How do I deal with unwanted gifts?

The awkwardness is usually misplaced. Nobody gives a present hoping it will sit in a cupboard for a decade, and there are more options than most people realise before any conversation is needed.

Step by step

1. Understand what your rights actually are.Consumer rights sit with the buyer, not the recipient. Unless the item is faulty, a shop is under no obligation to take back a gift from you, though most have their own returns policy.
2. Look for a gift receipt.A gift receipt lets the recipient exchange or take a credit note without seeing the price. Many retailers extend their returns window over the Christmas period specifically for this.
3. Check the retailer's own policy.Goodwill returns without any receipt are common, often as a credit note at the current selling price. It costs nothing to ask and works more often than people expect.
4. Know the difference if it is faulty.A faulty item is a different matter, and the rights are stronger — but they still belong to the buyer. That may mean asking the giver to raise it, which most people would rather do than have you left with something broken.
5. Regift thoughtfully.Perfectly reasonable, with two rules: never within the circle it came from, and check there is nothing personal in or on it. Note who gave it, so you do not close the loop by accident.
6. Sell it if that suits better.Unwanted gifts sell readily in the weeks after Christmas. Sealed and unused items do best. There is no obligation to tell anyone, and no reason to feel awkward about it.
7. Donate what will not sell.Charity shops take a great deal after Christmas, though not everything — check what a particular shop can accept, especially for electrical items and toiletries.
8. Say something only if it will change things.If the same unwanted thing arrives every year, a kind word once is better than a decade of cupboards. Frame it as what you would like instead, not what you do not want.
9. Reduce it happening next time.A shared list, an agreed limit, or suggesting experiences rather than objects. Most repeated unwanted gifts come from a giver with no information to work from.

Tips

• Deal with it in January rather than putting it in a cupboard. Returns windows close and resale value falls sharply after the first few weeks.
• Keep a note of who gave what if you plan to regift. This is where the whole thing goes wrong.
• Gift receipts do not show the price, so asking for one is not a hint that you expect to return something.

Questions people ask