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Unwanted Christmas Presents: £2.1bn Wasted

Unwanted Christmas Presents: £2.1bn Wasted

Britons spent about £2.1bn on unwanted Christmas presents this year, with clothing and ornaments topping the list of unwelcome items.

Adults will have typically received two unwanted festive gifts worth an average of £43.50, according to classifieds website Gumtree.

Clothing, accessories, beauty products, toiletries, trinkets and ornaments were most likely to have been unpopular, researchers found.

One-fifth of people said their friends had most commonly got it wrong, while one in 10 blamed work colleagues and 9% said their mother-in-law had made the mistake.

Londoners have the most expensive hoard of unwanted gifts, worth £51.75 on average, and they are also the most likely to end up in the bin, with 4% of people there saying they would throw them away.

Only 2% of people questioned said they would make their feelings clear if they did not like a present, while 6% would ask for the receipt and two-thirds would mask their disappointment and thank the gift-giver enthusiastically.

The research was taken from a survey of 2,000 people.