Gift Givers Over Avoid Sending Used Gifts

Research has shown mismatches between the gifts that givers give and the gifts that recipients want. However, these mismatches are mostly observed in decisions regarding new products. With the rapid growth of the resale market, an important yet overlooked question is whether givers send used items as often as receivers expect. This study investigates how givers and receivers choose between used gifts that match receivers' tastes and new gifts that are less taste matching. We demonstrate a giver–receiver mismatch: benchmarked against receiver willingness, givers over-avoid sending used gifts. This occurs because givers are more sensitive to the brand-newness norm and less sensitive to taste match than receivers are. This mismatch is mitigated when gifts are exchanged on casual occasions, between close friends, when used gifts are of poor quality, or when the purpose of gifting is to encourage resource utilization. Our study contributes to the gift-giving literature by demonstrating an understudied giver–receiver mismatch and a novel gift-giving norm.