Why Do So Many Online Companies Do NOT Accept Gift Cards

It depends on the type of gift card. If it's store specific then Kohls.com should still take a Kohls gift card. But, no one else will take it. If it's a VISA gift card, you should be able to put input the number as a credit card number. I know when we use Visa or MC gift cards at the store they're entered as credit cards. I would think it would be the same way.
On another note, I buy stuff online all the time. Most sites have safeguards against getting your ID stolen now, as do most of the credit card companies.
And on a totally different note, I wouldn't buy something from a store if they didn't have an contact information on their website. That seems a little fishy. I'd keep looking until you can find a similar product from a different retailer.

If they are visa/mc etc, you need to run them as a credit card. But I wanted to let you know one thing about those. Unless they have fixed this problem in the last six months or so, if you try to run a $25 gift card on a $53 purchase, it can get denied. You have to run those gift cards for the exact balance that is on them, or less. You can run a $25 card for a $19 purchase, but not a higher amount. We always ran into this problem in a restaurant I worked in, and spent tons of time on the phone with the card companies to find out the exact balance, so that we could type that amount in specifically. You can't really do that with an online purchase though, so they will only work on purchases for less than their balance. Then you will need to get the balance and use the rest at the store and let them know what the balance is. Hopefully they fixed that issue, it is a pain.

But I agree that I wouldn't use any card at a site that didn't have a phone number for a help line. And online purchases (at a secure website) are some of the safest transactions you can do. Identity theft rarely occurs from that. It is much more likely to occur from giving your card to a person over the phone or at a restaurant, or to occur from someone hacking a store's database and getting all thier customers' info.

As Shaun said, if it's a Visa/MC/American Express Gift Card enter it as a credit card, not a gift card on the site. If it's a store specific gift card it shouldn't be a problem on their site. I use gift cards all the time for online orders and have never had a problem.

Good luck,
K.

I don't know if they are set up to access the same info they can access by swiping at a register. I pretty much know that i can only use gift cards at the actual store. but try calling customer service or emailing them if they don't have a number.

online businesses are often small businesses who cannot support the extra expenses of upgrading their websites to use those cards or who have bought a template website from a company that did not integrate that service and now cannot change it.

I'm a small business owner. I get the dilemma.

Lots of time the actual physical store and the on-line store with the name are 2 separate companies. It's kind of like trying to use a JC Penney gift card at Sears.