Meanwhile in Canada major book retail chains agreed on a common gift card with quarterly clearing. Canadian bookstore gift cards can be used both on-line and off-line, and YOU CAN BUY GIFT CARDS for them, even on-line, without getting the physical card (just the code).
That is it is possible to do a rollover, making it a usable liquid currency. I can safely accept Canadian bookstore gift card codes as payment, beacuse I will immediately buy a new code for them, making sure the payer cannot use the old one.
The company behind the system is http://www.givex.com

Keep them on your radar, I say.

PS: Russian bookstores have switched to WebMoney long time ago. The gift certificates that they sell are just branded WebMoney (paymer) cards.