Some merchants that I currently shop at regularly have deals on airline shoppoing portals such as SkymilesShopping.com. Many of their offers far exceed anything that I could normally get with my loyalty credit card, such as 5 miles per dollar spent, etc.

I was wondering if it would be possible to purchase gift cards through the shopping portal to maximize mileage accrual? Does anyone know if these merchants typically award mileage for gift cards?