Grandad bought the wrong Xbox game? Or you simply just do not appreciate your husband’s taste in handbags?

Whatever the reason around £1.7bn worth of unwanted gifts were received last Christmas, according to the online auction site eBay. But before consigning that hideous jumper from your mother-in-law to the back of the cupboard, read our guide to your options when it comes to unwanted gifts.

If the present is in full working order, then retailers do not legally have to take it back. However, retailers want consumers to keep shopping with them, so most of the big high street names will exchange unwanted gifts – provided they are in perfect condition and the person returning the gift has the receipt.

John Lewis and Debenhams will take goods back up to 28 days after the date on the receipt, while HMV allows only 21 days and Harvey Nichols just 14 days – which could be a problem for those with relatives who did their Christmas shopping early.

Do not expect to be offered a cash refund, however. Stores are far more likely to offer store credit or an exchange for other items. However, again for customer loyalty reasons, some stores, including Marks & Spencer, do offer cash refunds to customers with valid receipts.

If you do not have a receipt it will be down to the retailer as to whether they offer an exchange.

Clothing is usually not a problem as it will have the store’s tags on. However, if the item is now on sale, without a receipt to prove it was bought at full price, stores would be within their rights to only offer an exchange or store credit to the lower sale price.

Those with duplicate computer games, but no receipt, also have the option of selling them to Game. Its used games exchange gives store credit in exchange for unwanted games.

For those unfortunate enough to have been given presents from a shop which has gone out of business, it can be very complicated.

When record store Zavvi went under in the run-up to Christmas 2008, those who had gift cards bought in the first few weeks of December received refunds from the receivers, while those who had bought cards just weeks earlier did not.

An alternative option for those who do not have a receipt is to put any unwanted presents up for sale. The growth in internet auction sites in recent years has made offloading unwanted gifts much easier. In fact some 150,000 unwanted gifts were listed for sale on Christmas Day last year.

Those with unwanted books or DVDs could try Amazon, while those with other goods can pay to list their gifts for sale on eBay or alternatively list them for free on Gumtree. The auction site eBay charges 50p to list an item up to the value of £29.99 and £1 for items up to a value of £100. It will then take 10% of the sale price up to a cap of £40.

Amazon charges a flat 86p for each item sold plus sliding commission on the price paid, ranging from 11.5% on camera equipment to 17.25% for books. It is possible to sell goods free of charge on Gumtree, however the site does regularly e-mail sellers suggesting they use paid for extras to help ensure a sale.

An alternative to selling unwanted Christmas presents is to swap them. Sites such as SwapXchange.org are basically just a 21st-century version of the old BBC Saturday morning children’s show Swap Shop. Users list the gifts they are willing to swap, along with what they would like in exchange and the site matches people up so that they can swap their goods.

Another option for unwanted gifts is to recycle them as gifts for other people. Just because you do not like something does not mean it will not make the perfect gift for someone you know. In fact, whether it is as a result of the recession and these troubled financial times or just an increasing sense of greenness, some 86% of Brits said they would be happy to recycle presents for Christmas 2010.

Anyone considering this option does need to be very organised however. The name of the present giver should be attached to the present until it is recycled and given to the new recipient in order to avoid any possibility of it accidentally being recycled back to the original present giver.

Finally for those who cannot bring themselves to reuse unwanted gifts but still do not want to consign a gift to the back of the cupboard, there is always the option of giving the gifts to charity.

That way at least they will be appreciated by the recipient.