Arabic (غبن يسير) for a slight or minor ghabn; ghabn is a fraudulent practice by which one party to a commutative contract (ba’i, ijarah, salam, etc.) attempts to deceive the other party into trading at unusually unjust terms. Ghabn is usually associated with specifications of the object of sale/ trade or its price/ value. Ghabn yaseer involves an intentional deception by a seller to the disadvantage of a buyer by way of stating explicitly or implicitly that the sale price (thaman) of the underlying commodity (object) is the real market price. However, the seller charges a bit or slightly higher price, whereby exploiting the lack of knowledge (the state of asymmetric information) on the part of the buyer.

In a contract of sale (ba’i), the seller may deceive the buyer by communicating unfair prices (verbal deception) or by communicating an untrue or misleading description of the object of sale (actual deception). If the degree of ghabn is trivial (and hence it is called minor fraud/ deception or ghabn yaseer). Verbal deception in price may result if the seller claims that the object of sale is that expensive because there are no alternatives in the market (which is not the case, actually). Actual deception in description may occur if the seller states that the object of sale has a specific feature while effectively it does not.

Shari’a prohibits ghabn in general, and ghabn fahish in particular. A limited degree of ghabn, however, can be ignored/ overlooked depending on the contract value and specific circumstances.