What NOT To Give For Christmas

I’ve always stressed myself over Christmas shopping. I’m always way too concerned over whether the person I’m giving a gift to will actually like it. The better you know someone the easier it is to buy them a gift, or just be a careful listener. They’ll give you clues and they won’t even know it.

Maybe the trick to buying a good gift is to buy something they probably won’t return. A little tip – don’t buy ‘em clothes. Surveys show that clothing is the most returned Christmas gift. A survey done last year showed that 74 percent said clothing was the most likely thing they’d return to the store. There are just too many variables with clothing. It doesn’t fit, it’s the wrong color, it’s the wrong style or it’s just outright ugly.

MSNMoney.com says after clothing, 11 percent said they returned items for the home.

• 8 percent said beauty or fragrance items.
• 5 percent said electronics.
• 2 percent said jewelry or watches.

There’s evidence that electronics is starting to move up the list. Based on all electronics sales from last year, as much as 20 percent of it was returned for various reasons. That’s why you see signs in some electronics stores about restocking fees for some items.

U-S electronics retailers say the cost of receiving, assessing, repairing, reboxing, restocking and reselling returned items is costing them $17-billion.

20 percent of people say they got a Christmas gift last year they didn’t like. If they didn’t want to be bothered to return it, some people donated it to charity, others re-gifted it, some tried to sell it on e-Bay, some just ended throwing it out.

Consumer Reports says if you’re giving a gift, include the receipt. Yes give them the receipt so that if they want to take it back they’ll get the full value of what you paid for it. If you don’t, the store will only give store credit and for the lowest price that item has been sold for.

And if you get a gift you don’t want, don’t open the box, especially if it’s something electronic. Some stores won’t accept opened packages or will charge you that repackaging fee.

SOURCE: MSNMoney.com, Consumer Reports