‘Failed Christmas gift’: New Zealanders flock online to get rid of disappointing presents
- More than 4,400 unwanted gifts began appearing on Trade Me, the country’s largest online marketplace, on the morning of Boxing Day
- The website says listings with ‘a good backstory’ are bound to sell, although it cautions against being too specific, lest it gets spotted by their gifter
By 8am on Boxing Day, more than 4,400 presents that had apparently missed the mark had been listed on the Trade Me website, including a Mazda car in the “wrong colour” and a pair of Apple Airpods Pro from a parent whose daughter preferred to have just the regular version.
“Failed Christmas gift! Box opened, but not even put in ears,” the description said. “My daughter doesn’t want the noise-cancelling feature and is adamant she would prefer the standard AirPods.”
According to Trade Me, “it has become a Kiwi tradition to jump on Trade Me on Boxing Day to browse all the unwanted Christmas presents”.
“If you’re thinking about listing an unwanted Christmas gift on Trade Me, make sure to tick the ‘unwanted gift’ box when you’re listing your item,” spokeswoman Millie Silvester said.
“A good backstory always goes down well, and be sure to avoid any items that are personalised or easily identifiable,” she advised. “You never know – the giver could be hunting for a bargain on Trade Me, too.”
An orange 2004 Mazda Demio bought only about a week ago was also up for sale. The seller’s spouse gave it to her as a Christmas present, but she put down the disappointing colour choice to a case of “Venus & Mars”.
The deluge of listings came after a survey recently revealed millennials were far more likely to resell or regift Christmas presents than any other generation.
Research commissioned by LayBuy revealed that almost half of New Zealanders were comfortable regifting or selling unwanted Christmas presents.
Millennials were most likely to commit the deed, with 53 per cent trading unwanted presents compared with just 34 per cent of baby boomers.
In comparison with neighbouring Australia, however, New Zealanders as a whole were more likely to get rid of unwanted presents, at 43.6 per cent, compared with Australians at 38.4 per cent.
Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said it was common to see an upswing in second-hand sales after Christmas Day.
“Part of the joy of shopping for a gift is thinking hard about what makes the perfect present for an individual,” he said. “So, if you’re planning to regift something you’ve received, it’s always a good idea to think hard about who you’re giving it to.”
On Boxing Day last year, some 5,000 Christmas gifts surfaced on Trade Me, almost half of which were identified as unwanted presents.
In 2018, there were 20,000 unwanted presents listed and 100,000 searches registered on Boxing Day as opportunistic sellers and bargain hunters jumped online.
