Returning a Gift

yellowdaisies84

My FI and I received a very generous gift which was from our registry and very expensive. We absolutely love it and we're so grateful and appreciative to the guests who bought it for us. 

My FI had a suggestion for me. I don't love the suggestion because it feels "funny" but maybe it is the smart thing to do. The gift came with a gift receipt. We can return it for a full refund, then order the exact same item online from Amazon to save a bunch of $$ then spend the difference on other items that we need for our kitchen. (The difference is enough to cover 2 sets of our china.)

Is that totally fine to do that? Is that wrong? Like I said, I feel really funny about returning it to the store instead of keeping it, but maybe it is smart to do this. 

I will absolutely LOVE to hear your thoughts on this. You guys are always so helpful to me. I told my FI if he really wants to do it I'll support him (and we'd make sure to order the exact same model, colour, etc. so that the replacement is a perfect match.) but I don't know if this is morally wrong to do this.

Someone suggested to me a long time ago to register for 'lots of little things' on purpose so I could bring them back and exchange them later for bigger things and that seemed so wrong to me. This doesn't really feel 'wrong' because we'd still have the same item we were gifted, but it also doesn't feel totally right. Maybe it just feels weird to take something someone spent so much money on, and take it back to the store. It feels sneaky. But we wouldn't be pocketing the change or spending it on something frivolous, we'd get the same gift plus more 'wedding gift' type items that we do need.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

RebeccaB88

I would be uncomfortable doing this. 

[Deleted User]

RebeccaB88 said:

I would be uncomfortable doing this. 

co-signed.

Dreamergirl8812

I couldn't do it.

harper0813

I would also feel uneasy about doing this. I don't blame you for hesitating.

banana468

I wouldn't do it.

lizandmark2014

Keep the gift, I too feel strange doing this.

hnkirk81

I would feel guilty as well. I'd like to add though, that most stores only give store credit with a gift receipt, not cash. Also, the gift giver may very well have bought the item on sale, coupled with a fabulous coupon. Your "full refund" might not turn out to be as much as you'd hoped.

kathrynrf

I would feel terrible. Just think, what if if you have that person over sometime and they said "oh look, that's the blah blah blah I got you!" Sure, they won't know the difference, but you still have to lie to their face. 

I would recommend not doing this.

yellowdaisies84

Update to add: Thank you so much for sharing your opinions with me! I felt funny about this, but I wasn't sure if what my FI was proposing was sensible and smart. That is why I wanted to consult with you guys.  After reading your responses I realized that this just isn't what I want to do- so we are NOT going to do it! (He doesn't see the issue but he also doesn't want to do anything that I'm not comfortable with.)

The gift is really beautiful and I do love that it is the ONE that they picked for us. We're keeping it. 

Thanks again- so much!!!

southernbelle0915

I can see both sides of this one and I'm on the fence. I can see how you'd feel funny about it, but I can see how you'd justify doing it. 

I think this is one of those things where you go with your gut - if you feel funny about it, don't do it. In the big scheme of things, it's probably not worth it.