Paid Cashback Site and purchasing discounted gift cards

Everyday Islamic Finance Personal and Family Finance
#1

Assalamualaykum respected ulema,

I have read through the previous thread on cashback sites, and their permissibility. I have a question around another cashback site, which runs slightly differently. The site is known as Complete savings: https://cashback.completesavings.co.uk/

It is a cashback site, similar to Quidco and Topcashback, with the big difference being you have to pay a £15 monthly subscription to use the site. This comes with the advantage of much better cashback rates. As far as I’m aware, the minimum cashback amount for any website on Complete Savings is 10%.

Also there is a monthly cashback bonus of £15. So every month, if you purchase something via Complete savings, you get £15 cashback for free. This cancels out the monthly cost of using the site.

  1. My first question is, is it permissible to use Complete Savings? The part I’m unsure about is the monthly charge to use the website but as I mentioned, this comes with reason (minimum 10% cashback for any website listed)

  2. An additional benefit of using Complete Savings is the ability to purchase Gift cards at a discount. For example, I can purchase a £100 Argos Gift card for £80. My second question is, is this permissible? Are you allowed to purchase Gift cards for a different price than their actual value?

Jazakallahu’khayran for taking the time to read this question. It will help greatly if my two questions could get answered.

#2

Wasalam

May Allah bless you.

  1. Paying someone an amount of money so that they offer you a cashback amount is not permissible. See point 3 in the answer found from the link: Permissibility of different types of cashbacks

  2. In regards to the gift cards. it is not permissible to purchase a gift card at a discounted value. It follows the same principle as above i.e. the prohibition of selling money for a different amount.

And Allah knows best!