Now I know that I can give gold to others by clicking on the "donate to (username)" choice underneath the user's avatar on their page. But I'm kinda sketchy on how to receive it. (I know that sounds unusual )

On two occasions another user gave me gold and even though I received a pm stating that I was given gold, I was later told by the user that I gave back the gold when I'm pretty sure I didn't return their gift.

This makes me think that I was supposed to do something on my end to actually receive the gold. But maybe because I had no idea I had to formally accept the gift, their gold just went back to the giver automatically.

Can anyone let me know what I have to do to receive and keep the gold I'm given. Sorry for asking such a basic question.

With the donate option, there's nothing the receiving user has to do, it should go right into their account. I think what we have going on here is an extension of the gold system problem we saw with marketplace at the beginning of the year.
You haven't been able to receive gold from users, but have you noticed your own gold count going down, coinciding with these donations? Users were getting double charged in the marketplace, but it sounds like this is a new thing to crop up, if this is just a "return to sender" thing.
What about the users who donated, could you get them in on this? If we knew who they were we would have a first hand account of what they were experiencing. I'm hoping they are comfortable commenting and helping us out...

That's the thing, I'm pretty sure I received the gold. It's just that, when the user told me that I had given the gift back, I second guessed myself as to whether or not I saw my gold count increase to begin with.

At the time, I didn't give gold to anyone else yet because I had so little. So I don't believe my count went down. This could just be a little misunderstanding, but I don't want to seem ungrateful to the user who sent me the gifts so that's why I'm asking.

I'll pm the user to ask if they're ok with commenting. Thanks.

We've done some testing, and it appears that there isn't anything going on with the system, including your account. So this is baffling, if it isn't an misunderstanding.

Thank you for testing things out. I'm starting to believe that it is just a little oversight and nothing more.

Sorry to be a bother. I promise I wasn't trying to waste anyone's time. If I have anymore questions I'll be sure to ask in here again. Thanks again.

Don't worry about it! We're here for the questions :)
If you figure it was going on, like something other than oversight (or if you confirm it), feel free to let us know.