What are Amazon Coins?
Everything you need to know about Amazon Coins for apps and games
Sort of like Jeff Bezos’s answer to the Brixton pound – currency that can only be spent in the London area’s local businesses – Amazon Coins are a method of digital payment engineered by the eponymous company, although rather than benefiting local businesses, the money is going straight into the pockets of the world’s richest man.
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Amazon Coins can’t be used to purchase anything you like on Amazon, however; they are reserved for apps and games, and the more you buy, the larger the discount.
Here’s everything you could conceivably need to know about Amazon Coins.
Amazon Coins: What are they?
As mentioned above, the Amazon Coins system is a digital payment method created by Amazon. It first burst onto the scene in mid-2013, with the initiative still going strong six years down the line. You can use Amazon Coins to buy apps, games and digital in-app purchases – but not physical in-app purchases, say clothes through the Asos app for example – through the Amazon Appstore.
Using Amazon Coins equates to great value if you’re someone who purchases a lot of games and apps. If you buy Coins in bulk, for example, you can save up to 20% on the digital currency. Likewise, if you make in-app purchases, you can collect promotional Coins, with some games offering 30% of your coins back when you make an in-app purchase.
It’s worth noting that Amazon Coins can only be used to make purchases in their entirety, meaning you can’t use your Coins to contribute towards a portion of purchase and use cash to pay for the rest of it. In other words, if you’ve got 20 Coins to your name and a game costs 100, you’ll need to purchase more coins in order to buy the game.
Amazon Coins: Where can I use them?
Currently, you can redeem Amazon Coins on Android devices and Fire tablets using the Amazon Appstore or when purchasing digital in-app items in eligible apps downloaded through the store, as well as on Amazon’s main website.
If you’re an Android smartphone user who’s yet to start using the Amazon Appstore, click here for a handy how-to guide to get started. Do note you can’t get the Appstore app through the Google Play Store in the same fashion as other Amazon apps.
Users on all three platforms can save up to 20% with apps, games and digital in-app items with Amazon Coins.
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Amazon Coins: How can I use them?
Like an iTunes gift card, Amazon Coins are available for purchase with real money. Currently, 100 Coins are worth £1, but you can buy 300 Coins for £2.94. They can be purchased on Android devices and Fire Tablets through the Amazon Appstore, as well as in the Amazon Shopping app or on the Amazon website.
Once you’ve bought some Amazon Coins, you can use them in Amazon Appstore to buy games, apps and in-app purchases. Or you can by premium apps and games on the Appstore for Android section of Amazon’s website.
If you’re using an Android device or Fire tablet, tap the app price from the detail page in the Amazon Appstore app or on an in-app item within an eligible app. Here, Amazon Coins will, handily, be the default option. Simple enough. From there, select Buy Now with Amazon Coins if you’re purchasing an app or a game, or Buy Item, if you want to buy an in-app item.
If you’re using Amazon Coins the old-fashioned way, via the Amazon website, you’ll be able to view payment option for a game or app at the checkout. Alongside the regular one-click payment option, you’ll also see Amazon Coins as an alternative payment choice. Users can choose either option.
It’s worth noting that you can’t buy subscriptions and some other items using Amazon Coins, nor can you buy items from outside the Amazon Appstore or make in-app purchases with apps that haven’t been downloaded through the Appstore. You also can’t redeem the coins for cash or an Amazon gift card.
Amazon Coins: Is there an expiration date?
Coins that you’ve purchased won’t expire, meaning you’ve got indefinite amounts of time to mull over which games, apps and in-app items you want to spend them on.
However, Coins you earn when you purchase specific items – such as a Fire tablet – do expire, 12 months after you first receive them, so look alive!