According to the Daily Mail and KRem.com, thousands of presents will be returned to stores this year. In 2012, presents worth £2.1bn were received and not wanted by the receipent. Indeed it is believed that each adult receives 2 presents they do not want. The 2 unwanted gifts have an average cost of £43.50 One in five presents will end up at the back of a cupboard. If there’s a receipt, the presents are returned, if not, they may be given to someone else as a present.

In the UK the top 3 most unwanted gifts were Clothing, 30%, beauty/toiletries at 295 and trinkets at 19%

In the US, an estimated $46 bn in gifts will be returned after Christmas

So what are the most returned Christmas gifts? According to a poll conducted by Kohls in 2008, clothes were returned most often. A poll conducted this year by MarketTools confirmed Kohls findings. Clothes and shoes will make up an expected 62% of all returns today.

Here is a breakdown of the
• Clothing and shoes, 62%.

• Toys, games and hobbies, 16%.

• Consumer electronics, 14%.

• Kitchen and bath, 13%.

• Beauty and cosmetics, 10%.

• Jewelry and watches, 10%.

But not everyone tries to return their bad gift. According to Consumer Reports, about 18% will try to donate their gift to charity, 15% will try to re-gift the item, 11% will just throw the gift out and 6% will try to resell the item.

Charities like Crosscare in Dublinwill sell presents and use the money to help the homeless.

Giveandbuy.ie, which was launched last October allows people to list items for sale online, with proceeds going directly to one of 12 charities.

The website does not charge sellers for listing the item for sale, and charities receive 100 per cent of the sale proceeds. Currently,12 charities - including Peter McVerry Trust, Trócaire, the Irish Cancer Society, Friends of Kitui, which supports the education of orphaned children in Kenya’s Kitui province, and Special Olympics Ireland - are availing of the website’s service.