'Tis the Season of Re-gifting

Ah, 'tis the season of giving again. 'Tis also the season, though many of us might drag a coy foot about it, of re-gifting. The fine art of re-gifting has come a long way since the time it was famously scorned on an episode of Seinfeld ("He's a regifter!" yells Elaine on discovering that her thoughtful gift of a label maker --  the Label Baby Junior -- has been slyly re-purposed).

While re-gifting has become much more socially acceptable since Elaine chastised Tim Whatley, many people are using eBay as a smarter way of "gifting it forward."  A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive found that 83 percent of U.S. adults receive unwanted gifts during the holidays. Of those, nearly half (47 percent) typically re-gift or resell these misfit holiday presents, many on eBay. Not that there's anything wrong with it, as Seinfeld would have said.

After all, where else but on eBay would your "white elephant" become someone else's treasure? One of my friends always gets several pug calendars for Christmas, because she has two adorable pugs. Inevitably she ends up getting more than one of the same kind of calendar. Naturally she quickly heads over to eBay to list her duplicate calendars.

But how do you know which gifts will be most appreciated (or re-appreciated) on eBay this season? One way is to turn to Marsha Collier, author of the popular Santa Shops on eBay and "for Dummies" series of books about eBay, and a familiar figure at previous eBay Live! events. She's planning an entire series on  gifting and re-gifting suggestions on her blog, Marsha Collier's Blog, so check it out.

A word of caution, though. When recycling your presents, beware the Gift of Gaffe! A story in the New York Times lays out the delicate etiquette and the pitfalls of re-gifting. Like making sure to remove the card addressed to you while re-gifting your gift to someone. Now that could have been the basis of a great Seinfeld episode.