British shoppers will spend more than £26 billion on gifts this holiday season, with the average shopper expected to shell out £410 on presents.
Some of that holiday season money has already left buyers’ pockets, as an estimated 4 million U.K. consumers began Christmas shopping in January and about 40 percent shopped year-round to spread out the spending.
However, about 22 percent of Brits were projected to wait until this month to start crossing people off their gift lists, according to eBay U.K. Some will even wait until “the few days before Christmas” to buy.
The company finds that shoppers will pay for gifts in a variety of ways. About 4 percent will use their holiday bonuses, about 22 percent will look to cut their expenses in the weeks leading up to Christmas to fund their gift giving and about 6.3 million Brits—10 percent of the population—will sell unwanted items to pay for presents.
eBay did not say how much this segment of the population will make from their sales, but it adds that the average U.K. household is sitting on £1,045 of unwanted items.
“Shoppers are looking for alternative ways to cover the Christmas cost this year, many of whom are getting savvier and have realized how easy it is to sell unwanted items to make some fast festive cash,” says eBay spokesperson Laura Wilkinson.
She notes that with eBay apps, Brits can list items in as little as 60 seconds.
“A quick household declutter in the run up to Christmas could help smart shoppers spoil the ones they love whilst keeping an eye on the purse strings this Christmas,” Wilkinson reports.