Question:
I was approached by an event planner to provide something for a simcha. They said I need to add 10% to my usual price to give to the customer and then give them cash back.
1. Is this allowed according to Jewish law?
2. If I keep my regular price but just give a kickback (so the end user isn’t overpaying), is that allowed?
If not allowed, and I would provide the invoice, would that be putting a stumbling block in from of another Jew?
Answer:
Hello,
- What the party planner is doing in this situation, is not allowed according to Jewish law, (he most probably doesn’t realize that there is an issue here). The reason is because what he is doing is dishonest to his customer. The customer hired the party planner, to work for him, and help him, not to work against him and cause his expenses to go up. Unfortunately, this trick is also done in other fields. For example, an interior decorator, can not charge, the customer one price, and then bring a painter, or electrician, and make them jack up the price, in order for him to also get a fee.
- You can however keep your regular price, and then the 10% that you are giving him is what you are personally paying him for getting you the job. As far as the customer is concerned, he should not be charged more because the party planner wants to make more money, however if you pay him from your own pocket, that is allowed.
Best wishes
Thank you for your answer.
1)I am aware the party planner is dishonest, the question is if I am putting a stumbling block by helping him. He is just going to use a different vendor that will switch the price if I don’t do it
2)I disagree that a discount is honest. The end user would not pay the party planner or designer a set fee if they knew that he was taking 15% of all the Simcha costs. For example a decorator takes a commission with the knowledge of the customer but then takes a low fee. To charge a high fee, and then demand a rebate is something the client would be upset about, as they think the high fee is what is covering the work. So the charging of the high fee would be gneivas daas and not allowed even to a non-jew. And if I aid in this, would I be putting a stumbling block?
1. It is worse than putting a stumbling block in front of him. You are stealing for him, the party planner doesn’t deserve this money, and you are taking it from the customer and delivering it to the party planner.
2. I didn’t write anything about a discount. What I wrote was that if the vendor wants to dig into his own pocket and after charging the regular price, pay the party planner 10%, that is not the business of the customer. The customer is not losing out because of it, and the vendor agrees to give the planner money from his own pocket, in order to have him as his customer.
Im trying to explain that the customer is losing out by overpaying the event planner for their services. If I would know that a planner demanding 10% back from the vendors, amounting to well over 10,000 dollars, I would never agree to pay out of pocket another 10,000 for the “time” spent arranging.
According to laws in many countries it is illegal as well.
I agree.
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