Hearthstone Amazon Coins guide Archives

Don’t have an Android, but want to save money in Hearthstone using Amazon Coins? Keep reading, or click here to jump to the step-by-step guide.

About Amazon Coins

Hearthstone is a great game but it can be very expensive. Luckily there is a way to save money on packs using something called Amazon Coins. You buy these coins on Amazon for a discount, and use them in Hearthstone when you pay for packs.

A coin is roughly equivalent to $0.01 USD. The more coins you buy (up to $500 worth) gives you a bigger discount. In the past I have bought 10,000 at a time and used it to pay for two expansion preorders.

The biggest catch is you need an Android device to buy anything with the coins. The following guide is intended for users who don’t have an Android device, but do have access to a Mac.

Step-by-Step Guide

First you must download/install Bluestacks, an Android emulator for Macs.

If asked things during the install process, you can use the default settings. You will have to add a security exception for Bluestacks, as it requires a kernel extension. If the install fails for this reason, go to System Preferences → Security and Privacy → General, and click “Allow”.

Open up Bluestacks and go through the initial setup wizard, logging in with your Google account. When it’s up and running, go to “My Apps” and open the Browser app which looks like this:

In the browser, search Google for “Amazon Appstore for Android” and download the installer. A small download icon will appear in the top left corner of Bluestacks. Click on it and drag downward until you see this:

Now open the Amazon APK file and install the Amazon Appstore app. Open the Amazon Appstore and log in to your Amazon account. When that’s done, search for Hearthstone in the Amazon Appstore and install it.

Once Hearthstone is installed, open it and log in with your Blizzard account. Open the Store and select the item you want to purchase.

At the payment screen, you will get a new prompt, asking you to once again log in to your Amazon account.

Log in and complete the purchase. Congrats, you have now bought Hearthstone packs at a discount!

Now buy some coins and start saving money!

What are Amazon Coins

Amazon does not collect tax on the purchase of Amazon Coins. Taxes may apply when Coins are spent.   

How to get Amazon Coins

How to buy Hearthstone packs with Amazon Coins

• Download the Amazon Appstore app but remember it is separate from the normal Amazon app. 
• Download Hearthstone through the Amazon Appstore (not Google Play, etc.)
• Buy coins
• Buy packs

Is there a tax on Amazon Coins

One of the points of contention that always comes up when comparing using Amazon Coins versus buying from the Google Play Store is the digital sales tax that has been implemented in a number of states.

First off, let me state clearly that there's no tax when you buy Amazon Coins. There might be a tax, however, when you spend those coins on digital goods. The taxation of digital goods is a grey area. Some states have implemented new laws or are relying on general tax laws to tax digital goods. Alabama, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, West Virginia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine and Texas rely on general tax laws to tax digital goods while Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington State and Wisconsin have enacted laws specifically for taxing digital goods.   

On the other hand, there are states which expressly do not tax digital goods or have left the rules open for interpretation. North Dakota and Washington D.C. are two states that expressly do not tax digital goods.

In summary:

Buying on Amazon App Store using Amazon Coins versus Google Play Store

The way the sales tax has been implemented by the two companies is slightly different. With Amazon Coins, the digital goods tax is imposed depending on the buyer's address. If you're residing in a state which requires a sales tax on digital goods, then you'll be taxed (in Amazon Coins) when you purchase an app or make an in-game purchase.

Google on the other hand seems to implement the tax based on the domicile of the seller. So if the Game maker is domiciled in California, which doesn't have a digital goods sales tax, then you wouldn't be hit with a sales tax when you purchase your app or in-game item.

Depending on the state and the type of digital good, the digital goods sales tax varies from 1% to 7%. So to make a decision on whether it makes sense to make your purchases using Amazon Coins, you need to know what the taxes are regarding digital goods in your state are. If the discount you get from buying Amazon Coins is higher than the sales tax rate, then it makes sense to transact in Amazon Coins.

Let's say you get a 25% discount for buying $500 worth of Amazon Coins. If you're hit with a 6% tax after buying your in-game item like a deck of Hearthstone cards, then your net gain is still roughly 19%. On the other hand, if you only get a 2% discount for buying $10 worth of coins, that wouldn't be worth it with the digital sales tax.

Buying with Amazon Coins allows you to save a pretty bundle

I hope you've gained a better understanding of what Amazon Coins are and how you can take advantage of them - especially when you buy in bulk or stack them with running promotions on Amazon. Also want to emphasize that it's very important you know what the taxes on digital goods are for your state. Quaderno has a good run down on the taxes for each state. If the discount on the coins is greater than the sales tax for your state, it is worth buying using Amazon Coins.

In full disclosure, there are affiliate links in the article above. Thank you for supporting us all these years and we couldn't have done it without your help.  

Hearthstone’s Hall of Fame for 2020 was just revealed, and it is an opportunity for all players to earn some free dust! In this post, I will go through exactly what you need to do to get as much free dust as possible.

When cards go to Hall of Fame, they are rotated out of Standard format. They are still part of Wild format, so they can be used in Wild ladder, in some single-player content, and in some Tavern Brawls.

Unlike the regular rotation, players receive compensation for all cards that they own that go to Hall of Fame without disenchanting the cards. You get the amount of dust it would cost to craft as many copies of the cards as you can put in a deck, so for one Legendary and for two copies of everything else.

You get dust based on the highest-value copies you own, so for golden copies first and if you do not have as many golden copies as can be put in a deck, for regular copies thereafter.

If you prefer to watch a video, you can find this guide also on Youtube:

What this means in practice for cards of various rarities:

If you own Leeroy Jenkins and Prophet Velen, you cannot increase your dust gain by crafting more copies, including by upgrading to a golden copy. If you do not own the cards, you should craft them in golden for maximum dust gain.

The same applies to Mountain Giant and Shadowform: if you have two copies of each, you should do nothing, and if you miss any copies, you should craft them in golden.

The same applies again to Mind Control Tech, Auchenai Soulpriest, and Holy Fire: if you have two copies of each, you should do nothing, and if you miss any copies, you should craft them in golden.

The crafting cost of golden commons is higher in comparison, and therefore there is a little extra dust available for crafting Acolyte of Pain and Spellbreaker in golden. This is not very significant though, so you should prioritize higher rarities if you cannot craft everything.

If you have none of the Hall of Fame cards and craft them all in Golden, you will get a net profit of 5600 dust if you disenchant the cards after the rotation.

If you have all the Hall of Fame cards as regular copies, you will get a compensation of 5560 dust and you get to keep the cards. You can make a total of 6940 dust by crafting Golden commons and disenchanting all rotating cards.