Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 31, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Interest is particularly high among 14- to 29-year-olds. In this group, almost one in five (17 percent) will even make use of this option. As age increases, however, the rate then continues to decline. Among those over 60, only 2 percent still plan to offer unwanted gifts online. The Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) announced this today in Berlin. The basis is the WebMonitor from BITKOM and Forsa. 1001 Germans over the age of 14 were surveyed representatively. “Not only when buying but also when selling gifts, the Internet plays an increasingly important role for many German citizens – especially now in the days after Christmas,” said Prof. August-Wilhelm Scheer, President of BITKOM.
Interest in selling unwanted Christmas gifts over the Internet is equally high in east and west: 11 percent in each case plan to use this option. There are slight differences between the sexes, however. While 13 percent of men intend to offer gifts on the Internet this year, the figure for women is only 9 percent.
Incidentally, private sellers do not have to grant a right of cancellation or return on the Internet. Only commercial providers are obliged to do so. In addition, private individuals can exclude the statutory warranty. The notice “The goods are sold to the exclusion of any warranty” is sufficient. The notice becomes ineffective if the seller has concealed a defect or knowingly made false statements. Last but not least, it is important to observe copyrights. Anyone offering a gift online should not copy the manufacturer’s images, but photograph it themselves.
Online selling, however, is only one of many ways to deal with unwanted Christmas gifts. Every second German (48 percent) simply intends to keep such presents, every third (33 percent) to return them to the shop, and every fifth (21 percent) to give them to someone else. Only 4 percent throw the gifts away. Multiple answers were possible in the survey.
Methodology: The WebMonitor is a monthly survey by BITKOM and the opinion research institute Forsa on Germans’ Internet use. Around 1000 people aged 14 and over who live in private households are surveyed each time. The survey is representative.
