"Unless they run it through some re-gifting machine, or try to lift my fingerprints off it, how are they going to know it's a re-gift?" Champagne said in an interview while doing her Christmas shopping at the Manhattan Mall in New York City.

"They even live in another state. Besides, the candles had been under my bed for so long, it's like they are looking for a perfect home."

Champagne said she sees nothing wrong with giving unwanted presents to others as gifts and a survey conducted earlier this year by Harris Interactive and Tassimo Hot Beverage System showed she is far from alone.

Its results, which were released in October, showed that 78 percent of the more than 1,500 consumers polled think it's acceptable to re-gift some, or most, of the time.

More than 60 percent of the women surveyed admitted to re-gifting, or said they would do so in the future, compared with 37 percent of the men.

The term was popularized on an episode of the television series "Seinfeld," when character Elaine Benes angrily branded a friend a "re-gifter" for giving Jerry the same label-maker she had originally bought for the friend.

Regiftable.com, a Web site operated by Money Management International, offers advice to potential re-gifters so they can avoid similarly embarrassing situations.

The site doles out common sense suggestions, like do not give a partially used gift card or do not give someone a present they originally gave you.

The site also allows re-gifters and recipients to tell their horror stories.

Mike, from New York, writes of a wealthy great-aunt giving him a used pair of black socks and a partial bottle of men's cologne.

"I can only assume that these belonged to my great uncle who had passed away several years earlier," Mike wrote. "To this day, whenever I see thin, black, old man socks, I think of my aunt."

Kim, from Chicago, said her 8-year-old daughter gave her bundt cake mix for Christmas one year, which the child originally got from Kim's ex-husband.

"I was married to this man for 12 years," Kim wrote. "I have never owned a bundt cake pan, nor do I own one now."

Source: Reuters