More Brits to sell unwanted gifts this year

The worst recession since World War II has changed the mindset of many Brits with regards to unwanted Christmas gifts as more are likely to turn them into cash, a study by uSwitch.com has shown.

The independent price comparison and switching service website said that 25 percent of Brits had admitted that they would try to make money from unwanted Christmas gifts. Interestingly, 47 percent of those surveyed said they usually just shove unwanted presents to the back of the cupboard and completely forget about them, but this year would be different as they would likely sell the items.

Louise Bond, personal finance expert at uSwitch.com, said, “Consumers have woken up to the amount of money wasted at Christmas with unwanted gifts thrown into a cupboard or into the bin. This year, people are spending less time dwelling on their disappointment and more time finding new ways of turning their unwanted Christmas presents into cash. As the saying goes, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, and auction and swapping websites are a great way of trading or selling unwanted gifts.”

The result of the survey highlights the shift on how the Brits look at unwanted gifts with 50 percent of those polled said they would be less wasteful this year and they would not dump unwanted gifts in the bin.

This year, unwanted gifts like novelty items, useless gadgets, and ill-fitting clothes will either be recycled or put to good use. At least 24% said they would try to sell them, while 21% are more likely to wrap them up and ‘re-gift’ them to somebody else – saving themselves the cost of buying a present.

The survey also showed that 41 percent of consumers would re-gift reject gifts while two in ten Brits admit to having sold them. Auction sites like eBay make it easy for unwanted gifts to be sold, the survey showed. At least 74 percent of the respondents said they are planning to sell their unwanted gifts through online auction sites.

Just one in ten (9%) will sell them to friends or family and under a third (32%) will try their luck flogging their rejects at a car boot sale.

Retailers can also expect to see a surge in the number of consumers seeking an exchange or refund this year. While 38% of consumers have previously taken unwanted Christmas gifts back to shops, this is likely to be boosted by the 34% of people who say they are more likely to seek an exchange or refund this year. However, this may be trickier than consumers anticipate, as only a quarter of shoppers (27%) check the returns policy on Christmas gifts. To make matters worse, over one in ten shoppers (13%) buy Christmas gifts throughout the year, meaning that the returns period could well have expired before the present is even out of its wrapping.

But even though Brits are keen to cash in on their discarded gifts, this doesn’t stop them from showing generosity towards others. Half of consumers (50%) have donated unwanted Christmas presents to good causes in the past. And charities will be pleased to note that, despite the recession, a quarter of people (25%) say they are even more likely to be doing so this year.