As a further sign of these inflationary gilded age times, Amazon is altering the discounts associated with Amazon Coins, e.g. their virtual currency for apps sorta within the Amazon ecosystem.

We are writing to inform you of changes coming to Amazon Appstore Coin packs. On April 3, 2023 we will be consolidating the variety of packs offered and lowering the discounts associated with pack purchases. We will continue to offer the option on mobile to purchase a custom amount of Amazon Coins between 300 – 200,000 Coins (new discounts will apply).

The updated available packs and discounts are:

•       1,000 – $9.70 (3% discount)
•       2,500 – $23.75 (5% discount)
•       10,000 – $92.00 (8% discount)
•       50,000 – $450.00 (10% discount)

These changes will contribute to supporting the costs of both operating and consistently improving our app store.

In case you were wondering, right now the discounts are:

• 1000 – $9.00 (10%)
• 2500 – $21.75 (13%)
• 5000 – $42.50 (15%)
• 10,000 – $82.00 (18%)
• 50,000 – $400 (20%)

It is a fair question to ask “who even uses these things?” The answer is: me. Specifically and exclusively to purchase things within Hearthstone. The whole thing is quite convoluted, but if you download the Hearthstone app on your phone from the Amazon store (and NOT through Google Play or iPhone equivalent), then you have the option of paying for expansions (etc) using Amazon Coins.

As a real example, there is a new expansion coming out for Hearthstone next month. Blizzard is selling a pre-release bundle that features 60 card packs and two random Legendary cards for $49.99. It’s not a bad deal if you are committed to playing the new expansion, as getting packs for less than $1 apiece is “good” (technically $1.50 each normally), with the Legendary cards being bonus on top.

But an even better deal is paying Amazon $42.50 for 5000 coins instead, and buying the expansion that way instead. Technically you need a smidge more Coins because of tax – that’s always how they get you – but the overall discount adds up. Plus, if you already have a Amazon credit card, you get 5% cash back on top of everything else. There were even better deals way back in the day, when Amazon would give you 30% coins back, which allowed for some extremely cheap Hearthstone’ing.

After April 3rd though, that same deal will save you… $2.50. Which will probably be a wash considering the need for miscellaneous coins for tax. Not sure who bothers with Amazon Coins after this.