My Amazon Wish List (maybe yours as well!)

 

From time to time, for various reasons, people want to buy stuff for their friends. I have found over the years that gifts from friends (and family) fall into one of three categories (and I take a guess at the distribution %):

1) Appreciated (for the gesture) but not a lot of use (one of those ones that, if you were honest, you'd regift but you don't want the giver to find out) (Hey, I'm just being honest here... we all get gifts like that... I'm sure I've *given* gifts that were looked at like that....)

Percentage: 35% (higher from family or acquaintances, lower from friends you share hobby activities with)

2) Appreciated and something you actually wanted (these tend to be useful because they both show your friends or family are thinking of you and fill a need or want)

Percentage: 55% (higher from friends, lower from family or acquaintances)

3) The odd time, one will come in that you wouldn't have said you wanted, but turns out to be something really neat that you actually do find fantastic.

Percentage: 10% (or less - this turns out to be hard to do)

Now, I ran across this many years back when I wanted to buy an e-friend across the pond a gift but had no idea what/how. He showed me that Amazon UK had a wish list and he had a bunch of stuff up there for these sorts of occasions, in all price ranges. He liked books, so it worked out well. It let me do something nice for him and get him something he wanted. It seemed somehow marginally less crass than just sending him twenty Pounds...

Well, I recently realized I've got a pile of things sitting in my shopping cart at amazon. I also realized that sometimes friends want to get you (or me) something and are struggling to think of what. Both the giver and the reciever would likely be happier if the present was desirable to the recipient. So, these wish-lists seem to fill that niche.

It would be nice if there was one place where you could reasonably store all your wish lists from all sources (ie woodworking tools, history books, sci fi and fantasy books, wargames, RPGs, kitchen tools, recipe books, computer books, computer games, martial arts books, model building and painting tools, etc). Realistically, that isn't going to happen.

But Amazon has this wishlist thing. And so I moved a bunch of stuff sitting in my shopping cart unbought out into a wish list.

You can see Thomas Barclay's entire Wish List at:
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/registry/122MQDBNI8CHD

I'm hoping that some of you might also have wishlists from Amazon or other places and will place them in the comments. Then I too can find shopping for a gift for my friends easier.

It's never about the size or even nature of a gift - the gesture is what really shows the affection and/or respect. That's what really matters. But given that, it is still nice to have your friend absolutely love your gift.

So, tell me about your wish lists too! (at Amazon, some other website, or just in text from the comments)