The Commerce Commission is releasing a series of Christmas videos to help consumers avoid Christmas shopping hassles this festive season.

The videos cover topics including gift cards, extended warranties, and refunds and returns for those unloved gifts. Commissioner Anna Rawlings said the first video contains a few simple but important tips about shopping from the convenience of your couch.

“Online shopping is a great way to avoid the Christmas madness but it can get messy. Our first tip is to check if your supplier can actually deliver your gifts in time for Christmas Day. We’ve also got tips about buying event tickets, and what to look for in the fine print when shopping online,” said Ms Rawlings.

“And we will have advice about Boxing Day sales, which now seem to start well before Christmas. There’ll be information for consumers and we’ll be reminding retailers about the messages we put out earlier this year in our open letter on pricing and our pricing video.”

The videos will be released in the lead-up to Christmas on the Commission’s YouTube channel and Facebook and Twitter pages.

The videos are presented by former Fair Go host Gordon Harcourt, who is now a member of the Commission’s communications team.