Ribbis: Matters of Interest

Overpayment – Keep the
change

Sender asks Chaim to pick up a bottle of detergent at the local
supermarket. The bottle costs $9.50 and Chaim lays out the money.

Sender repays Chaim with a $10 bill and tells him to keep the
change. Has Sender payed ribbis?

Does it make any difference if Sender says he is giving the extra
money as compensation for the effort of shlepping the detergent from the store?

According
to many poskim this
is a form of ribbis, and therefore it would have been better for Sender to give
Chaim his own money beforehand to buy it on his behalf.

Since
this was not the case, when Chaim lays out his own money it is as if he is
lending that money to Sender, who has now repaid more than he borrowed.

Many
have tried avoiding this issue (and even larger ribbis issues) by claiming that
the money “was given as a present.” This is not a valid heter (though some poskim are lenient when done
between relatives
where it is obvious that it was done as a present; see footnote).

The
poskim
offer various solutions to avoid our problem.

One
way would be for Chaim to buy the detergent for himself, and then resell it to
Sender for ten dollars

Another
option would be for Sender to say that he is giving the extra money as
reimbursement for the effort
Chaim expended on his behalf.