Amazon Strategy Will Block Lousy Gifts Before They Hit Mail

Tired of getting strange, useless gifts from bizarro relatives each year? Now Amazon.com is working on an online solution to the annual holiday headache, patenting a tool to ban lousy gifts and gift-givers, and give you a head start on cashing in on bad presents before they are ever sent, reports the Washington Post. The patent would allow users to exchange gifts based on a range of criteria, such as sender or material, and offer an option of whether to inform the gift-giver of the exchange or not. You could, for example, block all gifts from slightly twisted Aunt Bessie.

Bad presents represent a real economic problem. Online retailers took in $28 billion in gift purchases this holidays, but with up to 30% of gifts returned, poor choices cost them billions. "If you can get the right gift to a person the first time, this could be a huge cost-saving invention," said a consumer technology analyst. But others disagree. "This idea totally misses the spirit of gift giving," said a spokeswoman for an etiquette institute.
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