Americans Lack the Knack for Holiday Gift-Giving, According to eBay Survey

Add one part clueless gift-giver and two parts resourceful recipient and voilà, a recipe for a re-gifting masterpiece! No one understands this recipe better than eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY), which today unveiled the results of its annual re-gifting survey conducted by Harris Interactive®, which found that 83 percent of U.S. adults receive unwanted gifts during the holiday season. Nearly one-half of those adults (47 percent) typically re-gift or resell items that are not on their wish lists. Yet for many, unwanted does not mean unappreciated: nearly one-third of all adults (32 percent) would rather get a present that they could re-gift or resell than not get a present at all, the survey found. "Re-gifting or reselling on sites like eBay are great ways to let someone else enjoy a gift that isn’t right for you or to earn some extra money,” says Marsha Collier, bestselling author of "Santa Shops on eBay” and other eBay books. "My tip for re-gifting: know the receiver. Not everyone wants a tracksuit or a CD collection, but others may love it.” Key Findings Best in Show: If given an unwanted gift, U.S. adults would be most likely to re-gift items such as food and drink (35 percent), beauty and bath products (23 percent) and trinkets or collectibles (18 percent). Top items to resell include electronics and appliances (18 percent); DVDs, CDs and books (11 percent); and event tickets (11 percent). Let’s Hear It for the Girls: Among adults who re-gift during the holidays, women (50 percent) are almost twice as likely to re-gift than men (30 percent). Time After Time: According to 65 percent of all adults, re-gifting or reselling gifts is more socially acceptable now than it was several years ago. About a quarter of adults (26 percent) say they are now more likely to re-gift or resell unwanted gifts than they were last year. Re-gifting Remorse? Not so. The study finds that more than half of re-gifters and online resellers (53 percent) feel satisfied after they have re-gifted or resold an unwanted gift online. Twenty-seven percent feel relieved after re-gifting and 36 percent feel relieved after reselling. Conversely, upon discovering that someone has re-gifted or resold an item they had originally given, 46 percent of all adults say they would feel indifferent while 26 percent would feel amused. Managing Misfit Gifts: Sixty-nine percent of all adults agree that re-gifting or reselling is a form of recycling. Matchmaker: Seventy percent of adults who have re-gifted a misfit gift have done so because they feel the item is a better match for someone else. Only eight percent have re-gifted because they were too lazy to purchase another present. Friends Forever: Of the 44 percent of adults who have ever re-gifted, the recipients have most often been friends (67 percent). Fun Facts Fruitcake accounts for 15 percent of the food-and-drink items that people would re-gift. Trouble with the in-laws? About one in four married women (26 percent) has re-gifted or resold one or more items received from her mother-in-law compared with only 16 percent of men. About one out of five adults (19 percent) anticipates re-gifting or reselling holiday gifts even before he or she receive them. Thirty-three percent of adults who have ever re-sold an unwanted gift would feel less guilty doing so if they donated a portion of the proceeds to charity. Survey Methodology This re-gifting survey was conducted online within the United States between October 12 and October 16, 2007, among 2,711 adults ages 18 and over. Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income. Propensity-score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error that are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the U.S. adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to be invited to participate in the Harris Interactive online-research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. About eBay Founded in 1995, eBay connects hundreds of millions of people from around the world every day, empowering them to explore new opportunities and innovate together. eBay Inc. does this by providing the Internet platform of choice for global commerce, payments and communications. Since its inception, eBay Inc. has expanded to include some of the strongest brands in the world, including eBay, PayPal, Skype, Shopping.com, and others. eBay Inc. is headquartered San Jose, California. About Harris Interactive Harris Interactive is the thirteenth largest and one of the fastest-growing market research firms in the world. The company provides innovative research, insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world’s largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its North American, European and Asian offices, and through a global network of independent market research firms. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com.