Unwanted gifts ‘re-homed’

It seems that eBay is doing a brisk trade in unwanted Christmas gifts – so much so that the auction site is even offering free upgrades to new sellers who start flogging stuff before January 9th.
Reporting that about 1 million unwanted gifts had alreday made their way online in the first five days after Christmas, eBay’s Richard Kanareck said: “Whether it’s the wrong size, you have it already or it’s just not for you, ‘re-homing’ a present means it will find a new owner who will really appreciate it.”
According to The Times the spurned festive haul not only included gifts that had been perecived as more of an insult than a present – but also tokens which hadn’t even been opened.
It reported how one woman who had decided to take advantage of eBay’s cut-price service, was offering up a plaque inscribed “Desperately seeking chocolate, please give generously” which had been given to her for Christmas, with the words: “What can I say about this?! Perhaps the person who gave me it should have just bought me the b****y chocolate!”
Another seller was attempting to get rid of an unopened present from his father. Next to a description of the item he wrote: “Xmas is done, and Santa has gone and left behind this unwanted gift! Want to open it? I don’t! . . . I have had a lot of presents this year and would much rather the cash . . . Knowing my father it will not have been cheap . . .
But while Mr Kanareck might talk about “re-homing” in a positive way, isn’t it all a bit churlish? After all someone did go to the effort of remembering you, purchasing, wrapping and presenting the item. Whatever happened to it being the thought that counts?