A dollars paypal account can be used on alot if merchant website whenever you want,,you can also use the paypal account to receive money worldwide...

as for amazon giftcards you cannot receive money on it,secondly the giftcard cannot be used in other websites,paypal account enables someone to make large payments but amazon giftcards have the maximum amount you can have available on the giftcards...

Obviously dollars paypal is very much better than amazon gift cards..