[GeoffR]

There used to be an option to gift a book in some countries, there was a "Gift" button beside the "Buy" button, and the person receiving the gift could choose to accept either the book or store credit for the amount you paid for it.

But they removed that option over a year ago and I don't think it is available anywhere now. It was a useful option because you could gift books to people in oher countries where the book was not available due to georestrictions.

Some countries still have the eGift option to send a virtual gift card, the recepient gets the store credit for the value of the gift. (Edit: The recipient of the gift can be in any country except Japan.)