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London:
Online retailer Amazon could soon allow people to swap gifts they
don't want with the items they really want.
The company has been granted a patent application that will make
it easy for them to request a different item in place of the gift
ordered by a friend or relative.
The news will cheer those who receive pairs of novelty socks or
jars of bath salts for Christmas.
The patent, entitled "System and method for converting gifts", was
granted by the United States Patent Office, and lists Amazon's
founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, as one of the inventors,
reports the Telegraph.
If rolled out across the Amazon site, it will allow users to set
up 'rules', so that whenever an order is placed by a well-meaning
but clueless relative, the item is automatically substituted for a
gift certificate of the same value, or a similar-priced item from
the recipient's Amazon 'wish list'.
"As in other gift-giving situation, it sometimes occurs that gifts
purchased online do not meet the needs of tastes of the gift
recipient," reads the patent.
"In such situations, the recipient may wish to convert the gift to
something else, for example, by exchanging the gift for another
item or by obtaining a redemption coupon, gift card or other gift
certificate to be redeemed later."
The system could also allow Amazon users to block friends and
relatives from buying certain gifts, could keep a record of the
correct clothing sizes, and even send automated thank-you notes to
the gift-giver.
Amazon has not yet indicated whether it has started to build the
system outlined in the patent, or whether it plans to make the
gift conversion tool available on its site.
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