More Top Picks Best Affordable Rain Jackets For Men
player ready...The joy of gift-getting has come and gone
Now it’s time to get real and return the stuff that didn’t fit, wasn’t cute or you just didn’t like.
Don’t feel bad; you’re not alone. According to the Direct Marketing Association, 65 percent of people say they return gifts they don’t like. But before you go, check out these tips to make your gift-returning process a drama-free experience.
– Attitude. Don’t leave home without your manners. Yelling at a salesclerk is not going to magically change the store’s return/exchange policy.
– Store policy. Know the return/exchange policy, says Jen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for the Federal Trade Commission.
“Merchants may have different policies for sales items,” she says. Every store has different policies, so just because one store gives you a full refund doesn’t mean the next store will.
– Receipts. Receipts, be it a gift receipt or the original receipt, make returns run smoothly, says Amy Blankenship, director of the Shop-At-Home Information Center. If you receive a sweater someone paid $50 for and you don’t have a receipt to prove it, there is a chance that you will get a store credit for what the price the sweater is at the time you walk in the store, and that could be $15. Always keep receipts.
– Be timely. Return your gift as soon as possible, Blankenship says. Things sell out quickly during the holidays and sometimes are seasonal-only.
– The Web. Most companies make it easy to return online purchases, Blankenship says. Know the return policy.
The FTC offers guidelines on Web shopping (www.ftc.gov), and there are more tips at ShopTheNet (www.shopthenet.org).
– Don’t play. If you know you are going to return or exchange an item, don’t open the item.
– Be creative. If all efforts fail and you can’t return that gift, just re-gift. That’s right, wrap it up and give it to someone who might like it. (Preferably someone who doesn’t know the someone who gave you the gift.) According to the Direct Marketing Association, 19 percent of people who don’t want their gifts give them to someone else.
———-
Edited by Lara Weber ([email protected]) and alBerto Trevino ([email protected])