What is the ruling on introducing a commodity to the market and offering it for bidding merely to determine its market value, and is it permissible for the buyer to stipulate that in the contract of sale?

For a sale to be valid, the price must be known at the time of the contract, and its determination is subject to the agreement of the contracting parties.

However, the described method—displaying an item in an auction market for the buyer to reach the highest price—is not permissible. This is because it involves deception and fraud against the market participants, and a waste of their time and effort. Al-Bukhari narrated: "Deceit is in the Fire," and Muslim narrated: "Whoever cheats is not of me."

Furthermore, the auction might not yield the true price of the item, due to the common practice of undervaluing goods in auctions.

The correct way to appraise an item is to present it to experts, or for the buyer to engage with the market participants. If he likes the offered price, he can add to it, or let someone else buy.

Moreover, the sale is not valid at the price determined by the auction if the sale is concluded before the price is known, because the price is unknown.