Remember Taj Mahal. Perhaps the earliest of gifts that Shah Jahan gifted to his beloved. This was a gift that even the late queen Mumtaz couldn’t deny from heaven.

This was a time when gift-giving was considered a symbol of prestige, symbol and everlasting relationship. The gifts were, usually mostly, priceless masterpieces. These were kept with the receiving party till the end of their years.

These days the culture of gift-giving has leveled to an entirely new style. From a simple visit to your cousin’s house to a full-fledged invitation to a family function, gift-giving is tied to nearly every special occasion, festivity and meet up.

However, the only thing changed today is the pattern of the same. Today, more and more people prefer gifting the items of utility and take gifting as a ritual to be performed. In such a scenario, sometimes, we are left with items that are of no utility to us.

Hence, here are a few ideas you can apply for your gift returns.

Ask and Keep the Receipts
Mostly, shopkeepers, businesses and marketplaces turn away the customers straight away if they have no receipt for the product they wish to exchange or return.

Therefore, if you are planning to return your holiday gifts, keep the receipts handy. If the gift is without the receipt, don’t be shy in asking the gift-giver for the same.

Till you have the gift receipts, this option is good to go. However, if neither the gift giver nor you have the receipt, be prepared to look out for some other way to utilize the gift return.

This might happen for example, in a case the giver had bought the gifts from a wholesaler merchant.

Be Aware Before Throwing Away the Packaging Paper
Very often, while opening the gift wrappings, we don’t consider the fact that we would probably need to return the gift later on. Hence, it’s always a good idea to unwrap the gift tenderly enough to preserve the packaging box or paper.

Pull out the tapes smoothly to not tear away the surface. Keep the wrapping paper as it is flattened below your mattress or notebook so as to avoid the creases. All this is to make sure that you’d be able to return the gift properly to the merchant.

Verify Return & Exchange Policies
In case of gift items of considerable prices, usually they come with some kind of return policy. Mostly, they come with deadlines and time limits to return the gifts.

However, for items like electronics, gadgets or glass items, the deadlines might be relatively shorter. Therefore, it is a good idea to verify all these policies before returning the gift to the respective store. You might as well require your ID in order to contact the store if it’s a
branded one.

Return or Exchange Soon Enough
The more you wait, the more wears out the gift return. The sooner you realize that you are going to return this gift to a shop owner, the sooner you should begin. Ideally, it’s not a good idea to wait for a few months or even weeks to start the return or exchange process.

Besides this, some companies or brands also offer certain amount of cashback or coupon in case the return gifts are returned in a given timeline of purchase.

Communicate for Future
Usually the older people have a tendency to follow the tradition of gift giving regularly while they visit or meet their younger ones.
In cases where the gift giver is your grand mom or some elder aunt, you can comfortably communicate that you’d prefer to receive cash instead of the packaged gifts. And that, you’d be able to purchase a gift of your choice with this cash.

Besides, if there is that friend or cousin you have with whom you’d like to exchange your gift during a kiddy party or wedding ceremony, there is no bad in politely communicating the same.