Q. I need to see how my competitors are pricing out jobs. They are not Jewish. Can I pretend to be a customer and get them to provide me with a quote for a job? Or is this a problem?

A. The Mishna in Baba Metzia (58b) mentions “Just as there is wronging in buying and selling, so is there wrong done by words”. Therefore one must not ask another, ‘what is the price of this article?’ if he has no intention of buying. This is codified in Shulchan Aruch (C. M. 228, 4). The Talmud (Chulin 94a) quotes Shmuel’s opinion that it is forbidden to deceive people including gentiles. This is codified too (ibid. 228,6).

Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a reckons that since there is a possibility, however unlikely, that the price offered by one of your competitors is low enough to entice you to buy directly from him and then resell the product, provide other services to you customer and still make some profit, asking for a quote is not misleading.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a