Up to £1 billion worth of gadgets could end up on the Christmas scrapheap in the form of unwanted gifts, a study suggests.
Despite technology topping wishlists this year, a third of people (31 per cent) have received a Christmas gadget that they never or hardly ever use, the poll for the British Video Association found.
Digital photo frames, foot spas and blenders top the list of unwanted electrical gifts, followed by digital organisers, electronic Sudoku games and coffee machines.
Other gifts best avoided are digital radios, electric shavers and toothbrushes and breadmakers.
Anecdotal Christmas gaffs reported by those polled include lady shavers, desk-top vacuum cleaners, candy floss machines, yoghurt makers, electric shoe polishers, shrink wrap machines and electronic facial brushes.
The average price of the gad-gets is £88.75, amounting to an estimated £1.1 billion worth of unwanted gifts in the UK, the study found.
Top reasons given for shunning the presents were not having time to use them (39 per cent), not seeing the point of them (23 per cent), not liking them (18 per cent), not wanting to keep cleaning them (10 per cent), and not knowing how to use them (seven per cent).
Jon Bentley, presenter of Five’s The Gadget Show, said: “While the perfect gadget gift is a personal thing, there are some general rules of thumb to getting it right.
“A product that’s worthwhile and likely to be satisfying rather than a gimmick that seems clever at the time is a good bet, such as games consoles that let you play Blu-rays and DVDs as well as games, or internet-enabled mobile phones. Also, gadgets that improve recipients’ experience of something they already enjoy, such as an electronic book reader.”
BVA spokesman Simon Heller said: “Many of the gadget gaffes cited by our study are gifts that have a lot of novelty appeal but perhaps a limited shelf life.
“A candy floss maker is great for beating those Boxing Day blues but a games console or 3D Blu-ray player are future-proof. They’re gifts you’ll go back to all year round.” YouGov polled 1,983 adults online from October 8 to 11.