Everyone loves getting a gift for the holidays, right? WRONG! 

Many people end up with gifts they don’t want or can’t use. Thanks to relaxed returns policies from major retailers, these gift recipients can easily return the gift for a refund or store credit and get what they really want. In fact, in 2017, UPS processed 5.8 million returns in the first week of January. For a savvy shopper, January, February, and even March are potential gold mines.

Every January, UPS sees millions of holiday gift returns. They have dubbed the day with the most returns, National Returns Day. In 2018, January 3^rd won the honor, with 1.4 million returns in a single day. This year, it looks like the honor will go to January 2^nd when UPS had 1.5 million returns.  Many of these returns will be resold as refurbished which means shoppers will have access to great products at affordable prices. In 2017 and 2018, UPS published infographics with all sorts of interesting data about their returns.  

To better understand what types of items that are sold as refurbished, it helps to understand why items are returned in the first place. The top reasons for returns, might surprise you.

1.Incorrect Product or Size Ordered

That’s right, most products are returned because they don’t fit right. There is nothing wrong with the product at all, it just wasn’t the exact item the purchaser wanted. With some merchandise such as apparel, this item can easily be restocked and resold, but for merchandise such as a TV or a pair of headphones, most retailers won’t resell the it if it has been taken out of the box. These returns are often resold as refurbished at a greatly reduced price.

Imagine getting an 85-inch name-brand TV for the half the retail price just because someone purchased it as a gift and it didn’t fit in the living room!

2.Product No Longer Needed

There are thousands of reasons why someone might return a gift they don’t need. It could be they simply received a gift they didn’t want or need. A Google Smart Home device may have seemed like a great gift for a tech-obsessed loved one, except their whole house is set up on Amazon’s Alexa. Some over-ear noise canceling headphones should be the perfect gift for a music buff, unless they only listen to music when they workout and wanted a sporty pair for in-ear headphones instead. There are plenty of reasons a perfectly fine gift might be returned due to personal taste.

Those millions of holiday returns stock the refurb shelves with tons of merchandise so you’re sure to find a great refurb item that fits your taste at an amazing affordable price.

3.Product Does Not Match Description on Website or in Catalog

Refurbished items are the perfect time for you to cash in on a previous seller’s mistake. The growth of e-commerce has led to buyers to trust online catalog information more than ever. Unfortunately, that information isn’t always perfect. This can lead to a buyer returning a product that is in perfect working order, but simply wasn’t what they thought they were buying.

Perhaps the website listed the wrong audio inputs on that home theater receiver or soundbar. If it isn’t compatible with the buyer’s TV, they will return it and now you can buy it as a heavily discounted refurb.

4.Product Did Not Meet Customer’s Expectations

Sometimes, a product simply doesn’t meet the customer’s expectations. This could be due to inferior quality, cosmetic damage, or a defective product. Sometimes these products can easily be fixed or cleaned up and sold like-new as a refurb. Other times they cannot.

For this reason, Secondipity.com extensively tests all our products to meet manufacturer certified refurbishment standards. Additionally, we stand by all our products with a 30-day money back guarantee. If you are interested in learning more about the advantages of buying refurbished from Secondipity.com, you can check out our previous blog posts “Why Buy Refurbished?” and “Get The Facts on Refurbished.”