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Etiquette Experts: Regifting Is Okay, But You Have To Know The Rules

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- If you get a holiday gift that's not quite right, don't worry about giving it back, you can simply pay it forward.

It's not uncommon to re-gift a present that you've received, but as CBS2's Scott Rapoport reported, there are some rules you need to know.

Re-gifting, wrapping up stuff we already got, decided we didn't want, and giving it away to others, is something that many people are guilty of during the holidays.

"I've regifted a lot. I'd probably re-gift to you if we were friends," one New Yorker said.

Etiquette expert Tom Farley, AKA Mr. Manners, unabashedly keeps a trunk of stuff that he's received, but knows he doesn't want, and plans to give to others.

He said the first rule is to never regift to people in the same gifting circle such as friends or family.

"It can be very dangerous if your best friend sees the gift they thought you were gonna love in the home of someone else that you're friends with," Farley said.

Make sure the regift is something that the person will actually like.

"The idea here is you are not dumping your junky gifts on somebody else. You're giving it to them because you think they will genuinely appreciate it," he said.

Never regift in the original wrapping.

"The least you can do is give it a nice fresh set of wrapping paper. This is also to ensure there is no hidden gift card you missed the first time around. Awkward," Farley said.

Clothing should only be re-gifted if it has never been worn and you're sure it's going to fit.

Every gift should be unused and unopened, and always make sure to get rid of "to" and "from" tags.

As for time limits on regifting, Farley said if it's a timeless gift, 5 years is not too long.

However, he pointed out that if you wait too long you might accidentally give it to the person who gave it to you originally.

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