Americans Will Return Up to $100B in Gifts
One hot return: Hoverboards that start fires.
Numerous hoverboards, a popular gift this year, have caught fire in the U.S.
The holidays are a special time of giving, followed by a time of returning the stuff people didn't want. Americans spent an estimated $630 billion on presents this year, according to the National Retail Federation, which also projects that up to 15 percent of those gifts will be returned -- amounting to nearly $100 billion in receipts for defective electronics or sweaters that were the wrong color.
Processing gift returns or exchanges is part of the holiday shopping season for stores, but scams can also end up costing them a fortune this time of year. Fraudulent receipts or the return of stolen merchandise are expected to cost retailers $2.2 billion this year, according to Bob Moraca, vice president of Loss Prevention with the National Retail Federation.
"While technology has played a significant role in deterring many in-person fraudulent transactions that would have otherwise gone unseen, there is little that can be done to prevent a determined criminal who will find a loophole one way or another," Moraca said in a press release.
Online sales increased between 6 percent and 8 percent this holiday season, which can make it more difficult for scammers to defraud the system but doesn't make much of a difference when it comes to legitimate gift returns.
Tech toys were among the most sought-after gifts this holiday. Hoverboards didn't have a very merry Christmas, however, as the lithium ion batteries that power the trendy self-balancing scooters have started numerous fires. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating at least 22 hoverboard fires in 17 states. Amazon is offering refunds for the defective devices and urging people to recycle them to avoid the risks that they could start a fire while being returning in the mail.
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