It is forbidden to walk into a store and inquire about a price of a product without having the intention of possibly buying it. If one wishes to do that, one should make it absolutely clear from the onset and tell the owner that they do not intend to buy the product. In the case where the owner is not the one present, and there is only an employee, one is allowed to ask a question about a product and inquire about its price, provided of course it is not at a time when there are many customers in the store and taking the employee’s time for nothing could possibly cause other potential buyers to be left unattended and thus take away business from the store owner. If this concern is not applicable, and it is just asking a question, the regular reasons that normally apply when inquiring about a price from the store owner do not apply in the case where the question is not asked of the store owner but of an employee, as the employee will not feel the anguish that only an owner feels when the potential customer leaves without buying the item.