08 October, 2017
Q
As-salam `alaykum. May Allah accept all that you are doing for His sake! I want to know whether affiliate marketing is permissible or not. Affiliate Marketing is a popular method of promoting web businesses in which an affiliate is rewarded for every visitor, subscriber and/or customer provided through his efforts. In short, as an affiliate you get paid for referring sales or customers to another business website. The products we promote on our websites are either digital products (such as e-books or software) or physical products (such as electronic products, health products, etc.); business owners pay the referral commission in percentage of the sale/profit or sometimes fix commission rate. Is this permissible? My second question is: I have some companies that pay my affiliate with PayPal account and I don't have a PayPal account as my country is not supported by PayPal. So I make a joint venture with someone who has a PayPal and made a deal with him to pay him 20% of the money he received for me and pay me the remaining 80% via wire transfer. Is this type of transactions permissible?
Answer
Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
The commission you are asking about is permissible on the condition that there is no deceit or cheating in the dealings.
In his response to your question, Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf, Professor of Islamic Finance and Economics at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, states:
If this affiliate commission is known as a common practice in this business and there is no misleading of potential customers into the idea that you allure them into buying, it is then permissible.
It is also permissible to give a percentage for a person to collect it for you from PayPal.
Allah Almighty knows best.
