A quarter of Xmas presents bought online are going back

THE gift wrap probably hasn’t even been thrown out yet.

But already many of those presents unwrapped eagerly on Christmas Day are being sent back.

A quarter of online purchases made between Black Friday on November 29 and Boxing Day will be returned, analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research reveals.

It means £4.8billion of an estimated £19billion in online sales could be refunded, skewing official figures. It has become easier in recent years to return items because of free shipping and ‘try before you buy’ options. As a result it is thought the average product passes through seven pairs of hands before it is listed for resale.

Iain Prince, supply chain director at KPMG, told The Times the cost of having a product returned could be twice that of delivering it in the first place.