I was going to buy a gift card the other day for a friend who did me a favor. There are two really nice Nordstrom stores near her. When I got to the page to where to send the card, it turns out that I had to put in her phone number and that she had to activate the card from that exact phone number. I ended up not ordering the Nordstrom gift card and just got her an American Express g.c. instead...that way she could use it anywhere.