this is otherwise a dead thread so i dont mind staying OT here. I actually wouldn't mind hearing what the shailah and psak was. Either way, is it possible that you can look at it as if you were giving the $50 ebay gc on behalf of the tzedaka ( and thereby allowed to deduct the amount the gc was worth to the tzedaka) ?
Aright here goes, I will try to make this as clear as possible
There was a merchant selling a specific valuable item at a very decent price. (There was/is a big market for the item and therefore buying it at the offered price and then flipping it would turn a nice profit)
There was a limit of one per customer. This limit was enforced and ID was required to purchase the item in order to ensure that no one got more than one.
A mosad was asking people for a copy of their license and permission to use their name - (the merchant had no prob with this) - so they can purchase a large amount of this item.
Shailoh: I gave my name to the mosad and they were therefore able to make lets say $100 by buying and flipping this item. Can I count that $100 as maaser money.
The reasining backing the question is the fact that they made money from me "loaning" them my name, as therefore its like a gave them the profit that they made off of using my identity.
The rav that I asked poskened that since I didn't actually physically give any money, I can't deduct it as maaser. He said that maaser money is money that's
given to an ani/tzedakah. If they just happened to make money off of me, that's not good enough.
Don't get me wrong, Its stiil considered tzedakah - just not maaser
