He makes a deal to sell perfumes then he imports them
Question

                Is it permissible for me to work in trading where I have no choice but to make a deal and take payment beforehand, before delivering the goods? Or is that regarded as an ambiguous transaction (bay‘ al-gharar)? For example, my work is dealing in expensive perfumes. I ask for payment in full before delivering the perfumes, as I use the money to cover the costs of buying the products from abroad and shipping. I would like to point out that, as a dealer, I have limited resources and cannot pay from my own pocket, and there will be no problem with my customers if I fail to deliver the perfumes, because then I would return to them the money I took.
Praise be to Allah.
	This way of 
	dealing is something that many importers resort to nowadays; they take the 
	payment for the requested product in full before they buy it and import it, 
	then they deliver it to the customer. The permissibility of this kind of 
	transaction is proven by the Sunnah and scholarly consensus. It is called 
	bay‘ as-salam [salam transaction; payment in advance].

	It was narrated 
	that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said:  When the Prophet 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) came to Madinah, they used to pay 
	two or three years in advance for dates. He said: “Whoever pays for anything 
	in advance, let him pay in advance for a specified measure and a specified 
	weight, to be delivered at a specified time.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (2240) 
	and Muslim (1604).

	Salam 
	transactions are subject to conditions, which must be adhered to in order 
	for the transaction to be permissible and valid, including the following:

	1.
	
	The price must 
	be paid in advance in full, and no part of it should be delayed, because if 
	the price or part of it is delayed, then the transaction will be akin to 
	selling debt for debt, which the scholars have stated is prohibited.

	2.
	
	The product must 
	be described in detail, by mentioning its name, type, colour, country of 
	manufacture, size of packaging, amount in each package and other important 
	features that affect the price, so that there will be no dispute between the 
	seller and the buyer later on, when the product is delivered. As for 
	unimportant details that do not concern the purchaser or affect the price, 
	they do not need to be mentioned and there does not have to be agreement on 
	them.

	3.
	
	The date and 
	time of delivery should be stipulated so that both parties will be committed 
	to it and there will be no room for dispute between them. 
	

	The evidence for 
	these conditions is the hadith of Ibn ‘Abbaas quoted above: “Whoever pays 
	for anything in advance, let him pay in advance for a specified measure and 
	a specified weight, to be delivered at a specified time.”

	It says in a 
	statement of the Islamic Fiqh Council (no. 107):

	An import 
	contract is a contract in which one party promises to deliver a specific 
	product, to be delivered at a later date, on a regular basis, during a 
	specific period, to another party in return for a specific amount of money, 
	all or part of which is to be paid at a later date.

	If the contract 
	deals with a product that is yet to be manufactured, then this comes under 
	the heading of ‘aqd istisnaa‘ (contract to have something made or done) and 
	is subject to the rulings on such contracts. The issue of having something 
	made or done is mentioned in the Council’s statement no. 65 (3/7). We have 
	mentioned this statement in the answer to question no. 
	2146.

	If the import 
	contract concerns a product that does not need to be manufactured and it is 
	described in the contract as something that one party is committed to 
	delivering, then he must deliver it at the specified time, which may be 
	achieved in one of two ways:

	(a)
	
	The importer may 
	take payment in full at the time of drawing up the contract. This comes 
	under the rulings on salam transactions, and it is permissible if the 
	conditions that are valid according to sharee‘ah are met, based on the 
	Council’s statement no. 85 (9/2).

	(b)
	
	If the importer 
	does not take payment in full at the time of drawing up the contract, then 
	this is not permissible, because it is based on a mutually binding promise 
	between the two parties. The Council’s statements no. 40 and 41 state that 
	the mutually binding promise is akin to selling a debt for a debt, which is 
	prohibited.

	But if the 
	mutual promise was not binding upon either or both sides, then it is 
	permissible, provided that the transaction is done on the basis of a new 
	deal at the time of delivery. And Allah knows best. End quote.

	Thirdly:

	If the deal 
	fulfilled these conditions, then it is binding on both parties and it is not 
	permissible for either of them to cancel it except with the consent of the 
	other; it is binding upon you to deliver the product in question to the 
	purchaser and if it is destroyed en route then you are liable and should 
	deliver something like it at the time agreed.

	And Allah knows 
	best.