Studying the holiday phenomenon of re-gifting.

The season of giving has returned, and the recycled giving with it.

The process most often dubbed “re-gifting” starts when a person receives a gift that they have no use for—or simply loathe—and ends with that individual finding a way to pawn that gift off on another as if they had purchased the gift personally.

Once assumed to be the exclusive practice of the classless, recent research has shown that more Americans have pulled off the trick than many would imagine. According to a recent survey commissioned by eBay, 52 percent of the surveyed participants admitted to re-giving an unwanted item to someone else at least once.

Another finding from that same survey illuminates one logical reason why: nearly 60 percent of Americans report receiving unwanted gifts.

Although most items being re-gifted are not edible, a startling amount of people who took the survey—a full 31 percent—admitted to re-gifting a fruitcake.

For the average gifter, successfully re-gifting those unwanted items can be a little nerve-racking. Fortunately, experts like MSN Money Editor MP Dunleavy have rolled out some guidelines. Dunleavy’s advice includes the following: 1. Update the wrapping; 2. Keep track of who gave you the item in the first place; 3. Don’t give products from defunct companies; and 4. Don’t give something you’ve owned for a while.

The rules reflect common sense, but also indicate that—while disliking a gift is easy—getting rid of unloved so-called presents sometimes requires some skill. The Weekly set out to encounter a re-gifter to further explore the discipline—and immediately ran into a wall. Turns out finding a re-gifter that is willing to fess up to their exploits is not easy.

Nevertheless, after intense interrogation of friends, family and fellow shoppers—and several doomed friendships later—a self-proclaimed re-gifting expert, unemployed Seaside resident Chris Deacon, revealed himself.