Am I Allowed to Do Sneaker Botting?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

I’ve talked to many scholars and searched on the internet. I got mixed answers about my business, which is called “sneaker reselling” or “sneaker botting.” I’m in love with this business, which in I can make good money from the comfort of my home. It’s simple to buy shoes and resells them for profit, but I keep having doubts.

The doubts are:

Using bots (software) to speed up the purchase process breaks against the terms of service of most online sites. These bots aren’t malicious and do not steal or cause harm, though sometimes the sites crash because hundreds of thousands of “bots” enter the site. The store gets the requested price, and everything else is fulfilled, no cheats.

Unfair cheating against other resellers. Bots give an advantage

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

This would be deceiving as one must be honest in buying. Most of these websites specifically state in their T&C’s not to run any code against their website, and some say one is allowed to purchase one pair only. Buying in this way using a bot goes against the T&Cs of the website, and this is also an unfair advantage because of the bot.

Alternative Way to Buy and Sell

What about asking others to buy a pair for you? This way, you will have purchased a good number of pairs, and you can sell this way.

Cheating is Impermissible

Abu Hurayra reports the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) passed by a pile of food. He put his fingers in it and felt wetness. He said: “‘O owner of the food! What is this ?’ He replied: ‘It was rained upon O Messenger of Allah’ He said: ‘Why not put it on top of the food so the people can see it?’ Then he said: ‘Whoever cheats, he is not one of us.’” [Tirmidhi]

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I pray this helps with your question.

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani