Presents for sale before the turkey's cold

Photo / Bay of Plenty Times.

All the gifts Kiwis never wanted made their way on to Trade Me within hours of being received.

More than 12,000 items were added to the website between 4pm on Christmas Day and midnight.

Spokesman Paul Ford said listings were up 20 per cent on 2009, with most items added between 8pm and 11pm on December 25.

An unwanted-gifts search revealed sellers hocking off DVDs for bargain prices, digital cameras, mobile phones, sunglasses, fishing gear, makeup and books. Santa's toy choices were not always on the mark, with listings for board games and action figurines.

An Elvis teddy bear kitted out in a white jewelled jumpsuit, listed by sunnyhoney1978, was sitting on a $51 bid yesterday afternoon.

"Received this from the mother-in- law for Christmas. Frankly I'd rather not keep him but someone else may love him," the seller wrote.

Mr Ford said a lot of women were selling presents from men.

"This indicates plenty of Kiwi blokes out there aren't particularly good at guessing what the ladies in their lives actually want to unwrap on Christmas Day.

"If you take a quick trawl aroundthe site you'll find a bunch ofwomen's perfumes that have failed to delight the receiver, and some adventurous lingerie deemed impractical by the recipient.

"Also popular, or unpopular, this year are women's necklaces and pendants, proving that many men really don't have taste."