Did Santa Claus bring you everything you wanted?
As Christmas comes to an end it has been suggested that nearly £2 billion was spent in the run-up to the festive period on unwanted gifts. This is an enormous figure which is backed up by the online auction site eBay which is seeing record transaction numbers at present. So have we really spent £2 billion on wasted gifts?
The fact is that for Christmas many people feel obliged to buy gifts for family and friends which are very often token gestures or items which they already have. More and more people are now moving towards gift vouchers and the like which allow friends and family to acquire the goods they need rather than being "saddled" with items they will never use but have a value in the marketplace.
There was also the fact that more and more people in the UK are struggling financially and sites such as eBay offer a very interesting and relatively anonymous option to liquidate some of their "assets". While prices can be a very subdued after Christmas because of the sudden deluge of similar items there are still substantial funds to be raised from the more savvy online consumers.
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