EBay Inc and Yahoo Inc are providing an outlet for unwanted or odd holiday gifts as people place them up for auction on the Internet.
Yahoo said more than 3,000 holiday gift blunders will wind up on its auction site and has opened an unwanted gifts showcase to help sellers get rid of the items. EBay, the leading online auctioneer, said people have listed gift castoffs for sale in previous years, and that it plans to once again remind sellers that auctions are one option for discarding gift miscues.
Rejected holiday gifts contribute to a rise in auctions at both sites at the start of the year as the holidays end and people get back to business, the companies said. EBay has promoted its site for sales of unwanted gifts for at least two years, spokesman Chris Donlay said. Yahoo said its success with castaway gifts last year led it to repeat the program.
"A lot of people don't necessarily want to go to the malls and fight the crowds to return things," said Nancy Gallinghouse, a spokes-woman for Yahoo, the most-used Web search service.
"This is a way for them to make a little extra money."
About 3,000 items were listed on Yahoo's unwanted-gift site last year and more than that are expected this year, Gallinghouse said. Among the items already placed up for auction on the site are a laptop computer, a bamboo steamer set and Beanie Baby dolls.
A Yahoo poll found 34 percent of people keep unwanted gifts, while 15 percent return or exchange them. Some 17 percent would give the item to someone else, while 13 percent said they would keep the gift even it they didn't like it.
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