Have you ever returned or exchanged a gift and never told the person who gave it to you and told them you loved it? I have regifted and fibbed, but when it's something of high value I do exchange it if I can. If someone did that I wouldn't mind and often say they can exchange it if they need to when I give a gift. My ex's parents bough dreadful gifts once for us; I got a selection of tea (I don't drink tea and they never saw me drink tea only coffee) and my ex a panama hat (he never wore hats). He was angry and disappointed and wanted to know where they got it from so we could get a refund! We had bought them a weekend in Florence, Italy! That was my last Christmas with them, and did not bode well for the future.
It's funny you mention your ex-in-laws. That was really the only people I could think of for such a scenario as well. They give us random gift cards to places we never eat and then the last gift was a big box of stuff for our most recent child - ideas for helping her to stop crying in her carseat. Many of the things we already had, actually, and then some of them were just things we wouldn't use (nor would they fix the problem but whatever). She actually sent the receipt this time (which is unusual) so I didn't feel guilty returning everything. I got a gift card (it was from walmart) and promptly converted it immediately to a Starbucks gift card, and just sent her a big fat thank you note. I figure by the time she sees us again, the baby won't be so little and most of the stuff would be outgrown anyway. Otherwise, I can't say I'm receiving gifts from enough people to ever get too many things I don't like. Those who care enough to give me gifts know me very well, or simply ask what I want. Haha.
I don't really refund gifts, but I do regift when something is horrible. I feel bad about that particular Christmas. I do not want inlaws like that in the future! I do not see anything wrong with regifting or returning gifts as long as the persons who gave them to you will not know.
Hardly. Even if a gift isn't that much of benefit to me, if the person who gave it is someone I value with all my heart, I wouldn't mind keeping it. I think it's not a very kind gesture to re-gift or return something that someone else made an effort for. I am not the type of individual to think about economy when giving gifts. I am an all-out gift-giver.
I never return things people have given to me. My family is very particular about keeping gifts as special even if you didn't particularly like it. That has passed on to me, I have a few games that people have gifted me that I don't play anymore, but I refuse to sell them simply because it was a gift.
I keep sentimental things and kept a gift from a friend who died, but when I was clearing out, you end up keeping things for no reason except you think it's the right thing to do. When you are paying $100 a month for storage, you think twice about keeping things. Handmade items I always keep even if I don't use them, but in my original post we had asked told his parents the gift and if we could book it for them and it wasn't if they didn't know us. That was the issue, why would people who know you buy things they want rather than the things they know you would like? It was as if they decided what you should be wearing or eating. I have returned gifts from ex-friends and people no longer in my life as it is closure too.
I would be too kind to ask the gift to be returned, so I would just keep the item and re-gift it, or even sell it online if the value of the item would earn me a substantial amount of money. I can't bear the thought of asking the gift to be returned.
Yea I usually make it clear to people what I need and those that do give me gifts know what I need so it really is not a problem. But if it is something I don't need and exchange it for something like store credit or cash I see no harm done. And I don't need to tell the person who gave me the gift and make them feel bad about it.
I wouldn't return a gift someone has bought me. Either I'd wrap it nicely and give it to someone else or donate it. There's no reason to send the gift back because maybe the giver made a genuine mistake. They didn't know you wouldn't like their gift. Otherwise they wouldn't have bought it. Hurt their feelings? I'm not that mean. The only exception to this principle would be when someone knows I hate something but they buy it anyway. I'd send it right back with a note informing them that though I liked the gift, I'd appreciate it more if they gave it to someone else.
