Some unwanted Christmas gifts given with love yesterday will be onsold today on Trade Me's biggest 'new listing' day of the year.
A recent survey by the online auction site found about half of people receive a gift they do not want.
Trade Me spokesperson Logan Mudge said it had become a bit of an annual tradition for people to try and move along gifts that did not "hit the mark" on Christmas Day.
"New Zealanders are getting more comfortable with selling their gifts on or even seeing one of their gifts being sold. It is becoming more and more popular each year for gifts to be listed up... it's better than sitting in a cupboard gathering dust or going to landfill.
"And it's a little less awkward than asking a friend or relative for the receipt."
He said all sorts of goods got listed in the unwanted gifts section, but there were some recurring items.
"Quite often we'll see a bit of lingerie... I guess there's a few partners out there that have missed the mark perhaps on what they've been buying.
"Also electronics, gaming, all sorts of stuff like that will appear but then it is a really random assortment."
Mudge said 20,000 unwanted presents were listed and 100,000 searches for 'unwanted gifts' were made last Boxing Day.
Boxing Day sales expected to be strong
Meanwhile, shoppers have not forgotten the traditional brick and mortar way to buy with Boxing Day sales picked to be as big as Black Friday's.
Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said while Boxing Day had traditionally been the bigger day, going forward it would probably be on par with Black Friday.
Black Friday sales this year surpassed Boxing Day 2018 sales.
"They're becoming almost equivalent in terms of sales volume. Black Friday is really kick-starting the Christmas shopping season at the end of November and Boxing Day is typically wrapping it up.
"We would expect Boxing Day to be slightly up on last year and about the same as Black Friday."
He asked shoppers to be mindful of the crowds and staff who would be hard at work.
"It's really important to acknowledge the hard work of retail employees who are out there serving customers, it's really busy, it can be hot in store... so take it easy and be nice to staff."
RNZ
