual cost, and that the broker company's charge is permitted. ¹

The questioner asked about buying a car through an auction where entry requires a refundable deposit, five dinars of which are deducted on its refund, and where the organising company takes fees based on the car's price. ¹

The Department answered that jurists permit auction sales provided they avoid najash, bidding up the price by someone with no intention to buy in order to trap others, and tadlis, deception that leads a person into a mistake that prompts him to contract. ¹ It said there is no objection to an entry fee limited to the actual cost, since it is an administrative expense, citing decision No. 73 of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy permitting an entry fee no higher than the actual value of the conditions booklet. ¹ It said fees the seller takes beyond the actual cost amount to consuming people's wealth unjustly, while what the broker companies organising the auction charge is part of the actual cost and is unobjectionable as a broker's fee. ¹ It concluded that if the auction fees are taken by the broker company rather than the seller, this is permitted, provided najash and tadlis are avoided. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3921, dated 11 November 2024. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.