Last Updated on September 23, 2021 by BookScouter

Gift-giving is such a fun and exciting part of the holiday season! But every year you likely find yourself burdened with some gifts that you really don’t want. Never fear – you can sell unwanted holiday gifts with minimal effort, and you can use your profits to buy something you actually want…like groceries or that trip to Iceland!

Resell Unwanted Jewellery

If you receive jewelry that just doesn’t quite suit your taste, don’t worry – you don’t have to wear it. Jewelry is one of the easiest items to resell. Pawnshops will often buy jewelry that’s in good condition, even if it’s costume jewelry. However, you can make more money off of genuine silver and gold.

It doesn’t matter if your boyfriend bought you a truly hideous necklace – as long as it’s real silver or gold, or contains authentic precious gemstones like diamonds or sapphires, you can sell it to a pawn shop. Even if they don’t think the entire item could be easily resold, they can weigh it and quote you a price based on the current price of gold, silver, etc. A pawn shop can also help you out if you aren’t quite sure if your jewelry is authentic. Pawnshop employees are usually jewelry experts and can tell you if your gems are real diamonds or cheap cubic zirconia. 

If you’ve never sold anything to a pawn shop, be prepared and take along your driver’s license. In many states, the state law requires that you provide your driver’s license before selling to a pawn shop. This serves as a safeguard to ensure that stolen goods can be tracked down. If you don’t have a local pawn shop, you could list your unwanted bling on eBay or Poshmark instead. Be as descriptive as possible in your listing.

Resell Electronics You Don’t Need

If you receive electronics (like a new cell phone, tablet, fitness tracker, or video game console) that you don’t want or need, do your best to keep it in the original package. An unopened electronic will yield a much higher resale price than one that has been opened, even if the product is unused. As with most of the other items on this list, eBay is a good place to list electronics for sale.

Speaking of which, you can resell electronics on sites like eBay.

If a well-meaning relative gets you the wrong accessory, like a PlayStation 4 controller for your Xbox One X, go ahead and sell it. The same goes for hideous phone and tablet cases that just don’t fit your style. While these things may not fetch huge amounts of money, getting even a modest amount of money is better than having these unwanted things cluttering up your home.

Resale Gift Cards

Gift cards are an excellent gift, but sometimes you receive a gift card to a place you don’t really like. If that happens to you, don’t fall into the trap of forcing yourself to find something to buy just to use up the gift card. 

Remember that some gift cards have expiration dates – you wouldn’t want a valuable gift card to get buried in your wallet only to resurface as an expired, worthless piece of plastic. Instead, you can usually resell gift cards themselves, often for a high percentage of the original value. Then you can use the cold, hard cash to buy things you actually want or need. The great thing about selling gift cards is that the physical cards are inexpensive to ship, and egift cards can be emailed to the buyer for no cost. Check out sites like Raise or CardCash to list your gift cards for sale.

Tools and Appliances with the Highest Resale Value

Because tools can be bulky and heavy to ship, it is often better to sell them locally, through a platform like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. This helps you avoid hefty shipping costs. Brand new tools might sell at a higher price, but used tools in good condition still have good resale value. So if you’re gifted a new tool that’s a duplicate of one you already have, you could keep the higher quality one for yourself and sell the cheaper version. If you are the type of homeowner who is helpless at-home repairs and calls a repair-person every time something breaks, save yourself the storage space and sell any tool you don’t know how to use.

What to Do with Strange Unwanted Gifts? 

What do you do with that weird sweater your Aunt Muriel bought you? Well, first, check online to see if it came from Walmart, Kohl’s, Macy’s, or Land’s End. All of these stores will allow you to return anything from their stores without a receipt as long as the item still has the original tags or is in the original packaging. Your refund will typically be issued in the form of a gift card or store credit, which you can use in-store or online to buy pretty much anything you want. 

Just be forewarned that your refund may not be as much as you expect if you looked the item up online. If the item was on sale at any point in the recent past, you will be refunded the sale price. Also, note that the specifics of return policies vary by state. For instance, Walmart requires that you show your driver’s license so they can record the number of returns you make with no receipt. In most states, the store will not allow you to make more than three receipt-less returns per year. 

Reselling Unwanted Clothing

Designer clothes and handbags are great sellers on sites like Tradesy, Poshmark, and of course, eBay.

If you’ve received a gift of designer clothes or a high-end purse that you just don’t like, your best bet is to try to sell it right away. The items that fetch the highest prices are those that are recent (not from several seasons ago) and ideally, still have the tags on. If you have trouble selling your clothes or bags yourself, or you just don’t want to deal with managing the sale listings, you could request a cleanout kit from ThredUp. This will allow you to send your items in all at once – you can even include other clothes you want to get rid of, as long as they’re in good condition. ThredUp will handle the listings and shipping, and you will get paid!

Resell Unwanted or Used Books

If you’re an avid reader, it is common for people to gift you with books. If you don’t like the books they chose for you or if you simply don’t want them to be part of your permanent library, use the BookScouter app to fetch the highest possible resale price for the book!

Whether you’re returning a gift or reselling it for cash, remember to be tactful. Someone purchased the gift with you in mind, and it might hurt their feelings to know you’re getting rid of it. I find it easiest to just get rid of the gift and be honest if ever asked about it, saying something like, “It was so kind of you to get me that necklace! The chain was a little short so I returned it to get something that suited me better.” you don’t have to be obvious about getting rid of your gift. Say a heartfelt thank you, and when listing your item for sale, make sure the gift-giver can’t see it out of respect for them. For example, if you list it in a Buy-Sell-Trade group on Facebook, ensure that the person who gave you the gift isn’t a member of the group. 

Happy reselling, returning, regifting, and of course, happy holidays!

This article was written by BookScouter contributor Crystal Koenig.

Crystal Koenig is a freelance writer and adjunct college instructor based in Southern Utah. She holds a PhD from Washington University in St. Louis.