How many unwanted presents did you get this Christmas or Hanukkah? I got a pair of jeans that don’t fit and a sweater that isn’t quite warm enough for my needs. I plan to exchange both.
Most people don’t do anything! Three in five consumers hold onto gifts they don’t want, according to a survey from Kijiji.com, a free online classifieds site. The top reasons are:
- they don’t want to hurt the feelings of the giver (60 percent)
- they think they will eventually use the gift (51 percent)
- it’s too much effort to return them to the store (33 percent)
If you can get past these hesitations, here are five things to do with unwanted, ill-fitting holiday presents.
Use an unwanted gift card to buy a gift for someone else. Think ahead to any birthdays, parties, or celebrations coming up in the next six months. Anybody retiring? Getting married? Having a baby?
Re-gift! Sometimes you’ll come across an appropriate recipient a few days later at another holiday function, but more likely you’ll stash an unwanted gift in your gift closet (a designated area at home for evergreen gifts). Make sure you remove anything that would indicate the item was re-gifted and do not mention you are re-gifting to the recipient, which is extremely rude. Some people feel re-gifting is tacky, but I say it’s better to re-gift than let a present go to waste!
Sell gift cards you’re not going to use, especially if you think the store has a chance of closing. Here is the low-down on the best sites to sell gift cards.
Exchange the gifts for something you want. If you don’t have a receipt, head to the store ASAP. Without a receipt, you’ll only get credit for the current selling price. Macy’s is one of the few stores that embeds the sale price in a bar code sticker so you can get credit for exactly what the giver paid. A lot of retailers softened their return policies to make it easier on us consumers and some are giving as much as a month after the holiday to return and/or exchange.
Sell presents online. Craigslist, Kijiji, eBay, Amazon. The Internet is your oyster.
What was the worst gift you received this Christmas?
December 28th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
The best regifting anyone can do is to give that gift you don’t want to the charity of your choice. The Goodwill and Salvation Army resell your unwanted gifts without charging sales tax. Your unwanted gift is someone else’s treasure. Let go of that disappointing clutter and help someone in need. That’s the true spirit of giving.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I got a horrible wall clock with dried flowers and gold trim. From my husband’s cousin, who is not much older than us – we were quite surprised – there is no way she could have thought it was “us”. I have a feeling it was regifted, but she comes to our house a lot, so I will feel bad not putting it up. But it offends my senses. What to do?
December 28th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
I received an American Express Gift card. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I would much rather have the money to pay a bill or two. I’ll hold onto it until I can scrape up enough money to buy a nice comforter for my spare bedroom I’m fixing up. I know, I’m a very thoughtless person.
A friend of mine received a digital picture frame from her boss, that was definitely regifted. The sad part about it is he didn’t even wrap it decently. He used old wrapping paper from another gift they rec’d. It was really tacky and I felt really bad for her. She’ll return it to the store for a credit. There was no thought put behind the gift, no card acknowledging her hard work, just a regifted item that he and his wife didn’t want.
December 28th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Sylvia, I WISH somebody would give ME a digital photo frame! They are really cool. Why would you say that is a bad gift?
December 29th, 2009 at 8:06 am
I didn’t say it was a bad gift, I said I felt bad for her. I guess we sometimes forget the true meaning of Christmas and should be thankful for what we have and get. I really need to remember that: to be thankful for what I have. There are others who are less fortunate.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:01 am
Sylvia – Several green friends have been encouraging me to reuse used wrapping paper or the comics section of the newspaper to wrap. (I haven’t done it yet since I have inherited many sheets of ancient holiday wrap from my packrat mom & her friends!) Maybe your friend’s boss was being green? Or maybe he’s just rather thoughtless.
We often receive very nice bottles of wine but don’t drink. These are regifted to people I KNOW appreciate & drink wine, perhaps as a hostess gift. I do keep a few bottles to cook with.
I think it’s fine to regift as long as the gift suits the intended recipients.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:12 am
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