User:AdenJoo34/sandbox

= Amazon Coin = From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazon Coin is a virtual currency developed by Amazon.com. Currently, the coins can only be used to purchase software for Kindle, Kindle Fire, and Android devices from within an app or from the Amazon Appstore and cannot be used on other appstores like Google Play. The user who purchases Amazon Coin can save upwards of 25% on apps and games. These Amazon Coins are only limited to the purchase of apps, games, and in-game items of the user's choice and also cannot purchase kindle books, movies, and television shows. . Upon purchasing, receiving, or redeeming any Amazon Coins, you are automatically accepting the terms and conditions of the program. Most apps and games are eligible to be purchased with Amazon Coin and most in-app purchases can be made with Amazon Coins which come with many perks. These purchases can be made in the app store, Amazon.com, or within apps that support Amazon Coin. These amazon coins can be purchased on Amazon.com like how one would purchase anything else on the website and can come in bundles that help save money for people.

History
Amazon introduced Amazon Coins on July 13, 2013 in the United States and gave 500 free coins valued $5/£3 to all users of Kindle Fire devices, who could use the coins to purchase apps, games, and in-app purchases on the Amazon Appstore. However, in 2014, Amazon started allowing all Android users in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States to earn, buy, and spend Amazon Coins on the Appstore using Android phones and tablets. Later on in 2014, Amazon started to allow users located in France, Italy, and Spain to purchase and use these Amazon coins that were previously only restricted to Amazon users in Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States. Users could also get discounts when they bought the coins in bulk and earn coins through certain apps on the Appstore. More specifically, you can buy 300 coins for $2.91, 500 coins for $4.75, 1000 coins for $9.00, 2,500 coins for $21.75, 5,000 coins for $42.50, 10,000 coins for $82.00, and 50,000 coins for $400.00. Amazon hoped that these Amazon Coins would spark more interest in purchasing paid apps and have developers see the Amazon Appstore as a rival to Google Play and other big appstores in the market.

In 2014, with the release of the Fire Phone, Amazon offered app developers 500,000 Amazon Coins for each paid app or app with in-app purchasing developed and optimized for the Fire Phone.

Starting in December 2014, Amazon adds a transaction history for the Amazon Coins which allows the users to see what those coins were spent on and how they were spent.

Function and value
Amazon has called Amazon Coins a "virtual currency". However, the Coins operate like other digital gift cards. Amazon does not accept returns of already purchased Amazon Coins which means it is a one time deal. One Amazon Coin is worth one cent. However, like many coupons, they cannot be redeemed for cash. However, they can be transferred to another Amazon account. Purchased Coins do not expire, but some promotional Coins expire just over one year from the date they are acquired. When a customer buys software with Amazon Coins, the developer is paid in conventional currency. Occasionally, Amazon has promotions that allow the user to actually get coins back from purchases. For an example, if a game has 500 coins normally purchasable of 500 Amazon Coins but has a promotion going on that allows 15% of coins back, it would only cost the user 425 Amazon Coins instead of 500. As said, Amazon Coins can be transferred to another Amazon account which allows these coins to be given as gifts to other Amazon accounts which was started on December 12, 2013. These gifts can be pre-ordered meaning that the user can purchase coins before hand and select a delivery date that they would like. Amazon will charge the account once the delivery day arrives and this can be canceled at anytime beforehand.

Reselling
Coins can not be resold for any currency. Once an amount of coin is purchased, the user can not resell these coins to others but they can gift them. This makes Amazon Coins a non-investment form of virtual-currency because of it's inability to be sold for any sort of money.