No matter how well you know someone, at some stage you’ll receive – or gift them – a Christmas present that doesn’t fit, isn’t quite right or just isn’t liked. So what do you do about them?
It can be socially awkward to explain to a friend or family member that green and purple aren’t your colours or you don’t want to use the hackable smart toy they gave you for obvious reasons. So what do we do with those gifts that fail to hit the mark?
We surveyed over 2,000 people about their shopping and gifting habits last Christmas. The research revealed that almost one in three had received at least one unwanted Christmas present last year.
Only 4% of recipients plucked up the courage to speak to the giver and ask for a receipt to get either a replacement or a refund, and the same small percentage tried to return their unwanted gift to the retailer for store credit.
Ungratefully received
As Christmas is the season of good cheer and a time for being grateful, it’s understandable that not all of us would want to pipe up if we unwrap something we like less than the wrapping paper.
Instead of trying to return or exchange gifts, our research revealed that the most common solutions, adopted by just over a third of recipients, were either regifting or donating the item to charity.
One in five went on to sell their unwanted gift on an online marketplace, such as eBay or Gumtree, and almost the same number decided to simply accept the gift and do nothing.
A small number of people took the somewhat drastic step of simply throwing their unwanted present in the bin.
Is there a gift you would be vocal about giving back? What do you do with gifts you don’t really need or want?
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