Bais HaVaad on the Parsha, Parshas Chukas

It’s Fraud Because It’s Flawed

July 11, 2024

Excerpted and adapted from a shiur by Dayan Ari Marburger 

Speak to the Bnei Yisrael, and they shall take to you a perfectly red cow, which has no blemish, upon which a yoke has not come.

Bemidbar 19:2

The Shulchan Aruch (C.M. 228) rules that knowingly selling a product with a blemish or defect without informing the buyer violates the issur of gneivas da’as (“stealing the mind”). There is a presumption that an item offered for sale is in perfect condition, unless the seller stipulates that it’s faulty. So if it turns out to be defective, the buyer can void the sale, even if the offering price is low enough that it reflects the item’s actual value. For example, if a car dealer tampered with the odometer of a used car to make it appear less used, but he priced it lower, at its true value given its real mileage, he has still violated gneivas da’as, and the buyer may return the car if he wishes.

The Shulchan Aruch rules that a defect here is any flaw that most people would consider significant enough to warrant returning a product, not a minor tear in a sefer or scratch on a used car.

One may return a defective product even if a long time has passed since the purchase, with two conditions: First, he may not use the product after discovering the defect and deciding to return it, as the sale is now void and the product isn’t his. Second, the defect must be one that is not easily detectable upon inspection of the item. If the buyer could have inspected the item before purchasing it and easily found the defect, some poskim hold that he waived his right to void the sale.