Ona’ah and Innovatation
Question
There is a Halachic prohibition of Onaah, over charging the price of a commodity in a market. Halacha does permit the high pricing on new goods that you create and sell. My question is, is it Onaah to charge higher than market rate for a commodity type that exists already but is a unique and innovated version of it, for example a new type of phone or car with different features, designs, models etc.? Source for the answer to this question please
Answers
The Halachic concept called Ona’as Mamon is only applicable to items that have an absolutely fixed price to them. An innovative version of a particular thing cannot be defined as falling into the category of ona’ah because there is no prior price for whatever it is that has been innovated.
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