The Most Returned Christmas Gifts

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but more than likely someone on your Christmas gift list is going to return your gift back to the store. Yep, a study by Western Union last year said 75% of Americans have lied about liking a gift they did not.

Want to increase the chances that your carefully chosen gift will not be returned? Don't buy the most returned gift. Hands down, it's clothes and other apparel. It doesn't fit, the color is not right, it does make your butt look big, or it's just downright ugly.

An oft-quoted report from Pr-inside.com about a survey conducted for Kohl's in 2008 found that these gifts were identified by respondents as most likely to be returned:

Clothing, 74%, items for the home, 11%, beauty or fragrance, 8%, electronics, 5%, jewelry or watches, 2%.

Those results were more or less supported by a January 2011 survey by MarketTools:

Clothing and shoes, mentioned by 62% of respondents.

Toys, games and hobbies, 16%.

Consumer electronics, 14%.

Kitchen and bath, 13%.

Beauty and cosmetics, 10%.

Now you don't have to feel bad about returning that weird, ugly Christmas sweater Aunt Ethel gave you!