SITE HELPS WITH THOSE UNWANTED PRESENTS.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Your facial muscles still smart from the glued-on smile you held after opening those questionable holiday gifts - the things you see in stores and wonder who the heck would buy them.

The way Jack Scanlan sees it, you can either weather the lines at today's after-Christmas sales or you can stay warm in your flannel and slippers and log on to auctioncities.com for the Valencia-based company's Internet white elephant sale.

``If you happen to have that five-legged chair you want to get rid of, you can put it up there right now,'' said Scanlan, director of corporate communications for the company.

Auctioncities bills this sale, which runs today through Saturday, as the place to discretely dispose of ``ugly or unwanted gifts, though graciously received.''

Registration to list these rejects, sure to be the treasures of someone in cyberspace, is free.

``That's something that's unique to the Internet - there's no accounting for taste,'' Scanlan said. ``A pink lamp shade to me might be a white elephant. For someone else, it might be just what they're looking for.''

Small photos of these prizes also will be uploaded for free. The company makes its money through ads and by taking a percentage of the sale, depending on the total. Customers will be informed of that amount when they list.

The staff at Auctioncities, David to the Goliath that is eBay, formulated the plan for the reject holiday gift sale, relying on a credo of Scanlan's hero, legendary publicist Jim Moran.

``He asked me once 'Who's your audience?''' Scanlan said Friday. ``It's a handful of editors, who sit there every day reading the tragedies of the world. If you can bring them a ray of sunshine, make them take notice, you're good.''

The sale is perfect for those nonreturnable gifts or the ones from the growing number of retailers refusing cash refunds, Scanlan said.

Patricia Farrell Aidem, [phone]

pat.aidem(at)dailynews.com