CANBERRANS are holding on to their festive underwear and beer machines but are returning the towels given to them by relatives, with retailers keeping a tally of the unwanted Christmas gifts being returned to the shops.
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Generous return and exchange policies made good sense for some businesses because it encouraged shoppers to outlay more money with the knowledge they could swap things later if they needed to, ACT Chamber of Commerce chief executive Chris Peters said.
He predicted the number of returns would increase this month, as people came back from their holidays.
Janelle Roberts visited the Belconnen Target store during the week to return a shirt she bought herself for Christmas that did not fit her correctly.
General manager of Target stores Colin Haggerty said such returns were common at this time of year.
''Surprisingly we haven't seen anyone exchange our jingle bells range of lingerie or the beer machine so they must have been a hit with customers,'' he said.
Mr Peters warned that not all shops were as generous.
''A significant amount of people do take gifts back in the hope of exchanging them but many consumers do not understand they are not entitled to an exchange or refund under the law - it's only if it's faulty,'' he said.
