Unwanted Christmas gifts passed on or sold online

Almost one in three people expects to keep hold of unwanted gifts this Christmas and recycle them as presents next year, survey results show.

Two thirds of us receive at least one gift we don’t want each Christmas, according to research by musicmagpie.co.uk, which found that aunties and friends are the most likely to give disappointing presents.

Almost a third will stash away those unwanted presents to use as a gift for someone next Christmas.

A fifth plan to sell them for cash and musicmagpie is expecting a record number of presents to be sold online this year. More than two million items were sold through the site on Christmas Day and Boxing Day in 2012, with many people getting rid of PlayStations, iPads and Xboxes after receiving upgraded versions as presents. Liam Howley, marketing manager for musicmagpie, said: “Christmas is one of our busiest periods of the year. We’ve seen many customers already selling their old games consoles or tablets following the launch of the PS4, Xbox and iPad Air, but we’re expecting a huge peak over Christmas.”