Spending

Happy Return or Exchange Your Gift Season!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For weeks, shoppers flooded the malls, retails stores and websites in preparation for not only Christmas morning, but also for the gift exchanges included in family gatherings held preceding and following the actual holiday. Once it’s all said and done, however, a whole new kind of shopping rush occurs.

The returns and exchanges of gifts that just didn’t fit right.

Even the most conscientious and thoughtful gift giver occasionally misfires, leaving the recipient wondering what on Earth the giver was thinking when they made the purchase. Sometimes it’s merely a matter of personal preference or potentially a case of a duplicate gift. No matter the reason, that is why the gift receipt was created.

Here are the three most common return/exchange scenarios you may run into this post holiday season:

1. Purchase from an online only store: This is going to be the most inconvenient type of purchase to return. You’re going to be on the hook for the shipping costs to return the item, cutting into the net amount you get back from the transaction. Even though it will cost you a little more, I recommend purchasing package tracking on any online return.
2. Online purchase with a retailer that has physical locations: Many retailers that have physical locations will allow you to return online purchases to the brick and mortar locations. This prevents some inconvenience, as well as the cost of shipping.
3. Physical location return: The gift was bought at the mall, so you’ll be returning it to the mall. It’s not much of a surprise that retailers remain extremely busy immediately following Christmas due to returns, exchanges and after Christmas sales. I like to let things settle down a bit before venturing into the abyss of bad drivers and potential fender benders that is the mall parking lot in the two weeks following the Christmas Holiday.

We only have one gift that needs to be returned this year. I purchased Fitbits for both my wife and I as a way to make fitness fun, as well as a way for us to do it together. However, before opening the packages, I did a little more research. I had purchased the Fitbits a bit impusively, and the more I researched them, while many people love them, my wife and I just didn’t think they would be very motivating for us. Therefore back to Best Buy they are going…..but not until after the New Year.

How many returns and exchanges do you have to take care of from the Holiday Season?