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Dec. 2, 2008

Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack

Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Feb. 18, 2008 / 12 Adar I 5768

Devious discount

By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Q: Our mail-order firm sells discount merchandise. When there is a standard price (e.g. a catalogue or suggested retail price) we tell the customer the discount from that price. When there is no standard price, can we estimate the discount from a fair store price?


A: In all of our dealings we are forbidden from deceiving others, leading them to believe they obtain a benefit from someone beyond the person's actual effort. Such deception is called geneivas daas, literally "stealing judgment". When people are improperly informed, their judgment is not exercised freely. Leading others to believe they obtained a discount when in fact they pay a normal price would definitely be an example of geneivas daas.


When the customer actually relies on a false representation, then the situation is worse. In many cases the agreement would be void. The Jerusalem Talmud discusses a situation virtually identical to misleading customers about the market price. It talks about an employer who tells prospective employees, "Work for me for five just as your friends did", and the workers agree on the basis of this understanding. Afterwards it turns out that other workers were receiving more than five, and the employer misled them. (1) Most prominent authorities rule that in this case the work agreement is void. There is a presumption that the workers only agreed to such a low wage because they presumed that this was the going rate; if they had known that the going rate was higher they would have refused. (2)


We would have a parallel situation if a customer agreed to buy an item only on the basis that the discount is as advertised. Perhaps this customer much prefers to buy from a store, and only the great discount convinces him to order by mail. If there is evidence that the customer bought solely on the basis that the price is what others are paying, he would have a strong claim to being able to return the object and reverse the sale.


The above analysis is not precisely applicable to your case. According to your question, you are not trying to mislead the customer but on the contrary to help him, by giving your best estimate of a fair store price. However, I am taking pains to emphasize this point because I think that misrepresenting the fair or market price is a common form of fraud and customers and merchants alike should be made aware of its seriousness.


Even your situation presents a number of problems. Even if you are doing your best to present a fair evaluation, you are an interested party and this is certain to color your judgment. (3) The Torah likens weights and measures to judgment: "Don't do any injustice in judgment; in dimension, weights or volume. Right scales, right weights, right dry measure and right wet measure shall you have; I am the Lord your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt." (Leviticus 19:35-36.) And a person is hardly able of judging himself impartially.


In addition, the customer deserves to know that the "store price" cited is only an estimate, and this would be true even if the estimate were made impartially.


The ethical solution to the problem is to declare explicitly that the price is "Estimated store price" or "Equivalent store price" - some expression which will be transparently understood by the average customer. The ideal solution is to explain exactly how you arrive at this figure. After all, if you decide that the store price is 25% higher than your price because you decide that your price is 20% lower than the store price then your "discount" conveys no information at all. It reflects no more than your opinion. If you want to provide "constructive" prices, you should explain somewhere on your site: "Equivalent store price is calculated by comparing prices for similar items" or "by comparing markups for similar items at high-end urban department stores."

SOURCES: (1) Jerusalem Talmud, Bava Metzia 6:1. (2) See Nimukei Yosef, Bava Metzia 45b, Beis Yosef, Choshen Mishpat 332. (3) See Aaron Levine's book "Economics and Jewish Law", pg. 24, for an analysis of the problem of self-assessment

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JWR contributor Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir, formerly of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Reagan administration, is Research Director of the Business Ethics Center of Jerusalem, Jerusalem College of Technology. To comment or pose a question, please click here.

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