How to swap, return, or sell on those perfect gifts…
You’ve said thanks and gushed delightedly as custom requires. Now get something you really want, says Amelia Murray
Like bloat and indigestion, unwanted presents are a virtually unavoidable feature of the festive season. Somewhere, from someone, your stash of gifts is going to include the superfluous or the hideous – or quite probably both.
Sensible givers of Christmas presents will, if they entertain the faintest doubt about the suitability of their gift, include a receipt or other proof of purchase that will enable you to collect a refund or swap it for something better. But what if the giver wasn’t quite so thoughtful?
You could, of course, ask for the receipt: but this will have the unfortunate effect of contradicting your earlier expressions of enraptured gratitude.
Happily, many retailers operate a “goodwill” returns policy around the Christmas period offering an exchange, refund or voucher for unwanted items – even where proof of purchase is lacking. Some also extend the window where you can take unwanted presents back.
For example, clothing chain Next says it may, at its discretion, offer an exchange to the value of the unwanted gift if there is no receipt. If the giver bought the item on Amazon – and there’s a good chance of that – it would be helpful to have the 17-digit order number. But, even without that, Amazon said if you provided the giver’s details (name, email address and phone number) it could possibly trace the order and give you credit up to its value. You’d need to have your own Amazon account.
Your options with perishable items are much more limited. And any items where packaging has been opened or damaged; or clothing which has been worn, are also unlikely to be returnable – unless you can claim they were faulty or damaged.
But if you cannot return or exchange the gift, don’t despair. Many websites offer quick and convenient ways to sell unwanted clothes, books and gift cards.
With 24million British users, ebay is a good place to start. Last year British consumers bought more than a million items on the site between Dec 27 and 30. Based on historic traffic, sales are expected to peak on Dec 29 between 9pm and 10pm. Each private seller gets to list 20 items for free per month. After that it costs 35p per listing. All sales attract a fee of 10per cent of the final selling price including postage.
You can use up to 80 characters to describe what you’re selling with each listing lasting a maximum of 10 days. You should include the brand name, size, colour and condition in the listing title. Emma Drew, who blogs about money on Emmadrew.info, suggested that Thursdays are the best day to list items as most people bid on Sunday. By posting on a Thursday your listing is live over two Sunday evenings.
If you want to be protected on ebay, transactions must go through Paypal, the payment platform, which charges 3.4per cent of each transaction plus a flat 20p transaction fee where users’ monthly transactions are £1,500 or less. Amazon has two pricing structures. Its “basic” model charges 0.75p per listing. A “pro” account costs £25 a month and is better suited to those who can sell more than 35 items a month.
Bulky items
Facebook doesn’t charge fees and is best for selling large items or those that are expensive to send.
Post pictures of your unwanted items in local selling groups and include as much detail about the items as possible, including exact size and condition – and details as to whether you’ll deliver or be flexible on price. It’s best to ask to be paid cash on collection. You can then arrange the sale directly with interested members of the group. Each selling group is likely to have its own rules, so make sure you read them before posting to avoid being kicked out.
Last year Facebook launched its “Marketplace” function making selling even easier.
Don’t bin books
Unwanted books, CDS and DVDS can be sold on sites such as Zapper and We Buy Books. Sellers enter the ISBN number, which is found under the bar code, to get an instant price. Zapper sends you a free postage label and We Buy Books offers a free courier service. Payments
are calculated according to demand – but don’t expect great riches. For a copy of Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends, Festivities (£9.99 for a new hardback) Zapper offers £2.30. Users must sell at least £10 of items on Zapper. The minimum sale is £5 on We Buy Books.
Gift cards
If you are absolutely sure you are not going to use a gift card or digital voucher (online credit typically sent by email) you can sell it yourself on specialist online marketplaces, such as Zeek; or directly to firms such as Cardyard. On Zeek you can set your own selling price as long as it is at least 7per cent less than the face value of your digital voucher or 10per cent less than a physical card. Both must be redeemable online.
Zeek charges a 12per cent processing fee of a digital voucher’s asking price with a minimum of £4 if you want to redeem it for cash. The fees are less if you opt for an Amazon gift card or Zeek credit.
If you sell a physical voucher you’ll be charged 15per cent of the card’s asking price or £5 minimum.
A digital card worth £10 would amount to £6.30 in cash.
You could sell a £50 physical voucher for £45 and end up with £38.25 cash after fees. Cardyard buys the gift cards directly from you. The prices vary depending on retailer and demand at the time – but currently it pays 85per cent of the face value of cards from Amazon and 84.6per cent of the value of a Sainsbury’s card, for example.
If all else fails, give it away
Large charities, such as the British Heart Foundation, list items they accept in their shops and what they cannot. Charity Retail has a list of organisations that accept specific items, such as computers, food and tools.