Make money on Christmas gift exchanges

Figures from BankID Bankaxept show that Norwegians have done Christmas shopping for a total of NOK 97 billion. Much of this was Christmas presents.

We’re going to show you how you can make big money on the Christmas present you’ve received by using what’s called “open purchase”.

TV 2 helps you have gone through the schemes for price matching, exchange of goods and the right to get the money back at bookshops, toy shops, sports and electronics chains.

See overviews further down in the case.

There are big differences between the industries, but if you are smart you can make money.

In a separate division

The sports chain XXL is absolutely best in class when it comes to price guarantees. If you can buy identical goods in Norwegian stores at a lower price within 30 days of the purchase date, XXL will refund the difference.

But remember to bring a receipt.

You can thus check on Prisjakt.no or Prisguiden.no whether the item you received for Christmas has been reduced in price and receive the full discount in your account.

On expensive products such as slalom skis, bicycles and hiking equipment, you can suddenly make a few thousand from such an arrangement.

– What they offer is quite extreme. Most will struggle to offer the same, says senior legal advisor Thomas Iversen at the Consumer Council.

The other sports chains do not have similar arrangements.

A lot of money to save

Norwegian CEO Christoffer Reina at Prisjakt.no will not be surprised if you find your Christmas present on offer this Christmas.

– Last year’s prices dropped significantly by two to three per cent during Christmas last year. It may not sound like much, but these are the total numbers. This means there are opportunities for much better offers with both 20 and 30 per cent discounts, says Reina.

If you look at TVs, for example, the average price last year was NOK 17,402. During the rum Christmas sale, it was nine percent cheaper: NOK 15,769.

Laptops also had a nine percent price drop, while computer monitors became five percent cheaper.

Cross-country shoes became seven percent cheaper, according to figures from Prisjakt.no.

This shows that there is a lot of money to be made by demanding the deposit back from the sports and electronics chains.

Don’t rely on “price match”

Some electronics chains match prices against individual stores, while others match against all Norwegian stores. Some also have reservations about Black Friday, room Christmas sales etc.

What is similar is that the customer must notify the store at the time of purchase. In online stores, notification must be given immediately after the item has been ordered, in order to get a price match.

But what is strange is that all the electronics stores offer open purchase for between 30 and 60 days. You can then return the product and get your money back.

If you find your Christmas present cheaper in another store, you can therefore deliver the gift to the original store and make money by buying it at the room Christmas sale.

So why aren’t “price match” and “open purchase” designed the same?

– I think the stores have done this quite deliberately. There is a much greater threshold for the consumer to take the item back to the store, says Thomas Iversen of the Consumer Council.

The store cannot refuse the customer to use “open purchase” even if the goal is a price reduction:

– No, this is a binding agreement. From a sustainability perspective, I hope the store pays the deposit to the customer instead of taking the item back.

Thomas Iversen in the Consumer Council encourages all customers to contact customer service about this before sending the package back and burdening the environment.

Elkjøp is trying to find a solution

Norway’s largest electronics chain Electricity purchase aims to find a solution for the customer:

– 50 days open purchase and price match are two separate customer benefits, but we exercise discretion and will always strive to make the trade-in as simple as possible.

– We are environmentally conscious in our considerations and should the situation described here arise, we will find a solution for the customer in question, says sustainability manager and communications advisor Stina Winther in Elkjøp.

Problematic Christmas exchange

Estimates that Virke, the main organization for the trade and service industry, has prepared for TV 2 help you, show that the turnover of purely online shops will be around NOK 4.71 billion in December.

Many people have thus received Christmas presents that have been bought online. If you are going to exchange the gift, it can present problems.

Heavy gifts can incur large costs in return, and even if you have a 14-day statutory right of cancellation for online purchases, this is hardly enough compared to when the giver actually bought the gift.

– I know that in several online stores you can tick off whether it is a Christmas present when the customer has shopped. It has given a longer right of return.

– If this is not the case with the gift you have received, I would contact customer service. If you ask in a polite way, you will usually get an unused and unopened gift exchanged, says Iversen of the Consumer Council.

Not so easy

According to Virke’s forecasts, 3.2 times as many toys are sold in December as the average for the other months of the year.

But price matching, which is difficult to use and demands for payment of return shipping, mean that it is not easy to make money from any room Christmas sales.

Booksellers do not pay

The booksellers have the right of exchange as a policy, Norli 30 days and Sheet 90 days. You won’t get the money back, but you can get a bonus.

With online purchases, you of course have the statutory right of cancellation, and at Ark you can get your money back if you deliver the books in store. At Norli, you only get the opportunity to exchange the books.

As a customer, you should be aware that booksellers have different prices online and in physical stores. But you usually get the online price if you ask for it at checkout.

It’s good to think about when you’re going to exchange books for Christmas.